The Nigerian military may be considering withdrawing some of its troops from terrorist ridden North-East and sending them to the Niger Delta region as part of ongoing efforts to reduce attacks on oil installations.

According to a report by Punch Newspapers, the troops that will be deployed to the Niger Delta will be part of the newly formed Operation Delta Safe.

A source who spoke to the paper, said the troops will be sent to the region to help quell attacks on pipelines and oil theft.

Speaking on Operation Delta Safe, the Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, said the replacement of Operation Paulo Shield with a new operation was meant to help the military achieve its purposes.

He, however, failed to confirm the deployment of troops from the North-East to the Niger Delta.

“The overhauling was meant to ensure pro-activeness of the new outfit. We will, as much as possible, continue to inject new system, new equipment and new prescriptions to ensure that what happened before will not happen now.”

“And so, the Defence Headquarters came up with the reorganisation, and it meant well for the country and it meant well for the industries there. So we are doing all these things to ensure that we do our best, with the best arsenal, with the best equipment, so that we can handle the security threat.”

“But injecting new men or injecting more men is not the issue. The most important is that the reorganisation has been done and it is for the goodness of country, for the good of that general area.”

“And we will do everything to secure all necessary spots, human, equipment and what have you to ensure that it performs optimally.”

Mazi Emeka