Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai on Friday launched Operation Crocodile Smile, a military exercise, at Takwa Bay Island in Lagos state.

Background:

• The army had launched Operation Python Dance in the South-East to combat crimes especially kidnappings.
• It also launched Operation Crocodile Smile II in the Niger Delta.

What is happening:

• Buratai said the launch was necessitated by by crimes in the coastal area.
•  According to him, the ‘order of battle’ 2016 provides for amphibious battalion on the island to keep the coastal area of Lagos state safe.
• The second phase of the exercise in Abia, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Imo and Rivers states recorded tremendous success.
• He said troops degraded activities of militants and illegal oil bunkering, destruction of kidnappers’ den and rescue of kidnapped victims, destruction of cultists’ camps, among others.

“A detachment of Nigerian army has since been stationed on the island; more army presence will also be felt soon on the island and other parts of the country in line with the 2016 order of battle as fund becomes available,” he said.

Azeez