Legality, funding of Peace Corps divide lawyers

After the Senate in November 2016 passed the bill for the establishment of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, the organisation has come under increased scrutiny by lawyers and other NGOs. The major bone of contention among observers is the legality, functions and funding of the 78,000 member organisation, which is part of a globally recognised […]

After the Senate in November 2016 passed the bill for the establishment of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, the organisation has come under increased scrutiny by lawyers and other NGOs.

The major bone of contention among observers is the legality, functions and funding of the 78,000 member organisation, which is part of a globally recognised youth volunteer scheme.

The Peace Corps first birthed in the USA in September 1961 when President John F. Kennedy established it to promote world peace and friendship with different countries. Volunteers are sent round the world to render technical and other services.

Aspects of the scheme have been replicated in Nigeria with the Technical Aid Corps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). 

In passing the bill sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume (Borno South), the Senate said the corps, which is to be placed under the Ministry of Interior, will empower, develop and provide alternative employment for youths, facilitate peace, volunteerism, community services and nation building.

Other objectives of the corps include environmental sanitation, economic trees planting, crowd control, databank for professionals and youth for easy accessibility of manpower.

Others are: intelligence and security in all educational institutions against examinations malpractices and cultism; serve as orderlies of member of the executive, parliamentary, judiciary, and traditional rulers not covered by existing security agencies, guide to tourists in the country, creating a management of public toilets on highways including enlightenment against defecation in public places. 

But analysts say most of the objectives of the Peace Corp are already being done by one agency of government or the other both at the state and federal levels. They view it as an unnecessary duplication of functions in the over bloated government workforce and question the N43,000 training and kits fee charged applicants. 

Others, however say the corps is a means of engaging the youths and a welcome addition to the security of the country.

An Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, who witnessed the long trek of thousands of applicants of the Peace Corps after they were on February 19 ejected from Dorben Polytechnic, Garam, Niger State, on February 20, petitioned the head office of the Peace Corp, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), threatening litigation over alleged “cruel exploitation and cruel treatment of the applicants of the corps and sheer violation of their fundamental rights”.

“I personally witnessed with emotional tears within myself, a massive suffering, hardship and the torturing faced by majority of the applicants who were asked to forcefully return to their various places of abode within and outside Nigeria impromptu,” he said.

The Executive Director, Partners for Electoral Reforms, Ezenwa Nwagwu, urged the president to withhold his assent to the bill because it ought to be a private voluntary organisation.

He said: “What members of the National Assembly have done through the Peace Corps is to push people who have been asking them for jobs there in anticipation that they will assist to officialise it. That is what is happening.

“Really it is one of the challenges of the Nigerian society that people use what is personal and think it can be owned by everyone. And I think it is not going to help us.”

 Speaking in the same vein, Barrister Okechukwu Onwukwe said the functions of the Peace Corps overlap with the Nigeria Police Force as  provided in Part IV of the Police Act and could create conflicts between the two organisations.

“It is crystal clear that the functions of the two bodies overlap, especially in the area of peace and safeguard of life and property. Unfortunately however, the legislators in the passage of Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill, failed to make provision on how the Peace Corps can exercise their functions, and to avoid conflict with the duties of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies,” he said.

He added: “In my own view, I think the establishment of the Peace Corp of Nigeria is an unnecessary attempt to duplicate and usurp the constitutional duties of the Nigeria Police and other statutory bodies, and to waste the tax payers’ money in running the organisation.

“Rather than assenting to the Peace Corps Bill, the government should equip the already existing security agencies and other relevant statutory bodies and make them more effective in the discharge of their constitutional functions.”

However, Barr Haroun Eze, an Abuja lawyer, said the founder of Peace Corp of Nigeria, Amb. Dickson Akoh, must be commended for his genuine interest to create jobs for the youths. He added that when the corps becomes operational, it will engage Nigerian youths productively.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the Citizens Advocacy for Social  and Economic Rights (CASER), Barr Frank Tietie, expressed support for the Peace Corps as a job creation mechanism, maintaining that it does not matter if its duties conflict with the police because the Road Safety Corp, the NDLEA, EFCC, ICPC and Civil Defence are already doing same duties as the police.

 On funding of the organisation, he said government resources is a matter of priority, adding that there are several alternatives in the budget to forgo such as N40 million for feeding of pets and wildlife in the Villa and grass cutting. He added that even if N10 billion is allocated to the Peace Corp annually, it is not a waste of resources.

“Many security agencies like the Civil Defence started like a voluntary organisation that metamorphosed into a statutory agency. I will think that there is nothing wrong in having many paramilitary agencies, in a country of over 150 million and we are talking of about 500,000 policemen. We need not less than five million active security personnel and we are not even there,” he said.

Tietie further submitted that: “The Peace Corps, even for the purpose of engaging Nigerian youth in nation building, I think it is commendable. There are complaints that the Civil Defence and the rest are not doing anything, yes it is the same dereliction and indolence that pervades the country’s entire civil service.

“Are they saying the Peace Corps will not add any value to the economy? If you are thinking of getting out of recession you have to spend more in security to attract investments. The confidence of investors will be boosted when the country invests more on security. It is not the business of government to engage in agriculture or other businesses.”

During the public hearing at the Senate Chambers, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force and others in their memoranda did not support the establishment of the Peace Corps, which raises several concerns for which answers will unfold with time.