ABUJA – President Mohammadu Buhari yesterday withdrew assent to the National Peace Corps Bill which was passed by the National Assembly and forwarded to him late last year, citing lack of funds to fund the agency, which he also said is a duplication of the responsibility of the functions of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
Other Bill rejected by the President are: Police Equipment Fund (Amendment) Bill, National Council on Management (establishment) Bill.
Recall that the Peace Corps Office in Abuja had been in lock and key by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) who had described the agency as an illegal body, provided the President had not assented to the Bill.
Reacting to this, the Peace Corps Commandant General, Dickson Akor, had sued the NPF for locking up their national secretariat, following which the a federal High Court in Abuja, passed a judgement directing the Police to vacate the Peace Corps Headquaters.
However, the police refused to unseal the office for about four months, until President Mohammadu Buhari yesterday indicated that he will not assent to the Bill, giving reasons of duplication of functions and lack of funds to finance the agency.
During the final passage of the Bill, the Chairman, Committee on Interior, Senator Bayero Nafada (Gombe) who sponsored the Bill, said “The organisation will be of great benefit to the Nigerian youths (because) in response to increasing complexity of the factors responsible for insecurity and the method by which peace and security is being undermined in Nigeria, there is need to develop comprehensive, multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholders and inclusive approaches in order to stem these threats.”
The committee also recommended that the Nigerian Peace Corps and the National Unity and Peace Corps should be merged since both formations appear the same.
The Senate had at its sitting on Thursday, March 10, 2016 debated on the general principles of the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill, 2016 (SB.173) sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume and the National Unity and Peace Corps Bill, 2016 (SB.183) sponsored by Senator Binta Garba Masi and referred it to the committee for further legislative action.
The Commandant General of the Nigerian Peace Corps, had claimed that the agency among others, seeks to empower, develop and provide gainful employment for the youths, to facilitate Peace, Volunteerism, Community Services, Neighbourhood Watch and Nation-building.
As recommended, the Head of the Corps was to be referred to as Commandant-General (CG) with 6 Deputy Commandant-Generals (DCGs) and six Assistant Commandant-General (ACGs), drawn from the 6 geopolitical zones.
