00:00The Nigerian government paid huge sums of ransom money to the jihadist group Boko Haram
00:06to free school children kidnapped in November.
00:09This is the conclusion of a new investigation by the press agency AFP, published on Monday.
00:17230 children and staff were kidnapped last November from St. Mary's Boarding School in central Niger state.
00:24Initially, Boko Haram was not thought to be behind this kidnapping,
00:28but sources told AFP one of its most feared commanders was behind the mass abduction,
00:34a notorious jihadist known as Sadiqou.
00:38Government officials deny that they paid any ransom money to the jihadist group.
00:43They instead emphasize that the school children were freed after two weeks of negotiations.
00:49But sources told AFP that the government may have paid as much as 40 million naira per head,
00:55around $7 million in total.
00:58Another source put the figure lower at 2 billion naira overall.
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