The Nigerian Army says it will conduct three exercises to curb kidnapping, armed robbery, and other criminalities during the yuletide season.
The exercises would cover all parts of the country, except North East and North West, which already have Operation Hadin Kai and Operation Hadarin Daji, against Boko Haram and bandits, respectively.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, disclosed this during a briefing at the Army Headquarters Abuja, on Friday, October 6.
Nwachukwu said the exercises would begin from October to December 2023, and eventually dovetail into full-fledged operations.
He said the exercises are codenamed “GOLDEN DAWN III” in the South East, “ENDURING PEACE III” in the North Central and “STILL WATERS III” in the South-South and South West.
“These exercises are designed to improve individual and collective professional competence and would dovetail into real-time operations to tackle various peculiar security challenges in the geo-political zones.”
The army spokesperson said Exercise Golden DAWN III would tackle security challenges in the Southeast, such as armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, and communal clashes, which he said become more pronounced in the build-up to the yuletide when many citizens return home to celebrate.
He said: “The exercise will focus on enhancing the capabilities of our troops in intelligence gathering and effective, proactive response to criminalities.
“With the exercise, we aim to improve the security in the southeast and ensure the safety of the populace during the period that will culminate in the yuletide.
Nwachuckwu said in the North-Central, exercise ENDURING PEACE III would address farmer-header conflicts, cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping, ethno-religious conflicts, and terrorism among others.
He said: “The exercise will equip our troops with the necessary skills to combat banditry, including hostage rescue operations, intelligence-driven raids, and effective coordination with other sister services and security agencies.
Speaking further, he said Exercise STILL WATERS III, which will be conducted in the South-South and South-West will target the menace of cultism, robbery, and kidnapping.
Nwachukwu said: “It will equally seek to address the challenges of pipeline vandalism and other forms of economic sabotage. The exercise will also focus on securing critical infrastructures.
“Our troops would be trained on advanced surveillance techniques, rapid response tactics and the use of technology to effectively counter pipeline vandalism.
“By conducting this exercise, we aim to curb economic sabotage, protect national assets and ensure a stable environment for economic growth.”
Responding to questions on why the Army is launching another operation in spite of ongoing operations in the Southeast like Operations Udoka, Nwachuckwu said ongoing operations in different parts of the country are different from the three exercises.
He said the Joint Tasks force Operation Udoka in South East is particularly geared towards addressing successions agitations and the criminalities associated with the agitations in the region, while exercise GOLDEN DAWN III is geared towards addressing crimes like armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes associated with the yuletide.
He said: “During the three months that will culminate into the yuletide, October, November and December many Nigerians will be returning from overseas.
“During this period, the expectation is that the tendency for kidnapping is higher and to nip this in the bud, we are being proactive by springing up these exercises.”
He said there are non-kinetic operations embedded in the exercises like medical outreaches that will bring succour to Nigerians in other to win their heart and minds to support the exercises.