peace corps appeals

Peace Corps appeals to
Buhari to reconsider
assent to bill
The Peace Corps of Nigeria ( PCN ) on
Friday appealed to President Muhammadu
Buhari to reconsider his decision of not
assenting to the Peace Corps Bill passed
by the National Assembly.
The National Commandant, PCN, Mr
Dickson Akoh, made the call at the Board
of Trustees and National Executive
Committee meeting in Abuja.
“We want the President to assent to the bill,
if not for any reason, but for the social and
productive engagement of our teeming
youths in line with his campaign promises.
“The President’s withholding his assent to
our bill notwithstanding, we will continue to
have esteem confidence in Mr President’s
leadership,’’ he said.
Akoh said the bill was meant to give
statutory backing to the organisation, with
the core mandate of empowering the
youths, facilitating peace, volunteerism and
community service.
He noted that the Nigerian Peace Corps
Establishment Bill 2017 was not rejected by
the president for its weakness but for the
conceived pretexts.
“In every ideal democracy and advance
society, government should seek to explore
all avenues to empower and socially
engage the youth in order to reduce the
social consequences of their idleness.
“It is therefore, towards this aim that I wish
to restate for the umpteenth time that
similar organisations like the Peace Corps
exist in several other countries of the world
including the America, Canada, Bangladesh
and so on,” Akoh said.
The commandant said the function of the
Nigerian Peace Corps as captured in the
bill do not in any way conflict with the
function of any existing security agency.
“There was never a time in the history of
our country that the need for peace has
become fiercely urgent like now.
“The role of the Peace Corps is clearly
distinct from the conventional security and
para-military organisations hence its
placement under the Ministry of Sports and
Youth Development.
“The powers conferred on the Nigerian
Peace Corps in the bill do not also involve
arms bearing, investigation, detention and
persecution,’’ he said.
Akoh explained that one of the principal
objectives of the corps was the deployment
to schools and colleges to promote peace
sniff and sieve intelligence, saying this
could had prevented the abduction of the
Dapchi school girls in Yobe.
NAN