Stakeholders beg Buhari over Peace Corps bill.

Stakeholders especially have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to rescind his decision on the withholding of assent for the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) bill.

They said the action would deprive the teeming youths the opportunity to secure targeted employment.

A public analyst, Thomas Ikugbese at a news conference in Akure, the state capital said signing the bill would have boosted the image of Buhari’s administration.

He expressed fear on possibility of more youths who were disappointed on the development not to go on suicide mission like it reportedly happened recently in Gombe state.

Buhari had declined to assent to the Nigeria Peace Corps (Establishment) Bill passed in 2017 by the National Assembly.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara read the letter from the President who cited security concerns and financial implication as parts of the reasons for declining to sign the bill.

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Ikugbese who is a Presidential Candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) noted that the refusal of President Buhari to sign the bill would affect many youths who had hoped that the Peace Corps of Nigeria would provide them employment.

He urged President Buhari to save youths from committing suicide by rescinding his decision and assent to the PCN’s bill.

In the alternative, Ikugbese urged National Assembly to recall the bill to the parliament and muster two-thirds of the membership of the House of Representatives and Senate to pass it into law.

Ikugbese said that Nigeria with the population of 186 million and police numbering about 370, 000 need effective policing.

He said, of the 370, 000 a staggering 80 percent of this number are assigned to private citizens, politicians, businessmen and private enterprises while leaving only 20 percent for the core police duties of peace and security.

According to him, there are people in the security agencies and in the presidency frustrating efforts of President Buhari to append his signature on the bill.

He said that the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) was not in a competition with the police or other security agencies.

He explained that the Presidency should not be scared of monthly remuneration that the Peace Corps of Nigeria will gulp from the scarce resources of the nation.

The NCP Presidential aspirant noted that the fund to run the corps should not necessarily come from the federal government as those who required its service could pay.

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