Minister Drums Support For Peace Corp

Solomon Dalung, Minster of Youths and Sports Development, has thrown his weight behind the establishment of Nigerian Peace Corps.

Speaking when he received a harmonised version of the Bill passed by the National Assembly in his office on Wednesday, the minister expressed optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari would assent on the bill.

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Dalung explained that the bill, when signed into law would “depopulate” young people from the street and reduce crime rate in the country.

“For me as a Minister of youth, I have alot of young people on the street which everyday I loose my sleep over what we should do for them. So if we have this organisation coming up and depopulating these young people, it will be a celebration that our problems are reducing on daily basis.

“On this note, I call on all Nigerians with the initiative of opportunity of engaging our young people, to please put it into practice. Let’s join our hands together and engage our young people productively so that we can be sure of a better country tomorrow.

“If we do not invest in the youths today, we are investing in criminals tomorrow. If we fail to invest in youths today, we lack the moral ground to complain against criminality tomorrow”, the Minister said.

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Reacting to the arrest and detention of the Commandant and members of the Corps by the Nigerian Police, Dalung said the activities of the organization were not different from all other voluntary organisations in the country.
He pleaded with Officers of the Corps not to harbor bitterness, urging them to focus on delivering on their core mandate.

He said, “Just like every other voluntary organisation under the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development, we have the Nigerian Boys Scout, they wear uniform, they have regimented operation, they train and they contribute positively to maintaining law and order in this country.

“The Nigerian Man’O’War dress even in the manner that is similar to the military, they are involved in training that are regimental training, they have been operating and making great contributions to peace and security in Nigeria.

“We have the Red Cross, we have the Boys Brigade, we have the Girls Brigade, we have so many of such organisations that are affiliated to the ministry.

“The Primary responsibilities and intentions of these organisations is to create and accommodate the teeming youth population of this very great nation of ours.

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“I must start by commending those organisations, because if they had not created those spaces, we could not have imagined what could have become of our young people. The crime profile would have been more sophisticated than it is today. It could have also escalated to a very fast speed, like the GSM speed.

“We must not turn blind eyes to the effort of anybody in this country who is legitimately involved, in engaging our young people, to train them into the future leaders, by engaging them within the time space in which they will officially have something doing.
“I must congratulate the Nigerian Peace Corps for this bill and as we await the assent of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I want to appeal to the organisation to first consider the process of the struggle for a legislative backup as part of the sacrifices that every other organisations would pass through.

“The Nigerian Peace Corps must erase from its memory, any act of bitterness or vendetta against any individual or imaginary enemies or perceived or conceived personalities as those who were opposed to the evolution of the Corps as a legal entity.

“Rather, you must put the bitter experiences behind you and look forward to delivering on your vision and mission, so that you would not be seem to have betrayed Nigerians who have confidence in you.

“For those who might have not been able to understand or appreciate what is the vision and the mission of the Peace Corps, I would recommend the abridged and harmonised version of the legislation to them, so they can find in it, what the organisation stands for.”

On his part, the National Commandant of the Corps, Amb. Dickson Akoh, said the visit of the officers to the Honourable Minister was necessary, so as to brainstorm on the abridged version of the Bill and seek his support for the executive assent.

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