Why we established 6 Division in Niger Delta – Army

From Musa Umar Bologi Abuja

Th e need for quick decision making for immediate response to any security threat both now and in the future is the major reason the 6 Division of Nigerian Army is established in the Niger Delta region, Chief of Army, Lt.- Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said. Speaking during offi cer operationalisation ceremony of the 6 Division Headquarters in Port Harcourt Barracks, Buratai said the leadership of the army formation would be able to respond swiftly to arrays of security challenges that have bedeviled the Niger Delta region in recent times, such as militancy, oil bunkering, kidnapping and cultism. He said the choice of Port Harcourt to host the headquarters of the new army division, which will oversee Brigades in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta states, was due to its strategic location in the security architecture of the Niger Delta region. Th e Niger Delta had been plagued for many years by activities of militants, kidnapers, oil bunkerers and pipeline vandals, which had aff ected revenue generation from crude oil.

Although the Nigerian Navy saddled with the responsibility of protecting territorial integrity and threats from the coastlines has been engaging the criminal elements to curtail their activities from aff ecting oil revenue, the new dimension to security threat in the region necessitated involvement of other sister services, especially the army, which had conducted several operations, including exercise Python Dance, to halt pipe line bombing by the Niger Delta Avengers, last year. Nigerian Army divisions and other formations are established after the approvals of the Nigerian Army Council, headed by the President and Commanderin-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. Th e established of 6 Division with its other components, such as 16 Brigade in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, 2 Brigade in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, and a Brigade in Asaba, Delta state, where approved in the 2016 Nigerian Army Order of Battle (ORBAT).

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