Protesters calling for the release of 219 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants are set today to mark the six-month anniversary of their abduction with a march on the presidency.

Members of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign are planning to walk to President Goodluck Jonathan’s official residence in Abuja to keep up the pressure on the government to bring the missing teenagers home.

#Bringbckourgirls candlelit vigil on 12 October

The march is the culmination of a series of events in the past week, including a candlelit vigil, to keep the fate of the girls in the public eye, as media coverage and on-line interest wanes.

The daughter and niece of Enoch Mark, an elder in Chibok from where the girls were abducted, are among those missing.

“At one point we contemplated holding funeral rites for the girls as our tradition provides,” he told AFP.

Parents have run the gamut of emotions in the last six months, from initial hope to despair and back again, he added.

“But the discovery of a girl last month… who was kidnapped by Boko Haram in January gave us renewed hope that our girls would be found.

some of the girls abducted in Chibok on 14 April

“This has rekindled our hope and strengthened our patience. We are ready to wait six years on hoping to have our daughters back with us.”