The Nigerian Air Force said
that it flew 6773 hours in 2,105 missions and 3,534 sorties in its
operations in the North-East in 2016.
The Air Officer Commanding, Tactical Air Command, Air Vice Marshal Nurudeen Balogun,
made this known on Monday in Yola, Adamawa, while briefing the Federal
Government team and representatives of Bring Our Girls Back (BBOG) on
tour of the North-East.
The News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) reports that the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed and his Defence counterpart, Mansur Dan- Alli, led the team.
Nurudeen
said that over N2 billion was used for Jet A1 fuel for aircrafts,
excluding the cost of maintenance and consumables during the period.
Giving
update on significant operations conducted within the period, he said
that crackdown on the insurgents was organised by the Theatre Command,
which commenced on April 25, 2016 and lasted for 23 days.
“A
total of 348 sorties were generated by the air component for the
operation that led to the capture of Alargano, the supposedly spiritual
headquarters of Boko Haram.
“The
intensity of the operation of crackdown forced some breakaway groups of
the Boko Haram insurgents to move towards the far North.
“The
Multi-national Joint Task Force initiated Operation Gama Aiki and very
important location, Malamfatori, was captured on Sept. 27, 2016,’’ he said.
He
said that Operation Forest Storm was also organised by the headquarters
of the Nigerian Air Force, which aimed at identifying Boko Haram
targets at Sambisa with a view to degrading the capacity of the
insurgents.
The commanding officer disclosed that a
seven-day operation between Oct. 22 and Oct. 28, with 55 missions, was a
precursor for the Operation Rescue Finale that was going on in the
region.
According to him, the Operation Rescue
Finale which commenced Nov. 1, 2016, was instrumental to the Dec. 22,
2016 fall of Camp Zairo, the major stronghold of Boko Hram.
In his contribution, the Air Component Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Air Commodore Charles Owoh,
said that during the operation, the Air Force carried out medical
outreach programmes in military hospitals at Balori and Bama.
He
said that as a result of government’s commitment to ending the
insurgency in the region, not less than five serviceable surveillance
aircraft were now operational, compared to only one in July, 2015.
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