The Air Force has deployed 100 fighter jets in the search for the 110 schoolgirls abducted on February 19, the Federal Government said yesterday.
The students of the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC), Dapchi, Yobe State were abducted from their hostels by terrorists.
Twenty of the jets have flown 200 hours as at Monday evening, according to a fact sheet on the search released by Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation Lai Mohammed.
Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar relocated yesterday to Yobe State “to personally superintend the search for the girls”, the minister said.
He also released the details of the missing girls. Eight are in JSS1, 17 in JSS2, 12 in JSS3, 40 in SS1, 19 in SS2 and 14 in SS3. The girls’ ages range from 11 to 19 years.
“The list, which also contains the contact address and phone number of each missing girl, was verified by a 26-member Screening Committee that include the Executive Secretary, State Teaching Service Board, Musa Abdulsalam; Director, Schools’ Management, Ministry of Education, Shuaibu Bulama; Principal of GGSTC, Adama Abdulkarim; the two Vice Principals, Ali Musa Mabu and Abdullahi Sule Lampo; Admission Officer Bashir Ali Yerima, and the Form Masters for all the classes,” Mohammed said.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno, who constituted a 12-member committee “to unravel the circumstances surrounding the abduction”, gave the committee March 15 deadline to submit a report.
Gen. Munguno, who visited Governor Ibrahim Gaidam in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, yesterday announced that 80 other planes would join the search for the girls.
He told the governor: “The Nigerian Air Force has deployed 20 aircraft in Maiduguri and 80 others on their way. So far, 200 hours have been utilised in flying sorties looking for these girls.
“We have also been made aware of the fact that the Nigerian Air Force will step up its operation regardless of the very hard and severe weather condition.”
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