Peace Corps Killed As Reps Thrash Override Bill By:- Bakare Majeed

Peace Corps Killed As Reps Thrash Override Bill By:- Bakare Majeed

OrderPaperToday – The House of Representatives has rejected the Peace Corps override bill.

The bill was sponsored by Mr. Orker-Jev (APC, Benue) and it intended to trigger section 58(5) of the 1999 Constitution. Unfortunately for the sponsor, the House voted to halt this process.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari rejected the initial Peace Corps bill on the 27th of February 2017, along with other bills.

Leading the debate on the bill, Mr. Orker-Jev noted that during the public hearing on the bill, over 594 letters were sent to the Committee, with 95% of the correspondence favouring the bill.

He noted that the Peace Corps already exists and the body possesses the ability to reduce criminality and unemployment.

Supporting the bill, Loveth Idisi (PDP, Delta) argued that with the current realities in Nigeria, overriding the president on the bill becomes a matter of duty to the masses.

Also speaking in support of the bill, Muhammed Monguno (APC, Borno) said that the Peace Corps could play the same role played by the civilian JTF in the North East during the peak of violence by Boko Haram.

Additionally, he noted that members of the JTF could be absorbed into the new agency and complement the Nigerian Police Force and the Military in combating insecurity.

However, the opposition to the bill was overwhelming as opponents attacked the bill for the same reasons cited by the President including lack of funding.

Leading the opposition to the bill, Babale Bashir (APC, Kano) stated that as a member of several committees on security, all the security agencies in the country are currently underfunded, and the ratio of Police to people in Nigeria is one of the lowest in the world.

He said: “Checkpoints across the country are ill equipped, and security agencies are underfunded. If we are unable to fund the existing ones, why are we creating new ones?

“If money is given to the police or the army, millions will be recruited.”

Another lawmaker, Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta), said that the bill has given the members of the House the opportunity to redeem themselves for passing such a bill in the first place.

A last minute attempt by the sponsor of the bill to salvage it proved futile as Orker-Jev argued that the reasons given by the President are insufficient to reject the bill.

When the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, put the bill to vote, it was met with resounding “nays” and applause from majority of the members present.