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As consultation continues over the Nigerian Peace Corps Establishment Bill to some selected Federal Government Ministeries and Agencies, Peace Corps of Nigeria led by its founder and National Commandant, Prof. Dickson Akoh have visited the Honourable Minister of State for Education, Rt. Hon. Goodluck Nana Opiah.

The visit is meant to brief the ministry and the Honourable Minister over the state of the Nigerian Peace Corps Establishment Bill and also the role the Corps is expected to play in Educational Institutions.

The Minister assured of a good working relationship with the Corps upon eventual assent by Mr. President of the Nigerian Peace Corps Establishment Bill currently before him.

Upon presidential assent, the Corps is expected to function within educational institutions, neighborhood watch and many other functions outlined in the Nigerian Peace Corps Establishment Bill.

When assented by Mr. President, the Nigerian Peace Corps Establishment Bill is to solely give statutory backing to the already existing Peace Corps of Nigeria as evidently stated in the Harmonized copy of the bill currently before President Muhammad Buhari for his assent.

The National Assembly has kick-started the process of transmitting to the Presidency the Bill for an Act to establish the Nigeria Peace Corps with final harmonization of the Bill by the two Chambers.

The House of Representatives took the lead by constituting a six-man Conference Committee that would work with their Senate counterpart to harmonise and produce a clean copy of the Bill for onward transmission to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

Members of the House Conference Committee are Hon Babangida Ibrahim (Chairman)  Hon Tijani Kayode Ismail, Hon Chinedu Ogah, Hon Ibrahim Umar Potiskum, Hon Abdulmumini Are and Hon Legor Idegbo as members.

On its part, the Senate’s Committee members
Senator Kashim Shettima, Chairman while
Senator Abba Moro, Senator Betty Apiafi, Senator Oriolowo Adelere,  Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe and Senator Seriake Dickson are members.

The Conference Committee members are expectedly to look at discrepancies and harmonize them before forwarding the clean copy to the Presidency.

It will be recalled that the Nigeria Peace Corps (NPC) Establishment Bill passed in 2022 by the two Chambers was sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee of the Nigerian Army, Senator Ali Ndume while that of the House of Representatives was sponsored by the Chief Whip, Rt Hon  Mohammed Monguno as HB17

Sources at the National Assembly confided in our correspondent that the harmonization would be completed before the National Lawmakers proceed on campaign recess next week.

One of the Lawmakers who did not want his name mentioned said that the harmonized copy of the Bill would reach President Buhari’s table early enough so as to quicken Presidential Assent to it.

The Bill, among others, seeks to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps as a body charged with the responsibility to develop, empower and provide gainful employment to youths, facilitate peace, volunteerism,, Community Service, Neighbourhood Watch and Nation building.

According to part Vlll of the passed Bill, when assented to by President Buhari, would give statutory backing to the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria.

The Peace Corps of Nigeria established over 24 years ago under the National Commandant, Professor Dickson Ameh Akoh is Incorporated in Nigeria under the Company and Allied Matters (CAMA) Act and accorded the Federal Government recognition through the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.

Due to the value driven programs of the Corps, aimed at the socio-economic empowerment of the Nigerian youths and its onerous contributions to peace building and advocacy, the United Nations in 2011 accorded the organization a Special Consultative Status while the African Union in 2016 accorded same status to the organization, thus, making it a member of the Social and Economic Councils of both the United Nations and the African Union.

So far, the organization has a well structured network of offices in the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory FCT.

It has a membership strength of over 187,000 comprising of both regular staff and volunteers.

For the landmark achievements and accomplishments of the organization thus far, the Corps and its National Commandant have received over 110 Awards Nationally and Internationally.

© From Kayode Lawal, Abuja.

advocacy, the United Nations in 2011 accorded the organization a Special Consultative Status while the African Union in 2016 accorded same status to the organization, thus, making it a member of the Social and Economic Councils of both the United Nations and the African Union.

So far, the organization has a well structured network of offices in the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory FCT.

The National Assembly Conference Committee set up by both Senate and the House of Representatives to harmonize the Bill for an Act to establish the Nigeria Peace Corps completed its assignment on Wednesday thereby clearing coast for transmission of the Bill to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.

The Harmonized Report of the Conference Committee which was laid and adopted by the House of Representatives today showed that the Conference adopted the version of the Bill as passed by in terms of clause 38(2).

Highlight of the adopted report is on clause 38 (1) of the version passed by the Senate which is in conflict with the version passed by the House of Representatives as contained under clause 38 (1).

Whereas the Senate’s version seeks dissolution of the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria and National Unity and Peace Corps, the House of Representatives version of the Bill solely recommends the dissolution of the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria to be transformed into the Nigerian Peace Corps when assented to President Buhari.

The Conference report clarified that for a Bill to become an Act of Parliament in Nigeria, it must pass through the two Chambers of the National Assembly, a criteria which the National Unity and Peace Corps Bill could not attain because its Bill was never debated unlike that of the Peace Corps of Nigeria debated and passed by the two Chambers.

However, the Bill for an Act to establish the Nigeria Peace Corps expressly provided under clause 38 (8) a window of opportunity for individuals, groups, associations or bodies that show or demonstrate interest to be absorbed as members of the Corps shall be absorbed subject to the mandatory basic training and orientation program of the Corps as may be prescribed from time to time when the Bill is signed into law.

Members of the Senate’s Committee are:
Senator Kashim Shettima, Chairman.
Senator Abba Moro member.
Senator Betty Apiafi Member.
Senator Oriolowo Adelere member
Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe member and
Senator Seriake Dickson member

Members of the House Conference Committee are Hon Babangida Ibrahim (Chairman)  Hon Tijani Kayode Ismail, Hon Chinedu Ogah, Hon Ibrahim Umar Potiskum, Hon Abdulmumini Are and Hon Legor Idegbo as members.

It will be recalled that the Nigeria Peace Corps (NPC) Establishment Bill passed in 2022 by the two Chambers was sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Committee of the Nigerian Army, Senator Ali Ndume while that of the House of Representatives was sponsored by the Chief Whip, Rt Hon  Mohammed Monguno as HB17

One of the Lawmakers who did not want his name mentioned said that the harmonized copy of the Bill would reach President Buhari’s table early enough so as to quicken Presidential Assent to it.

The Bill, among others, seeks to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps as a body charged with the responsibility to develop, empower and provide gainful employment to youths, facilitate peace, volunteerism,, Community Service, Neighborhood Watch and Nation building.

According to part Vlll of the passed Bill, when assented to by President Buhari, would give statutory backing to the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria.

The Peace Corps of Nigeria established over 24 years ago under the National Commandant, Professor Dickson Ameh Akoh is Incorporated in Nigeria under the Company and Allied Matters (CAMA) Act and accorded the Federal Government recognition through the Federal Ministry of Youth Development.

Due to the value driven programs of the Corps, aimed at the socio-economic empowerment of the Nigerian youths and its onerous contributions to peace building and advocacy, the United Nations in 2011 accorded the organization a Special Consultative Status while the African Union in 2016 accorded same status to the organization, thus, making it a member of the Social and Economic Councils of both the United Nations and the African Union.

So far, the organization has a well structured network of offices in the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory FCT.

On the occasion of Nigeria’s 63rd Independence, Dr Dickson Akoh, National Commandant, Peace Corps of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to be proactive in dealings with the populace. Akoh made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday..

According to him, “the present economic situation citizens of the country are facing is a delicate one that requires the virtue of patience”. The Commandant appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience with the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

“The blame shouldn’t go to him alone because in the last 63 years, what we ought to have done but couldn’t do is what is accounting for where we find ourselves today. “Citizens also should understand the special situation the country has found herself and be hoping that with time, we’ll get out of this hardship,’’ he said.

Akoh expressed optimism that the present administration’s new economic policy would impact positively on the lives of citizens of the country. Going forward, the Commandant noted that Peace Corps is the sure way to go for Nigerian youths if crime and notoriety was to be adequately addressed in the country. He said the Corps was an indigenous innovation and not an idea borrowed or sold to Nigeria. He disclosed that the idea was born in the early 90s when he sat down with other young men to think on the way forward for Nigerian youths.

He said after comprehensive research, they discovered that a viable and productive venture where youths could be gainfully employed and better off was in the area of security of the nation. “There are a lot of porosity as far as security operation is concerned, it’s not an issue whereby any agency of government would say they are on top of the situation. “That is why we engage a good number of our youth and empower them to take charge of their local communities, local neighborhood,’’ he said.

Akoh told NAN that it was not all about arms importation or using kinetic approach, that non kinetic approach could also add serious value to the security architecture. “That is the way to go and that is what peace corps stands for,’’ he said.

The Senate Thursday affirmed the National Commandant of Peace Corps of Nigeria, Professor Dickson Akoh, as the owner of the bill,  it along with the House of Representatives, legislated upon and transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent last month.

The bill as stated in a statement signed by Senator Ali Ndume in his capacity as the sponsor in the Senate, seeks for an Act to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps which was accordingly considered, harmonised, and adopted by the two chambers of the National Assembly.

It also declared that any other group or individual, laying claim and parading itself as Nigerian Peace Corps, is illegal.

Affirmation of Dickson Akoh led Peace Corps by the Senate as the authentic body that approached it and the House of Representatives for consideration and passage of the bill, arose from claims being made by one Mustapha that he is the owner of the bill.

The statement reads: “The attention of the leadership of the Senate and indeed the National Assembly has been drawn to different groups laying claims to the Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps which was harmonized and adopted by the two Chambers of the National Assembly.

“The Bill as passed by the two Chambers of the National Assembly is solely sponsored by the current Peace Corps of Nigeria under the headship of Prof. Dickson Akoh as the National Commandant.

“Since the Bill was transmitted to Mr President for his assent by the Clerk of the National Assembly on the 12th April 2023, the Senate has been inundated with several entreaties as to the status of the Bill, especially the Organization that is sought to give statutory backing after Mr. President’s assent to the Bill.

“To put the record straight, Part VIII of the Bill titled “Dissolution of the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria and Savings” explicitly provides that at the commencement of the Act that the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria will be dissolved and transmuted to the Nigerian Peace Corps. The import of this, therefore, is that the Bill only sought to give statutory backing to the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria under the leadership of Prof. Dickson Akoh.

“Also, on the issue of the nomenclature of the headship of the proposed Nigerian Peace Corps, the title is National Commandant as contained in Part III, Section 11(1) of the Bill as passed and not Commandant General as widely been speculated.

“However, the Bill made adequate provision in Section 38 (8) was made to accommodate individuals, groups, associations or bodies that have shown or demonstrated interest to be absorbed as members of the Corps shall be absorbed subject to the mandatory basic training and orientation programme of the Corps as prescribed on the commencement of this Act.

“It is important to say that effect cannot be given to this Bill until same is assented into Law by Mr President. Therefore, any group laying claim and parading itself as Nigerian Peace Corps, for now, is illegal.

The National Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN), Professor, Dickson Ameh Akoh has appealed passionately with President Muhammadu Buhari to  this time around, assent to a Bill for an Act that would make the organization a statutory body.

The Bill for an Act to Establish the Nigerian Peace Corps (NPC) passed by the two Chambers of the National Assembly is currently on the table of President Buhari for assent having been transmitted to him last week.

However, addressing a World Press Conference on the development in Abuja on Thursday, Prof Akoh said that President Buhari will bequeath a lasting parting gift to the Nigerian youth and would be remembered for good when he assented to the Bill.

Justifying the need for Buhari to sign the Bill, Akoh explained that its entire contents, especially the functions contained in the Bill is a summation of an inclusive empowerment programmes for the youth and on how to harness their innate potentials for the over all tasks of nation-building.

According to him, the passage of the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill is not only timely, reassuring and a renewed hope for the Nigerian youth, but also a pointer to the fact that the political elites is still very much conscious of the social challenges confronting the youth and therefore, passionate on proffering solutions to the challenges to same in order to place the youth in the front burner of our  national life.

Akoh said to underscore the high level of acceptability of the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill, opinion polls conducted in 2017 by The Nation Newspaper, Naija.com and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA-Good Morning Nigeria) revealed that 89%, 76% and 97% respectively supported the establishment of the Nigerian Peace Corps.

Similarly, he said that Premium Times, an online publication and Punch Newspaper conducted opinion poll on the Bill and returned a favourable verdict of 85% and 93% respectively in its support.

“Concerned with the increasing waves of unemployment and high level of poverty in the land, both past and present administrations initiated different intervention policies to mitigate these challenges.

“Some of these initiatives are Subsidy Re-investment Programme (SURE-P), You- Win, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), N-Power, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), Government Intervention Funds (GIF), Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) and Social Safety Net (SSN).

“It is a proven fact and incontrovertible reality that once these ‘Financial Handouts’ are no longer forthcoming or delayed in coming, these same Youths go back to the streets on protest or quickly revert to social ills and unproductive preoccupations, and even sometimes back-lashing the Government.

“However, it is advisable that a more robust, sustainable and institutionalized approach be adopted to ensure irreversibility of conditions and welfare status of our youths. In more developed economies, efforts are tailored towards the pre-occupation of the youths in productive ventures where they will be economically useful to themselves and the larger society.

“This is in addition to engaging them in moral, citizenship and leadership training aimed at character building and their valuable participation in nation-building.

“In the United States of America, for instance, the American Peace Corps was created as an agency to promote World Peace and Friendship by training American youths as volunteers to perform social and humanitarian services overseas, including Nigeria.

“The volunteers help communities in Developing Countries improve their Social and Economic conditions.

“The dynamic nature of insecurity in Nigeria today requires role differentiation as a panacea to expertise in addressing security challenges. It also requires multi- sectoral, multi- lateral and multi- dimensional approaches to tackle.

“In more advanced societies, Youth Based Organisations like the Nigerian Peace Corps, are established with the sole aim of engaging and pre-occupying the youths as a panacea to the social consequences of been unemployed.

“Similar organisations that exist in other parts of the world are: the American Peace Corps, Canadian Peace Corps, Bangladesh National Cadet Corps, Peace Officers Commission in China, Chinese Labour Corps, Lera Uniform Corps of Malaysia, Malaysian People Volunteer Corps, Production and Construction Corps of China.

“All these are consciously and deliberately designed to empower and socially pre-occupy the youths so that their state of idleness won’t be exploited adversely.

Akoh thanked the leadership and entire members of the 9th National Assembly for the extraordinary and unanimous support given to his Organisation all through the legislative processes leading to the eventual passage  of the Bill for an Act to Establish Nigerian Peace Corps.

He said that the overwhelming support accorded the Bill by the members of the Senate and House of Representatives would be recognised and celebrated by all bonafide members of the Corps.

“While we particularly note with deep appreciation, the cordial efforts and support for our Bill, it is our most considered view that the  members of the 9th Assembly, have through the passage of the Bill, demonstrated their strong passion and commitment to the emancipation of Nigerian Youth through  genuine youth empowerment and development, which are prerequisite for addressing the increasing wave of unemployment and its social consequences upon the nation.

“However, we assure them that when the history of this Organisation is written, their names will have a pride of place and be written in gold.

Akoh also thanked media in the country for the support to the Peace Corps and the eventual passage of the Bill.

“II wish to re-assure you that we will remain a veritable partner as we hope to transit from a Non-Governmental Organisation to a Government Agency with the anticipated assent of the Bill by Mr President”.

Nigerians are optimistic that signing the Nigeria Peace Corps bill will remove many unemployed citizens from the streets.
This is coming amid controversies over the unemployment rate in the country.

The urgency surrounding the Peace Corps Bill is underscored by the disconcerting unemployment statistics recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, the unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent.

Before concluding his tenure on May 29, 2023, President Buhari received a number of bills for his assent, including the prominent Nigeria Peace Corps bill.

This legislation, sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume, aimed to legitimise the establishment of the Peace Corps as a government entity, affording legal recognition to all serving members of the Peace Corps of Nigeria.

Founded by Dickson Akoh, the Peace Corps has ardently championed peace-building and youth empowerment endeavours across the nation.

Nevertheless, the organisation has grappled with challenges stemming from its lack of legal footing and acknowledgment as a government parastatal.

A pivotal point in the bill’s journey was President Buhari’s rejection in 2018.

His concerns encompassed national security implications and the fiscal burden of sustaining the organisation.

Yet, in the 9th Senate, the bill was reintroduced, fostering optimism that it might finally secure the essential assent.

But upon assumption of office, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is yet to make a comment on the pending bill.

Some youths, including activist Fred Agbaje, James Akoji, Emmanuel Uduh, and Damiete Paul, collectively urged President Tinubu to recognize the bill’s potential for resolving the nation’s unemployment crisis.

Fred Agbaje, “The Peace Corps Bill isn’t just about an organisation; it’s about hope for millions of unemployed youths. Tinubu’s support could be the key to unlocking a better future.”

James Akoji, “Tinubu’s decision carries the weight of our dreams. The Peace Corps offers a chance for youth engagement and positive change. We urge him to seize this opportunity.”

Emmanuel Uduh, “As the unemployment crisis deepens, the Peace Corps Bill stands as a beacon of hope. Tinubu’s endorsement could redefine the future for our generation.”

Damiete Paul, “We’re not just asking for a signature; we’re asking for a lifeline. The Peace Corps can empower us to make a difference. We implore Tinubu to stand with us.”

Aondona Shija, “This isn’t just about a bill; it’s about empowering our youth to shape our nation’s destiny. Let’s rally behind the Peace Corps and the vision it holds.”

Agnes Luga, “The Peace Corps Bill isn’t just policy; it’s a commitment to our youth’s future. I believe in its potential and call for collective endorsement.

“We’re at a juncture where the Peace Corps could be a catalyst for change. Let’s hope Tinubu recognizes the opportunity and the difference it can make.”

Eunice Agaigbe, “The youths hold the keys to our nation’s progress. The Peace Corps Bill can provide a path forward. Let’s unite behind its cause.”