Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school in November, a presidential spokesperson said on Sunday, after 100 were freed earlier this month.

"Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity," Sunday Dare said in a post on X.

In late November, hundreds of students and staff were kidnapped from St Mary's co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state.

A UN source told AFP that "the remaining set of girls or secondary school students will be taken to Minna," the capital of Niger state, on Tuesday.

Fifty escape captivity

The exact number of those kidnapped, and those who remain in captivity, has been unclear since the attack on the school, located in the rural hamlet of Papiri.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said 315 students and staff were kidnapped.

Some 50 escaped immediately afterward, and on December 7 the government secured the release of around 100.

That would leave about 165 thought to remain in captivity.

A statement from President Bola Tinubu at the time put the remaining people being held at 115.