Insecurity: Peace Corps, Hunters Council bills scale second reading in Senate

The Senate on Tuesday passed for second reading, a bill seeking to give legal backing to the Nigerian Peace Corps.

Another bill seeking to establish the Nigerian Hunters Council of Nigeria also scaled second reading on the floor during plenary on Tuesday.

The Peace Corps bill was sponsored by Senator Ali Ndume while that of NHCN was sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi.

Leading debate on his own bill, Ndume said, “the core mandate being sought by the Nigerian Peace Corps (Establishment) Bill is to Develop, Empower, and Provide Gainful Employment for the youth to facilitate Peace, Volunteerism, Community Services, Neighbourhood Watch, Nation-Building.”

The lawmaker added that the proposed legislation when passed into law, would give statutory backing to the existing Peace Corps of Nigeria.

Ndume said currently, the corps has over 187,000 members comprising of regular staff and volunteers with a well-structured network of branches in the 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.

Olujimi in her presentation said her bill seeks to among other things, provide community policing, maintenance of law, and order in communities.

He said it would provide synergy with other security agencies to ensure peace and security.

He said, “This bill seeks to control and prevent crime from within the community as doing that from outside the community entails recruiting strangers who might not be familiar with crime terrains as well as criminals in the community.”

“The bill seeks to enact a law that will legalize the activities of various Hunter groups in Nigeria to provide against the notion that these groups lack the constitutional powers to act and therefore are arrogating such powers to themselves,” Olujimi said. Both bills were referred by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to the Committee on Interior for further legislative inputs.

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