…As NAF fighter jets grill Boko Haram hideouts near Arra, in Borno***
The U.S. Embassy will reopen its Abuja’s consular section on Friday August 24 for full services of both visas and American Citizen Services (ACS).
The embassy stated this in a message on its website: https://ng.usembassy.gov, accessed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja.
NAN recalled that the embassy had on Aug. 15 temporarily suspended its consular services in Abuja due to reasons it said were beyond its control.
“The U.S. Embassy in Abuja’s consular section will reopen on Aug. 24th for full services for both visas and ACS. Please, note that consular functions at the U.S. Consulate Lagos were never affected and will continue as usual.
“We regret the inconvenience this interruption of service in Abuja has caused,” it stated.
The embassy stated that Visa and ACS applicants with scheduled appointments for Aug. 24 should come to the Embassy in Abuja, as usual.
“Visa and ACS applicants with cancelled appointments between Aug. 13 and Aug. 23 will be contacted by the Embassy for rescheduling.
“Visa and ACS applicants, who were requested by an officer to appear again for follow-up questions on existing applications should contact our office to arrange a new date (ConsularAbuja@state.gov for visas or AbujaACS@state.gov for ACS,” it said.
It assured Visa applicants, who submitted passports through the Interview Waiver Programme for visa renewal, that such would be processed as soon as possible.
“If your application was already approved, it will be mailed out as normal on the next available DHL shipment to your listed address.
“Abuja ACS applicants, who wish to pick-up their already-printed U.S. passports, may come on Friday between 9:30a.m and 11:00a.m.
“If you are uncertain if your U.S. passport has arrived yet, please contact us first at AbujaACS@state.gov,” it added
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) says the Air Task Force of “ Operation “Lafiya Dole” has been conducting successful massive day and night attacks against remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHTs) and their facilities, near Arra in Borno.
Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, disclosed this in a statement on Mondayin Abuja.
Daramola explained that the attacks, which were preceded by days of intensive Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, were planned and executed based on credible intelligence indicating that the BHTs were making moves to regroup around the fringes of Sambisa.
“The first air strike was a daytime mission executed on Aug.10 at a location 4.5 Km Northwest of Arra around the fringes of Sambisa, where ISR had confirmed that BHTs were regrouping to launch attacks against our troops in the general area.
“Accordingly, the ATF detailed an Alpha Jet to attack the location. Overhead the area of interest, the Alpha Jet acquired and engaged targets, destroying parts of the settlement and neutralizing several BHTs.
“Intelligence reports later revealed that some of the surviving BHTs had converged at another location 4.8Km West of Arra.
“Consequently, the ATF deployed Mi-35M helicopter gunships for a night attack on the new location on Aug. 18 resulting in the death of dozens of BHTs, ” he said