Nigeria Offers $300,000 Reward For Information On Missing Schoolgirls

Nigeria Offers $300,000 Reward For Information On Missing Schoolgirls
A policeman stand beside children holding as members of Lagos based civil society groups hold rally calling for the release of missing Chibok school girls at the state government house, in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 5, 2014. Boko Haram on Monday claimed the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in northern Nigeria that has triggered international outrage, threatening to sell them as 'slaves'. 'I abducted your girls,' the Islamist group's leader Abubakar Shekau said in the 57-minute video obtained by AFP, referring to the 276 students kidnapped from their boarding school in Chibok, Borno state, three weeks ago. AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)
A policeman stand beside children holding as members of Lagos based civil society groups hold rally calling for the release of missing Chibok school girls at the state government house, in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 5, 2014. Boko Haram on Monday claimed the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in northern Nigeria that has triggered international outrage, threatening to sell them as 'slaves'. 'I abducted your girls,' the Islamist group's leader Abubakar Shekau said in the 57-minute video obtained by AFP, referring to the 276 students kidnapped from their boarding school in Chibok, Borno state, three weeks ago. AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)

ABUJA, May 7 (Reuters) - Nigerian police offered a 50 million naira ($300,000) reward on Wednesday to anyone who could give information leading to the rescue of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist rebels.

Last month's mass kidnapping by militant group Boko Haram triggered an international outcry and protests in Nigeria, piling pressure on the government to get the girls back.

Public anger mounted after locals on Tuesday said another eight girls had been seized from the same remote northeastern area by suspected members of the group, which is seeking to carve out an Islamist state.

Police listed six phone numbers in their statement and urged Nigerians to call in with "credible information".

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened in a video to sell the girls abducted on April 14 from a secondary school in the village of Chibok "on the market".

The United States has offered to send a team to Nigeria to help the search efforts.

The kidnappings, and other attacks by Boko Haram, have overshadowed Nigeria's hosting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which is due to start on Wednesday evening.

($1 = 161.45 naira) (Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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