The military intervention in the Niger Delta region, codenamed OPERATION PULO SHIELD, has been scrapped with immediate effect and replaced with OPERATION DELTA SAFE.

This is in line with the Defence Headquarters’ initiative to restructure the Joint Task Force for better service delivery, efficiency and effectiveness.

A statement signed by Rabe Abubakar, Brigadier General and Acting Director, Defence Information, said the move is in line with the vision and mission of the Chief of Defence Staff to contain the current security challenges in the Niger Delta especially protection of critical assets and provision of security in the area.

Under this arrangement, the Joint Operational Areas of the new outfit have been delineated into 3 sectors and 5 Operational Bases covering the entire Niger Delta, Ondo and Akwa Ibom States.  The headquarters of OPERATION DELTA SAFE would be in Yenagoa.

This development, according to Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonisakin becomes expedient in order to inject new tactics and robust operational initiative to tackle the emerging security challenges in the Niger Delta region such as piracy, bunkering, vandalism and other criminal activities prevalent in the area.