We don’t need Nigeria Peace Corps

In a move that was rather belated, the Nigeria Police Force in joint operations with the military and Department of State Services [DSS] raided the headquarters of the Nigeria Peace Corps last week and arrested its National Commandant, Mr. Akor Dickson together with 49 other persons. Nevertheless, it is better late than never to put […]

In a move that was rather belated, the Nigeria Police Force in joint operations with the military and Department of State Services [DSS] raided the headquarters of the Nigeria Peace Corps last week and arrested its National Commandant, Mr. Akor Dickson together with 49 other persons. Nevertheless, it is better late than never to put an end to an outfit that is increasingly asserting itself as a national paramilitary organisation, which is outside its mandate as a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO).

The Nigeria Peace Corps has been well grounded, existing for eighteen years and with state commands. Over the years the organisation has been pushing for a bill at the National Assembly for it to be recognised and absorbed by the government, making it another paramilitary outfit dotting our streets. This should be a source of concern, rather than a thing to be proud of. However, in November last year the Senate passed a bill entitled ‘Nigerian Peace Corps (NBC) Bill 2016 to make the Nigeria Peace Corps a paramilitary agency under the Ministry of Interior. The House of Representatives had earlier passed a similar bill on June 12 last year.

But at a public hearing earlier, both Police and DSS rejected establishment of the Peace Corps as an agency of government.

The passage of the bill by both the Senate and the House of Representatives should be scrutinized further, for it is indeed a surprise that the lawmakers would pass the bill without taking into account its implications, not least creating another police-like agency. According to the police, last week’s raid led to the closure of Nigeria Peace Corps’ secret training camps in Abuja, Kwara and Niger states.

 Police spokesman CSP Jimoh Moshood said intelligence reports indicated that the Peace Corps and other similar groups were acquiring weapons and conducting covert military training in different locations across the country. He said in 2013, the federal government’s official gazette dissolved and proscribed illegal security outfits such as Nigeria Maritime Security Agency [NMSA], Nigeria Merchant Navy Corps, Nigeria Merchant Navy Petroleum Security and Safety, Peace Corps of Nigeria and other quasi-security outfits. Jimoh said, “However, it has been observed that NMSA, Peace Corps, Maritime Security Agency and National Task Force are still operating outside their mandates and purposes for which they were  registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission(CAC).” 

He added that during preliminary investigation into the activities of the Peace Corps, “it was discovered that its personnel were extorting money from unwary youths under the guise of recruitment. The amounts range from N50,000 to hundreds of thousands.” All this boils down to the failure of government to have an adequate number of policemen and women. The number of cops in the country still hovers around 370.000, which is insufficient for a population of 170 million or thereabouts.

Perhaps the police we have are not doing their work well, that is why anybody can wake up to set up a group and expect it to be another security agency, to augment the work of the police.

It is an indictment for the police to allow such groups to grow for years or where they are proscribed, they ignore the directive, as if they are above the law. Maybe they are, because some powerful individuals are behind them. The danger is that such groups could be infiltrated by terrorists as the country is yet to completely eliminate many internal crises. Still, the allegation of the police must be investigated and the Peace Corps must be made to refund to youths the money they collected from them.

The so-called Nigeria Peace Corps is different from the United States Peace Corps which it wanted to copy. Nigeria already has a Technical Aid Corps which does similar service to sister African and Caribbean countries. We do not need the Nigeria Peace Corps in any guise or form.