Joseph Bakare

The Nigerian Air Force, NAF, has launched fact-finding and scrutinization of the incident leading to crashing of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV, in Kaduna.

The NAF announced that since it is an unmanned vehicle, there were no casualties on board or on ground.

It said preliminary appraisal and evaluation of the incident has since commenced to ascertain what may have caused the mishap.

The NAF, corrected reports on social media as well as some traditional media outlets that a NAF helicopter had crashed in Kaduna on 1 July 2024.

It said no helicopter crash occurred instead it is a NAF UAV which experienced a mishap after take-off for a mission, at a location near Rumji Village and about 15 Km from Base.

It assured Nigerians that this minor setback will not, in anyway, impinge on all ongoing operations.

It pointed out that the propensity to always rush to press in the name of ‘breaking news’ without a hold of the complete facts should be discouraged in its entirety. While the news of the crash filtered in, some outlets had misinformed Nigerians that a helicopter had crashed without the decency to clarify from the NAF.

This attitude should be discouraged as it negates the principle of developmental journalism, balanced reporting and fairness.

The NAF advised the Media to always seek clarification from authorized military outlets before rushing to ‘break’ the news.