The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, said that the Operation ‘Delta Safe’ action in the South-South region is currently yielding results.
Speaking during his maiden visit to the Headquarters of the Nigerian Army 6 Division, Port Harcourt., Mr Badaru said Nigeria’s oil production has increased following the activities of the military in the region.
In a statement issued by the Director of Information and Public Relations at the Ministry of Defence, Henshaw Ogubike, the minister commended the operations of the Division/ Land Component Joint Task task for their continued fight against oil theft and other forms of criminalities in the South-South.
Stating the Delta Safe operation is in tandem with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu to fight oil theft across the country, Mr Badaru called for support for the military by the residents of oil-rich states.
He said, “What we are doing today is to commend the troops and encourage them to do more and put an end to oil theft in the region,” he said.
“Certainly, we are seeing progress. Oil production has increased and it will continue to increase and I assure you that before the end of this year, you will see tremendous increase in oil production,” he added.
The minister admonished troops deployed to the operation to remain steadfast and intensify efforts to end criminality in the Niger Delta region to ensure increased oil production.
Also speaking, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 6 Division/ Land Component Joint Task Force South South Operation Delta Safe, Major General JH Abdussalam, said that they have strengthened the fighting capability of the troops.
Mr Abdussalam also said that robust joint measures have been put up to thwart the activities of oil thieves as well as denying freedom of action by some criminal groups like IPOB/ESN.
He assured the minister of task force’s commitment to sustaining the anti-oil theft operations until the Federal Government’s target of two million barrels per day was achieved by the end of 2024.