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Army sets up mechanism to check crime as “Exercise AGBARA OPOLO” climaxes

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6 years ago

November 16, 2017

Olu Emmanuel

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By OKOSUN DENNIS & CHRISTIANA ODINTA

The General Officer Commanding, (GOC), 81 Dvision, Nigerian Army, Major General Peter Dauke, said on Wednesday that the Army will continue to interface with other security agencies to maintain security within its area of responsibilities.

He spoke with National Daily at the Headquarters, 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment during the ongoing “Exercise AGBARA OPOLO” meaning “Brain Power.”

Gen Dauke, who is the Exercise Director, explained that “Brain Power” is the last training exercise of the division in 2017.

He observed that having successfully carried out “Operation Crocodile Smile 2” and taking cognisance of the fact that 2018 is fast approaching, there was “the need to continue to interface with other security agencies to maintain peace.”

Dauke, who was briefed about proceedings of the exercise by participating battalions and the sectors reiterated that, “As you can see, the scenario is as realistic as possible with what we envisaged.

“It is an indoors telephone battle where we refresh our staff officers and soldiers on communications, operational staff work, watch keeping activities and among other briefings.”

The GOC pointed out that the exercise gives room to make mistakes with a view to correcting them since “it wasn’t an assessed exercise.”

“It is better we make mistakes back home and correct them than to go to the field and make such mistakes when we face realistic situations.

“As the year is running to an end, we would continue to face security situations and it is good we practice to confront such situations when it arises.

Earlier in a conversation with National Daily, the Commander, 9 Brigade, Brig Gen Elias

Attu, expressed satisfaction with the level of security in Lagos but added that the only problems they are still battling with are “opportunistic crimes like snatching of phones and other valuables at traffic.”

Reiterating, the Commander noted that Exercise Agbara Opolo was to train officers and men on the correct procedure of communication emphasising that it was strictly an indoor battle drill.

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Originally, National Daily gathered, the exercise is aimed at exercising staff officers of 9 Brigade and subordinate units on every aspect of staff duties in Internal Security Operations.

Other aspects include “Handing and Taking over procedures between the Military and Civil Police, peculiarities of Crowd Dispersal, Road Blocks, Curfew and Cordon and Search.”

Brig Gen Attu observed that since Operation Crocodile Smile 2 was concluded, the crime rate has significantly reduced in Lagos area.

He added that in the army, there is a laid down procedure for receiving information.

Therefore, there is the need to train officers and soldiers on the correct procedure of communication.

“It will also make us more professional in handling situations when the need arises as far as the military training is concerned.

“However, we are going to be more visible with our OP MESA. We are dealing with such crimes especially stealing in traffic.

On improving synergy among security services, Brig Gen Attu pointed out that “the exercise would help us improve synergy and cooperation among sister agencies.

“We have tried to stimulate what we had in “Operation Crocodile Smile 2” and see how staff officers would respond to realistic situations.

Participating agencies included the Nigerian Customs Service, Nigerian Police Force, Fire Service, Department of State Security, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, and LASTMA.

National Daily learnt that the exercise began on Sunday 12 and rounded off on Friday 17th November, 2017.