Three Monarchs have appealed to President Ahmed Tinubu to give Presidential Assent to the Bill of the Peace Corps of Nigeria to make it a statutory body.
The traditional rulers, Etsu Nupe, Dr Yahaya Abubakar, Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayatse and the Ochi-idoma of Idomaland, Dr John Eliagwu expressed optimism that making Peace Corps a government establishment would not only create jobs for the teaming jobless youths but will reduce crime rate in the country.
In their separate remarks at a public event put together by the Peace Corps, in Abuja, the three monarchs pleaded with President Tinubu to immediately give a second thought to the issue of transforming the Peace Corps from a nongovernmental organisation to a government body.
At the public function attended by top Federal Government functionaries, Etsu Nupe blamed the past refusal of assent to the PCN Bill on misconception adding that the Corps was not founded to wrestle power from any other security agency but to contribute to youth development and crime reduction in the grassroots level.
“The truth is that without peace, no one in the country would be able to worship his or her creator. Peace Corps mission was unjustly misconstrued, the monarch said.
The Chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers pleaded with the existing security agencies to allow Peace Corps to come on board, cooperate with it, and collaborate with it in the peace initiative that would reduce incidences of insecurity in the country.
He lauded the initiative of the founder of the organisation, Professor Dickson Ameh Akoh and the resilience that had sustained the body in the past 25 years in the face of stiff opposition.
The Tor Tiv and Chairman of Benue State Council of Traditional Rulers said that monarchs stand for the course of the Peace Corps and would mobilise themselves and well-meaning Nigerians to give support for the Bill to be assented to.
He said with the strong voice of Etsu Nupe in the National Traditional Council, what is humanly possible would be done to get President Tinubu’s assent for the PCN Bill.
” We are the closest people to the grassroots level. We know what peace means and what the Peace Corps can do. We are beginning other bodies not to see PCN as a threat. There is no room for competition but complementation with each other.
Also, the Ochi-idoma pleaded with Tinubu to give approval for the Establishment Act to further demonstrate his concern to address unemployment among youths.
National Commandant of the Corps had recalled with regret how the 8th and 9th National Assemblies passed the bill for the Establishment of the Corps as a statutory body but was not assented to by the Presidency.
Akoh noted that during the stiff opposition to the existence of the body, he was detained for seven and half years while the Corps won over 30 cases in court.
He praised the resilience of officers and volunteers of the Corps for remaining committed to the noble cause of the organisation in spite of the numerous challenges.
Dominica Nwabufo
