The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has inaugurated the newly established 16 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Bayelsa into operation with patrol in and around Yenogoa.
The brigade was set up in November, 2016 as part of efforts to address militancy and other forms of criminality in the Niger Delta region.
Speaking at the occasion, Buratai noted that the security challenges witnessed in the area in recent past had resulted in dwindling resources accruing to the nation.
He said that the security challenges confronting the nation and Niger Delta in particular, required the establishment of the brigade in the area.
He urged the officers and soldiers of the brigade to swing into action like their colleagues in the North-East by moving into suspected criminal hideouts in the creeks to fish them out.
Buratai also charged them to ensure that the waterways were made safe for the people to go about lawful business.
Speaking earlier when he visited Gov. Seriake Dickson at Government House, the COAS, stressed the need to protect Bayelsa from possible external aggression from its borders with the Atlantic Ocean.
He said that the anny would soon establish a battalion in Nembe, headquarters of Nembe Local Govemment Area of the state.
In his response, Dickson traced the security challenges witnessed in the Nembe axis to its closeness to the Atlantic Ocean and requested for the establishment army formation in the area.
“We understand the primacy of security because without it there will be no development,” he said, and thanked army for ensuring security in the state.