….Says Customs and Immigration should be transformed into National Border Force
Former Secretary of Transparency International,TI, Major General Ishola Williams(retd) has said that there is no need to appoint state Commissioners when the on state police is finally passed.
In an exclusive interview with Newdawnngr.com,Gen Williams said appointing Commissioners in the state controlled by state governors will cause confusion in policing.
According to him,what should be done is that the Nigeria Police Force,NPF,should be divided into two autonomous agencies.
The agencies he said should be made up of Crime Intelligence and
Criminal Investigation Agency(CICIA) with a Director General at each zone.
He suggested that each zones of the country will have a Director and Assistant Directors to support the state Police if requested.
Secondly,he suggested that the Mobile Police should be turned into a National Paramilitary Force with a Commandant General adding that each zone should have a Zonal Deputy Commandant Generals to back up state Police with no guns but other gadgets to curb violent crimes and Riots and not Protests.
In this new system,General Williams who was reacting to a new Bill now before the Senate and meant to curb powers of State Police, said instead the Inspector General should be redesignated as
IGP for Training,Standards,Monitoring and Evaluation of State Police(IG-TSME) all to be under the control of Ministry of Interior.
Each Zone will have a Director with Asst Directors to support the State Police if requested.
In the same breadth,he said the existing Mobile Police Force should be turned into National Paramilitary Force with a Comdt-General.
Each Zone will have a Zonal Deputy Comdt-Generals with State Comdts to back up State Police with no guns but other gadgets to curb Violent Crimes and Riots not Protests.
General Williams,a former Director of Training and logistics of Nigerian Army also suggested a merger of Immigration and Customs without Excise, which he said should be moved to Ministry of Finance.
In this regard, he suggested that both Immigration and Customs should now be known as the National Border Force(NBF) with a Comdt-General for the Borders only.
It will be recalled that latent fears about the misuse of state Police informed the new Bill now before the Senate aimed at reducing powers of state Police.
