The federal government says the Boko Haram sect has contacted it for talks on the release of the Chibok schoolgirls.

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, said this while reacting to the latest video of some of the girls which the sect released.

He said the government was doing everything possible to secure the release of the girls and to put an end to the horrible saga of their abduction.

“The government is in touch with those purportedly behind the video,” Mohammed said in a statement issued by Segun Adeyemi, his media aide.

“We are on top of the situation. But we are being extremely careful because the situation has been compounded by the split in the leadership of Boko Haram. We are also being guided by the need to ensure the safety of the girls.

“Since this is not the first time we have been contacted over the issue, we want to be doubly sure that those we are in touch with are who they claim to be.”

Mohammed expressed the hope that the latest development would signal the beginning of the end of the nightmare to which the girls, their families and indeed all Nigerians have been subjected since the unfortunate abduction?.