France has offered to send Security Service Agents to Nigeria to help rescue the girls of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, abducted by members of the Boko Haram sect over three weeks ago.

The decision is coming few days after the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, on a presidential Media Chat on Sunday said that Nigeria would accept any support by the international community in the rescue efforts being made by Nigeria Military.

With more than 4,000 troops operating between Mali to the west and Central African Republic to the east, Paris has a major interest in preventing Nigeria’s security situation from deteriorating, having previously voiced concerns that Boko Haram could spread further north into the Sahel.

French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, said on Wednesday that the French President had instructed that intelligence services be put at the disposal of Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

He stated that a specialised unit, with all the means France had in the region, was at the disposal of Nigeria to help find and recover the young girls.

No specific number of agents that would be dispatched was given.

Mr Fabius said that in the face of such ignominy, France must react and that the crime could not be left unpunished.

Nigeria had made several efforts to quell the increasing insurgency in the north east, including the deployment of military personnel to the region and a state of emergency declared in three states, but the military appeared not to have adequately contained the attacks.

The adoption of the girls had triggered series of protests in some states in Nigeria and in some other countries, with protesters demanding that world leaders should take drastic actions to rescue the girls who were abducted on April 14 the same day a bomb blast in Nyanya Motor park in Abuja killed at least 75 persons and left scores injured. The twitter hash-tag, ‘#BringBackOurGirls’, put together to push the rescue of the girls, is trending globally, with prominent world leaders lending their voice and support to the demand for their freedom.