The bill to establish peace corps of Nigeria step aside till resumption of plenary September

By ken Edosovba

A Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps (NPC) jointly sponsored by the Chief Whip, Rt. Hon. Mohammed Monguno and Rt. Hon. Uzoma Abonta, was slated yesterday 23rd July, 2020 in the Order Paper at the House of Representatives for consideration/adoption by the Committee of the Whole.

It is pertinent to state that the core mandate of the Bill which was earlier passed by the 8th National Assembly is to Develop, Empower and provide gainful employment for the youths to facilitate Peace, Volunteerism, Community Services, Neighbourhood Watch and Nation Building; and for other related matters. The Bill is to give statutory backing to the already existing Peace Corps of Nigeria.

It is worthy to note that, the NPC Bill which came up yesterday for consideration was No. 48 of the 51 Bills and Motions on the Order Paper of the House of Representatives. Being the last legislative day of seating by the House before its annual recess, the House sat from 11:00am to 4:00pm, but Honourable Members of the House got exhausted before they got to the NPC Bill, hence, it was stepped down for another legislative day.

It is important to note that, the NPC Bill was not the only Bill that was stepped down, 18 other Bills, Motions as well as Committees report were also stepped down for another legislative day upon resumption on 15th September, 2020.

In a related development, the NPC Bill sponsored by the Senate Committee Chairman on Army, Dist. Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume will come up with the budget attached for Second Reading before the Senate when the National Assembly reconvene after the annual recess.

We urge all Officers and Men of the Corps to remain steadfast as we are very optimistic that the Nigerian Peace Corps (Establishment) Bill will soon be passed by the 9th National Assembly and will be assented to by the President and Commander in-chief of the Armed Forces, President Muhammadu Buhari, as all the grey areas have been properly addressed.