The British Government could provide drones or other surveillance assistance to help the Nigerian authorities locate the girls abducted from their school, Downing Street indicated.
Officials were in discussions about whether “there may be some scope for us to have a role”, the prime minister’s official spokesman said.
David Cameron had watched footage released by Boko Haram militants and it underlined his view about the “pure evil” of those involved in the abduction of the 200 schoolgirls, the spokesman added.
A British team including counter-terrorism and intelligence experts in Nigeria has held talks with counterparts and political leaders, as well as the families of the girls.
US surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft are involved in efforts to find the missing girls and the UK was also prepared to assist, Downing Street said.
“We are having discussions with the Nigerian authorities as to whether or not there may be some scope for us to have a role in terms of surveillance,” the prime minister’s spokesman said. There had not yet been a specific request for assistance from the Nigerian authorities, he added.
Foreign Secretary William Hague briefed Cabinet on the latest developments in Nigeria.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The foreign secretary explained the fact that our team had now been on the ground in Nigeria, in Abuja for a couple of days, had met with the president, his national security adviser, members of the Nigerian security forces as well as a group representing the parents of the abducted girls.
“One of the things the group was in a position to do was to feed back to London whether there is more we may be able to offer in terms of planning and co-ordination and the like.”
Asked if Mr Cameron had seen the video of the girls, the spokesman said he had seen some of the footage on the news.
“It very much underlined the view that he took last week in PMQs around the pure evil of the kidnappers,” he said.
“The images underline the importance of doing all we can to support the Nigerian government and the Nigerian people.”
Former prime minister Gordon Brown urged Boko Haram to publish all the pictures of the kidnapped schoolgirls to prove they are still alive.
Mr Brown, who has been visiting Nigeria in his role as United Nations special envoy for global education, said the kidnap of the girls from their school in the north-east of the country four weeks ago was “every parent’s nightmare”.
He called on Boko Haram to publish pictures of all the girls after a video was released yesterday by the militants claiming to show around 130 of the victims.
“It is in one way good news that the girls were photographed yesterday. That shows that at least the majority of them are still alive,” Mr Brown said.
“I would challenge Boko Haram to publish the pictures of all the girls.
“I would also call on every religious community to condemn Boko Haram and tell them that they cannot use girls in this way – either using them as sex slaves or threatening to forcibly convert them to Islam.”
Mr Brown said there was a “massive amount of surveillance” being done behind the scenes.