Military Launches “Octopus Grip” to Reverse Growing Oil Theft

Emmanuel Addeh 

To curb the growing oil theft, illegal refining and vandalism in the country, the Nigerian military has launched an operation codenamed ‘’Octopus Grip’’ in the Niger Delta. 

At the kick-off of the operation, expected to last 90 days, in Bassambiri, Nembe Local Government, Bayelsa State, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor warned oil thieves, vandals and other criminals to stay away from government assets.

Represented by the Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Maj. Gen. Adeyemi Yekini, he stated that in line with its constitutional mandate, the military would continue to identify security threats across the various geo-political zones in the country with a view to neutralising them.

Irabor stressed that to make the operation more effective, troops of Operation Delta Safe (OpDS) had been given new rules of engagement to deal with the menace.

Speaking earlier, Commander, OpDS, Rear Adm. Aminu Hassan, said the operation was aimed at reinforcing and sustaining the successes recorded in “Operations Accord” 1&2  which took place from December 2017 to April 2022 resulting in the arrests of 206 suspects.

During the programme, he noted that the destruction of 682 illegal oil refining camps, and 10 militants’ and pirates’ camps in the joint operation areas were carried out.

 Hassan explained that at the end of the new operation, it is expected that activities of oil thieves in the area would have reduced drastically and the integrity of oil and gas installations and facilities would be relatively assured.

The Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) has come under massive attacks in recent months, hobbling Nigeria’s attempts at meeting the quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).