More than 200 schoolgirls on Wednesday began their second month as Boko Haram hostages as international powers ramped up efforts to track down the savage Nigerian Islamist group.

Lawmakers began debating a request from President Goodluck Jonathan for a six-month extension to a state of emergency first imposed in three northeast states worst affected by the violence exactly a year ago.

More than 200 schoolgirls on Wednesday began their second month as Boko Haram hostages as international powers ramped up efforts to track down the savage Nigerian Islamist group.

Lawmakers began debating a request from President Goodluck Jonathan for a six-month extension to a state of emergency first imposed in three northeast states worst affected by the violence exactly a year ago.

The U.S. military is flying surveillance drones as well as manned aircraft over Nigeria to help in the search for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist extremists, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The United States has deployed the robotic Global Hawk, which flies at a high altitude, and the manned MC-12, a turboprop plane heavily used in Afghanistan, for the mission, a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Press.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's bid to extend an ineffective year-long state of emergency in the northeast has exposed him as an out-of-touch leader with no credible plan to end a brutal Islamist conflict, experts said.

Few dispute the severity of the crisis in the remote region, where Boko Haram has killed thousands in a five-year uprising and more than 2,000 already this year.

Nigeria must draw on foreign military and intelligence expertise to tackle the threat from Islamist sect Boko Haram, a former deputy chief of Israel's secret intelligence service said Wednesday.

The comments came as France announced a security summit in Paris on Saturday to address the situation in west Africa, focusing on the radical group that has abducted more than 200 schoolgirls.

Britain has offered Nigeria a surveillance plane and a military team to help with the search for more than 200 missing schoolgirls abducted a month ago by Boko Haram militants, Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday.

"Today I can announce we have offered Nigeria further assistance in terms of surveillance aircraft, a military team to embed with the Nigerian army in their HQ and a team to work with U.S. experts to analyse information on the girls' location," he told parliament.

More than 200 schoolgirls on Wednesday began their second month as Boko Haram hostages, with Nigeria's government indicating it was willing to talk to the militants to secure their release.

Lawmakers in Abuja were also set to debate a request from President Goodluck Jonathan for a six-month extension to a state of emergency first imposed in three northeast states worst affected by insurgent violence exactly a year ago.

Nigeria on Tuesday said it was willing to talk to Boko Haram militants, as the United States sent its top Africa general for talks on the rescue mission of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

The governor of Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, Kashim Shettima, confirmed that all of the girls shown in the latest video released by the militant Islamist group had been identified as students in the school attacked in Chibok last month.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday asked the country's parliament for a six-month extension to the state of emergency in three northeastern states riven by Islamist militant violence.

"I most respectfully request the distinguished senators to consider and approve by resolution an extension of the proclamation of the state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states by a further term of six months from the date of expiration of the current time," Jonathan wrote in a letter seen by Agence France Presse.

The United States said it is flying "manned" missions over Nigeria in search of over 200 abducted schoolgirls, after the Lagos government dismissed a prisoner-swap offer from the Boko Haram kidnappers.

"We have shared commercial satellite imagery with the Nigerians and are flying manned ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) assets over Nigeria with the government's permission," a senior U.S. administration official said Monday.