Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Sunday said it has deployed additional air assets, including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, to the Northeast in a renewed effort at locating the missing girls from the Government Science and Technical College in Dapchi, Yobe State.
The Federal Government had earlier confirmed that 110 students could not be accounted for, after insurgents believed to be from a faction of Boko Haram invaded their school on Monday, February 19, 2018.
The NAF in a statement by Air Vice Marshal Olatokunbo Adesanya, Director of Public Relations and Information, said it had deployed some ISR platforms and helicopters to search for and possibly locate the missing girls as well as the rogue Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs).
“Although these search operations were conducted in a covert manner, for obvious reasons, the efforts did not yield the desired results,” the statement said.
The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar was said to have directed the immediate deployment of additional air assets and NAF personnel to the Northeast with the sole mission of conducting day and night searches for the missing girls.
“It is noteworthy that the renewed efforts at locating the girls are being conducted in close liaison with other surface security forces,” the statement said.
“While the NAF will spare no efforts at possibly locating the girls via its air operations, it also seizes this opportunity to call on anyone, especially the locals, who might have any information that could lead to the location of the girls to bring such information forward to NAF authorities or other relevant security agencies.”
The telephone numbers which NAF released for any member of the public having information that could help in its task regarding the missing girls include 2348122557720; 2348035733438; 2348172843484; and 2348058419128
