Delta Communities Embrace ‘Crocodile Smile’
Sylvester Idowu reports on how residents of communities in Delta State benefitted from the Nigerian Army’s free medical outreach as part of its military exercise in the Niger Delta region
Sylvester Idowu reports on how residents of communities in Delta State benefitted from the Nigerian Army’s free medical outreach as part of its military exercise in the Niger Delta region
Seventy- year-old Wonder Abul sauntered into the military tent set up by 222 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in his Ogbogbagbene, an Ijaw community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State. To his dismay, he saw hundreds of people, mostly women, aged and kids chatting with soldiers. This was strange to him.
As he moved further, he again saw another set of people consulting with and attending to patients in the presence of heavy presence of soldiers in another close by tent.
"I was shocked seeing soldiers in my community which is Ijaw. Soldiers were here before in pursuit of militants and we know what we went through. So seeing heavy presence of the military again made me jittery initially but I later learnt they are here to help us," he told THISDAY after he had met with some of the soldiers.
But what is it that caused the heavy presence of soldiers into that community this time around. A teacher in the community’s primary school, Joseph Bebefagha, clutching some drugs, said the military came to the community to offer them free medical services. He said he had been attended to by the medical team.
“I was surprised because people had thought when the military comes there would be threats, but there was nothing like that. When they came the approach they came with was nice. I have been attended to for malaria and to de-worm,” Bebefagha said.
Both Abul and Bebefagha were amongst thousands of people in various communities in Delta State that benefitted from the Nigerian Army's free medical care as part of the Operation Crocodile Smile recently launched across the Niger Delta region.
Contrary to the campaign by some local civil organisations to boycott the exercise, the people, mostly aged, women and children thronged the Ogbogbagbene, an Ijaw community in Burutu Local governent and Ugbokodo, an Itsekiri community both in Delta State, to benefit from the exercise which commenced last October, simultaneously.
Addressing beneficiaries at Ogbogbagbene, the Brigade Commander, 4 Brigade, Brigadier General Ibrahim Garba, explained that its ongoing exercise; ‘ Operation Crocodile Smile II’, has no aggressive intention, but designed to firm up its already existing security design for the communities.
He said at the kick off of a medical outreach put together by the 222 Battalion, held in Ogbogbagbene, that the exercise was part of the army’s role in fulfilling government’s primary duty of protecting lives and property of Nigerians.
Garba said the medical outreach was a way for the army to draw the civilian populace close enough to understand the army’s intentions.
“Everything we do is done for the betterment of the community, we are here to provide security for the community, protect lives and property and the exercise Crocodile Smile, as I said earlier, is just to
rejuvenate the existing security architecture that we already have on the ground, to make it more effective for this period.
“There are other security challenges that are militating against the developmental goals of either the local government, the
Both Wonder Abul and Joseph Bebefagha were amongst thousands of people in various communities in Delta State that benefitted from the Nigerian Army's free medical care as part of the Operation Crocodile Smile recently launched across the Niger Delta region