By Ayobami Ife Abeokuta
ABEOKUTA: A major player in the nation’s real estate sector, Ambassador (Dr) Babatunde Adeyemo, has appealed to members of the National Assembly to ensure that the Peace Corps Bill which has resurfaced before the 10th Assembly to give it an accelerated hearing and speedy passage into law.
The Daily Crucible reports that Peace Corps bill has resurfaced in the 10th National Assembly, passed at Senate
Again. It is meant to establish the Nigerian Peace Corps as a security outfit and had passed first reading at the Senate.
It had also passed third reading in the House of Representatives and subsequently transmitted to the upper chamber for concurrence where the short title of the bill was read on the floor of the Senate and passed for first reading.
The Daily Crucible learnt that the senate leader is expected to move a motion for concurrence to enable the senate to adopt the bill and harmonise with the House before transmitting it to the President Tinubu for assent according to the extant rules of the National Assembly.
The bill seeks to give legal teeth to the establishment of the Peace Corps as a government parastatal and allow its members to be integrated into the proposed organisation when it commences.
The Daily Crucible further reports that the bill was first introduced and passed by the 8th National Assembly but former President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent in February 2018.
Buhari cited paucity of funds and duplication of duties of existing security agencies as parts of the major reasons for his decision.
It was reintroduced in the 9th Senate by Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South) and it subsequently scaled through legislative hurdles and transmitted to President Bola Tinubu for assent vied a letter dated 8 June, 2023 and signed by the Clerk to the National Assembly, Sani Tambawal.
But President Tinubu did not sign the bill before the lifespan of the 9th Assembly expired on 13 June, 2023 apparently because he was barely two weeks on saddle as the President and the bill eventually suffered the misfortune of being statute-barred when the 10th Assembly was inaugurated.
However, later the bill was reintroduced in the 10th National Assembly in the House of Representatives and sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Ben Kalu, and others. 
•Pelican Valley CEO & Akinyemi on Friday.
However, speaking on Friday, February 14, when a six – man delegation of the Ogun State Command of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) led by the Commandant, Akinyemi Olufemi paid him a courtesy visit at the Podium, Pelican Valley Estate Laderin, Abeokuta, Adeyemo Adeyemo also passionately appealed to President Tinubu to give the bill his assent whenever a clean copy of it is eventually presented to him by the federal legislative arm.
Commander Akinyemi and his team who were marvelled at Adeyemo’s humility and warm reception, intimated him of the organization’s interest and resolve to adopt him as its Patron if he gives the necessary consent to it.
Other members of the delegation included Olokode Damilare (state finance), Ademuyiwa Olufemi(Policy & Planning), Bakare Selimot(state adjutant), Akinbode John (state information officer) and Olopade Abiodun (State ICT).
He commended the PCN for all its youth – focused engagements and expressed the willingness to identify with the organisation, saying the matter the delegation had tabled before him was a call to service.
He expressed the confidence that the present Peace Corps Bill before the National Assembly will receive the blessing of President Tinubu, describing him as a loving and caring father who is more than determined to empower and integrate the nation’s youths into the governance.
Adeyemo said, “I’m very glad to be associated with the Peace Corps of Nigeria. To the best of my knowledge, the organisation has not been associated with any wrong things in Nigeria. Anything that has to do with youth development, I always like to identify with it. This is a call to service.
“Everywhere I’m called to be part of service, more especially, service to humanity I’m always available. We will do our best to uplift this organization to the Glory of God. We are quite aware of the challenges of the Peace Corps right from the time the first Bill was passed and presented to the former president (Muhammadu Buhari) up to the present President when he was barely few days in office.
“So, I believe this time around the Bill will scale through and see the good side of Mr President. I know our President is a loving and caring father who is so concerned about the security of lives and property. He is so concerned about youth empowerment and he has said it, time with numbers that he is very much interested in encouraging the youths so that they can also be the leaders of tomorrow.
“He is doing his talk. If you look at his cabinet, it is one of the cabinets that has youths representation, you talk of the Minister of Communication and when you look at other appointments, you will see that he is trying to integrate the youths arm of the society into governance. Despite the fact that he is an accountant President, I know accountants are always wary about building recurrent expenditures but when it comes to security of lives and property, I don’t think we need to be talking about the accounting of naira and kobo that will be attached to it because we can’t buy life with money and human capital is the best in any society.
“In a situation where you have many of our youths going into vices, kidnapping and other social voices and even into Japa. We should be grateful when we have youths coming to be part of this kind of organization, it is something that we shouldn’t let go, if we really want to encourage Nigerian youths to be hardworking.
“Given the organisation’s over two decades of existence with its emphasis on nurturing young people and inspiring them to develop attributes of patriotism, good citizenship, positive work ethics and sound leadership qualities, a legislative backing and the President’s assent to the Bill will open a new vista of opportunity for our youths to better serve the country and achieve their potentials.
“With our estimated over 200 million population and increasing urbanization come also the increased multifaceted and varying security challenges confronting the nation today. These require more efforts and relevant agencies to combat them so as to keep Nigeria, the citizens and businesses safe.
“So, it will be a right step in the right direction if the Peace Corps Bill is passed into law and received the President’s assent to make the organisation a government security outfit, it will go a long way to complement the efforts of other existing agencies towards carrying out the onerous task of keeping the nation safe.
” So, I’m appealing to the National Assembly and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to look at the Bill from the point of national interest and cause it to succeed this time.
“I will also encourage Peace Corps to remain focused, committed and unwavering in your vision and mission. The task of nation – building is a collective effort. You should continue to inspire our youths to be patriotic, good citizens and young leaders. Together we shall build a great nation of our dream for ourselves and for the future generations.”
