A former director of Army Training and Doctrine, Rtd Major-General Isola Williams,:has called on the committee set up to harmonise government agencies and military establishments not to merge the three military universities with the National Defence Academy, Kaduna.
He told Newdawngr.com in an exclusive interview that since NDA was formed to train cadets, it should be left as such while the three military universities viz Army, Admiral University for Navy and the Air Force Institute of Technology can’t be Faculties of the NDA, adding that since it has a postgraduate course where they award diplomas and degrees, it can continue.
In order to achieve its objective, Gen Williams asked the committee set up by President Bola Tinubu to call for memoranda from members of the public.
He, however, said that the three military universities could have a change of name while the government sell them to private investors.
General Williams also canvassed for the establishment of National Defence University (NDU) while all the service colleges should be scrapped .
The new National Defence University, he said, would have its headquarters in Abuja with arms like National War and Joint Services Doctrine and Operations College to replace all scrapped services war colleges like Armed Forces Tactical Command and Staff College, Jaji, College of Military Operational Technology Simulation and innovations, Biu and College for Strategy, while College of Continental and Regional Security Studies should form the NDU which must not run undergraduate courses, but only conduct research and studies while awarding postgraduate courses only.
In his view, the newly created NDU with colleges above are to replace all scrapped services war colleges.
On the proposals to establish Forest Guards and Mining Police, General Williams said there was no need for such with the creation of State Police.
On Fight Against Corruption:
In order to achieve good security , the former secretary of Transparency International said: ”you must reduce corruption and bad practices to the minimum in the Armed Forces and all security agencies.
On the Operations of State Police:
With the State Police, he suggested division of the police into the following:
A: MOPOL as National Para-Military Agency with its own Commandant-General
B: National Crime Intelligence and Investigation Agency with its own DG
C:.National Inspector-General for Common Police Standards, Training ,
Monitoring, Evaluation and Feedbacks to states and Minister of Internal Affairs
The above, the retired general said, would back up state and LGA Neighbourhood Corps like those in Lagos and Amotekun.
State Police, according to him, would protect their own forests, mines and waterways, adding
“You do not need hunters and vigilantes.”
Private security Companies, Wiliiams noted, must be reformed with new training methods and employment to create intelligence synergy between private security and security agencies
On the efforts to stabilizer the naira against foreign currencies, he said: “If you have strong exports generating forex and producing what you need and not what you want, you will have surplus forever.
“We cut our foreign tastes.
If all Nigerian can wear traditional fabrics at all occasions, instead of foreign dresses, it will be better for us.
“In a state like Ogun, all public officials and schools must wear adire Buba/Sokoto and Iro/Buba.
“In addition, Nigeria Naira is exchanged in all illegal markets in West Africa because we export a lot to West Africa.”
Credit: New Dawn
