A father is reunited with his two children in Katsina, Nigeria, Dec 18, 2020. More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped last week in an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria have arrived in the capital of Katsina state to celebrate their release. (SUNDAY ALAMBA / AP)

LAGOS - The Nigerian government on Friday said it paid no ransom to secure the release of schoolboys abducted from a school in the northwestern town of Kankara last week.

The schoolboys kidnapped from the Government Science Secondary School Kankara in the northwestern Katsina State were released by their captors. The students were kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents on Dec 11.

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Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said the boys, who were released unharmed, would undergo necessary medical tests before joining their families

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed told a news conference in the nation's capital city Abuja that they were released unconditionally by their abductors.

No money exchanged hands in the course of negotiation for the release of the boys, the minister told reporters, adding that the schoolboys secured their freedom without the exchange of suspected or convicted bandits in the custody of the government.

Mohammed said the boys, who were released unharmed, would undergo necessary medical tests before joining their families.

The minister expressed the government's gratitude to the security and intelligence agencies for the great feat.

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Mohammed gave an assurance that the Muhammadu Buhari administration would do everything possible to prevent a recurrence of abductions in schools.