The Nigerian Army begins its exercise code-named “ Crocodile Smile II ” in the South-South and South-West geo-political zones of the country on Friday.
Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, Army spokesman, made this known in a statement on Tuesday.
He said that the exercise was aimed at training troops in aid of civil authorities in tackling security challenges in those areas.
He said the exercise was to consolidate on the gains recorded during the first phase and address similar challenges in the South-West.
Crocodile Smile I was carried out in the Niger Delta area in December 2016 to curb pipeline vandalism, kidnapping and illegal bunkering.
His words: “Security challenges in the South-West and Niger Delta geo-political regions such as illegal oil bunkering, pipeline vandalism, cultism, kidnapping, militancy and other challenges are becoming rampant.
“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.
“This exercise, will therefore, be conducted with the involvement of other security agencies such as the Nigerian Police, Department of State Services, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Customs Service and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, just to mention a few.”
Stressing that the essence of the exercise was to ensure security, he said emphasis would be placed on raids, cordon and search operations, anti-kidnapping drills, road blocks, check points and other amphibious operations.
He pointed out that community support activities such as medical outreaches would also feature prominently during the exercise.
“The public is also requested to remain vigilant, security conscious and report suspected criminals who will likely flee the military exercise areas to find safe haven among communities.
“Contact phone numbers of all Brigade Commanders in the exercise areas would be made public in addition to the Nigerian Army short code Information and call Centre 193,” he said.
