House of Representatives reintroduce Nigerian Peace Corps Bill

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, July 3, reintroduced a bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps. The bill titled 'Nigerian Peace Corps (Establishment) Bill, 2019 HB 17', being sponsored by a lawmaker, Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno), passed the first reading on Wednesday during the plenary. Recall that both the House and the Senate, had in 2016, passed the Nigerian Peace Corps Establishment Bill 2016 rejected by President Muhammad Buhari. The president had cited paucity of funds and duplication of functions of other security agencies as the main reasons for the rejection of the bill. It was gathered that the House of Representatives reintroduced the bill as a revised version of the rejected Bill. A source within the House of Representatives said the grey areas pointed out by the Presidency have been taken care of, in the new bill. "The Bill introduces more avenues for funding and there is none of its functions that overlaps with any existing security agency. "I'm sure the President, in line with his resolve to empower the Nigerian youth and also strengthen the intelligence gathering and neighborhood watch in Nigeria, will gladly welcome this Bill," the source said. The Bill seeks to give legal backing to the already existing Peace Corps of Nigeria, which was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a Non-Governmental Organization, with a consultative status with the United Nations and the African Union. The core mandates of the Corps is to develop, empower and provide gainful employment to the youths, in order to facilitate Peace, Volunteerism, Community Services, Neighbourhood Watch, nation-building and other related matters. Meanwhile,an Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Ahmed Jimoh, had petitioned vice president Yemi Osinbajo over the sealing of the Nigerian Peace Corps building in Abuja. The human rights lawyer in his petition called on Osinbajo to mandate the inspector general of the police and the Nigeria Police Force in general to unseal the corporate office of the Peace Corps. Jimoh also urged the presidency to direct police authorities to respect the rule of law and obey court orders directing them to vacate the office located at 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Abuja.