The Nigerian Army has announced that it will flag off a military operation with the code name, "Exercise Crocodile Smile II" on Friday in the Niger Delta region.
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In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, stated that the Nigerian Army will flag off another military operation with the code name, “Exercise Crocodile Smile II” on Friday in the Niger Delta region.
The Army spokesman said the military exercise is in line with the 2017 ‘Training Directives’ which aims at training troops in the conduct of internal security operations in the aid of civil authorities.
Usman a brigadier-general noted that the exercise will span across 2, 6 and 81 Divisions of the army.
“The need for troops to sharpen their skills to cope with these security challenges within the 2, 6 and 81 Divisions’ Area of Responsibilities calls for the conduct of Exercise Crocodile Smile II,” he said.
He also stressed that the exercise is aimed at curbing criminality in the area in partnership with other security agencies.
“To have a professionally responsive Nigerian army in the discharge of its constitutional roles accentuates the call for the conduct of this exercise in conjunction with sister services and other security agencies.
“This exercise will therefore be conducted with the involvement of other security agencies such as the Nigerian Police and Nigeria Security, Department of State Services, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Customs Service and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, just to mention a few,” he said.
“The exercise is also conceptualized to leverage on real-time intelligence to curtail insecurity, thereby fulfilling both training and operational objectives. Moreover, this exercise will complement the on-going “Exercise Egwu Eke II” in the South-eastern part of the country which will end on Friday.”
The army had last week deployed troops and military hardware to Edo, Delta and Ondo states, ahead of the military operation.