A retired military officer, General Ishola Williams, has thrown his weight behind the ongoing debate on the creation of state police as a panacea to kidnapping, banditry and the hydra-headed security challenges ubiquitous in Nigeria.

He was a guest on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television on Friday.

The octogenarian also urged the government to change its strategies in the prolonged counter-insurgency war.

“On security, if you have been doing something for over 10 years and it is not working, you should change tactics. If you don’t change the doctrine and the tactics, you will never be able to deal with the problem,” he said.

General Ishola said the current structure of the Nigeria Police Force is outdated and should be scrapped.

“The structure is completely outdated but the police will never agree. Not only the police but the military,” he said.

He said public safety must be bottom-up because crime prevention is a much better crime control system. “That is why we need the state police, that is why we need the local government police,” he said. “Because where do they kidnap people if not for communities?”

“Scrap the present Nigerian Police and create Crime Intelligence and Criminal Agency. What do they do? They will act like the FBI (the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States).

“You then create a para-military police. People forget that the mobile police was created as a para-military police.

“With a good para-military police and border agencies, you don’t need the military; the military can now concentrate in the North-East.”

The retired general said many security agencies created by the government were formed not out of functionality and efficiency but the create jobs, and until this has been corrected, the desired solution would remain a mirage.