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Nigerian human rights activists urged the government Monday to expand its search for the more than 200 teenage girls who were abducted by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram a year ago.

During the night of April 14, 2014, insurgents kidnapped 276 students from their school dormitory in the town of Chibok, in north-eastern Borno State. About 50 of them managed to escape, but there has been no trace of the others.

"As parents, we believe that our children are still alive … Our daughters are still being held by their captives," a representative of the Chibok community, Hosea Habana Tsambido, told dpa.

Tsambido lost three nieces and two of their cousins during the kidnapping, all between the ages of 16 and 18.

Tsambido and members of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign, launched to raise global awareness about the abduction, were preparing a range of events to commemorate Tuesday's anniversary.

Campaigners are planning to march to the Federal Ministry of Education in the capital Abuja. Separate marches by school girls are expected to take place in other cities, including Lagos. There will also be walkathons and dedicated prayer services.

"We have the military, we have the intelligence ... we have cooperation with other nations of the world. We must find our Chibok girls," said Bring Back Our Girls campaign manager Oby Ezekewezili.

Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a state with its very strict interpretation of Islamic law, has killed an estimated 14,000 people and has abducted hundreds of women and girls since 2009.