Peace Corps Commends National Assembly On Bill Transmission To Presidency
By Chinwe Onuigbo, Awka
The Commandant Peace Corps of Nigeria, PCN, Anambra State, Mr Innocent Okolo, has commended the National Assembly, NASS, for working towards the transmission of the Nigeria Peace Corps Bill to President Buhari for assent.
The machinery for transmitting the Bill seeking for an Act to establish the Nigeria Peace Corps to President Muhammadu Buhari was set in motion in the National Assembly after the inauguration of a conference committee that will harmonise the reports of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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.
Reacting to the development in Awka, Anambra State, Commandant Okolo, explained that the conference committee members were expected to look out for discrepancies and harmonise them before forwarding the clean copy to the Presidency.
He expressed optimism that the harmonisation process would be completed before the Lawmakers proceed on campaign recess to quicken presidential assent to it.
The Peace Corps Bill
The Nigeria Peace Corps Bill 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.
The Bill when assented to by President Buhari, would give statutory backing to the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria.
So far, the organization has structured offices in the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory FCT.
It also has a membership strength of over 187,000 comprising of regular staff and volunteers but the bill was denied assent by President Buhari in 2018 when the 8th Assembly transmitted it to him for assent.
Earlier, Mr Okolo said that the expectations of Nigerians especially youths will come to fulfilment in no distant time. He urged Anambra people to enrol with the command as the state has over three hundred slots for those wishing to join the corps. Okolo also called on existing staff of the corps to report to the state office or local government areas for briefing.
Emmanuel Ukoh
