Senate pends Nigerian Peace Corp Bill

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Senate pends Nigerian Peace Corp Bill

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The Senate, has suspended passage of the conference report on the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill over an accusation of sharp practices in the recruitment of personnel by the organization. The case was being prosecuted in the law court.The Senate was divided over the bill, which both chambers had passed last year for the establishment of the Corps and also authorized a conference committee to work on.The House of Representatives was said to have finalized its workings on it in January 2017 but the upper chamber is yet to make its legislative actions.The disagreement on passage of the bill became noticed Tuesday, when the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Bayero Nafada moved a motion that the report of the conference committee be taken in but the move was countered by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu.Ekweremadu’s position was that the matter on Peace Corps is being attended to in court where the leadership of the Corps is undergoing trial in a 90-count charge.He said such decision would be a contravention of the law if the Corps was allowed to be established.Other Senators namely James Manager (Delta), Emmanuel Bwacha (Taraba) and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) corroborated Ekweremadu’s stand.However, the APC Senators took turn to push for the establishment of the Corps. In quick succession, Senators Binta Masi (Adamawa), Ahmed Lawan (Yobe) and others also spoke in support of the Corps, adding that, it was the Police who was against the establishment of the Peace Corps, and that similar scenario played out when the Federal Road Safety Corps and Civil Defense were to be created.It was also argued that the unemployed youths can be engaged if the Corps is allowed to run its course.The President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, in his submission said the Bill will not be discarded, in spite of the opposition from notable quarters.“We also need to relate with our brothers at the green chamber who have adopted this report earlier,” Saraki remarked.The bill was therefore referred to the Committee on Judiciary to decide within two weeks the next appropriate legislative action to be taken.

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