The president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has welcomed the release of 279 schoolgirls abducted by gunmen last week.

The governor of Zamfara state said he'd negotiated with the kidnappers and come to an arrangement to address some of their grievances, but that no ransom had been paid.

The girls appear unharmed, although some have complained about being forced to walk for hours without rest.

So let's have a listen to one of those girls who was abducted.

She spoke about her ordeal.

Most of us got injured on our feet and we could not continue trekking.

So the captors said they will shoot anybody who did not continue to walk.

We walked across the river and they hit us and they let us sleep under shrubs in a forest.

We can join our correspondent there, she colored relief.

Of course, the girls have been released and seem unharmed.

But what do we know about the negotiations that took place in order to get them freed?

Well, at the moment, there are no details about the negotiations, But the governor of example, a state where the incident happened, told the BBC that the negotiated with the gunmen are no ransom was paid, but they used.

Or they they, you know, negotiated through repentant and criminal gang members, those who are in the kidnapping business before and then they repented under an amnesty program with the government.

Of course, the authorities rarely admit that ransom is paid whenever there are abductions and have been speaking to some of the parents of these girls, they have been telling me that they're extremely happy that they're back.

Many of them told me that the last four or five days have been that of uncertainty.

And one thing that they are you know, unanimous about is that all of them said that they are willing to send their Children back to school despite what happened.

But they are calling on the authorities to make sure that security is provided for schools across the country, especially in those areas where insecurity is quite endemic.

That's good to hear that they're confident about sending their girls back to school a shock.

But do we know if there was a specific group that was actually responsible for this mass kidnapping?

Well, basically there's no specific identification of a group, but what we know is that these gangs are not a single organized groups in that region in northwestern Nigeria.

But there are pockets of armed men who have been kidnapping people basically for ransom in that region in the northwest of the country.

But in the northeast of Nigeria, uh, there is this group, Boko Haram, which has been waging an insurgency for more than 10 years.

Now it kidnapped students also in the past.

But in this case, it appears there are armed men who are looking for ransom.

But the government said that no ransom was paid.

Remember, they were abducted on Friday from their boarding school.

The armed men broke into the school as the students slept, and then they carried some of them.

Many, of course, managed to escape.

But many are also calling on the authorities to ensure that security is provided.

Given that these kind of abductions are likely to have a huge impact on education in Nigeria, which is the country with the highest number of out of school Children in the world, and that particular region, where the Children have been kidnapped in Nigeria is far behind other regions.

When, when we're talking about education in the country.

Thanks so much for joining us with that from Abuja.

And great to know the girls appear unharmed.

They are well and are looking forward to going back to school.