Safe at last.

The 100 schoolchildren abducted from a Nigerian Catholic school last month and released over the weekend have been reunited with their parents in Papiri.

But more than 150 others remain in captivity.

Onyeka Chieme, is one of the children to be released.

He spoke about his ordeal saying he feared he'd never return home.

"I thought they would kill us. When we arrived there (camp), the leader said we should not be afraid and they will not kill us; all they want is money, and if they are paid, everyone kidnapped will be released."

Details surrounding their release were not made public and the government has not said if any ransom — common in such abductions — was paid.

At least 303 schoolchildren were seized in Niger state together with 12 of their teachers when gunmen attacked St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri community on Nov. 21.

Fifty escaped in the hours that followed and at least 150 are still held, together with the teachers.

Onyeka described conditions as primitive saying they were forced to drink river water

which was also used for clothes washing.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, but locals blamed armed gangs that target schools and travellers in kidnappings for ransoms across Nigeria’s conflict-battered north.

Since 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from Chibok, there have been at least a dozen mass school abductions with at least 1,799 students kidnapped, according to an AP tally.