Prominent traditional rulers on Monday in Abuja hinted that monarchs in the country would persuade President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the need to sign the Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill to make it a statutory body.
The traditional rulers, Etsu Nupe, Dr Yahaya Abubakar, Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayatse and the Ochi-idoma of Idomaland, Dr John Eliagwu, expressed optimism that making Peace Corps a government establishment would not only create jobs for the teaming jobless youths but would considerable reduce crime rate in the country.
The traditional rulers disclosed this in their separate remarks during the Founder’s Day Celebration on Monday in Abuja put together by the Peace Corps.
The three monarchs pleaded with President Tinubu to immediately give a second thought to the issue of transforming the Peace Corps from a non-governmental organization to a government body.
At the public function attended by top Federal Government functionaries, Etsu Nupe said monarchs in the country would deliberate on the Peace Corps matters, come up with a position paper that would be tabled before President Tinubu.
He blamed the past refusal of assent to the PCN Bill on misconception, adding that the corps was not founded to wrestle power from any other security agency but to contribute to youth development and crime reduction through robust intelligence gathering at the grassroot level.
He said: “The truth is that without peace, no one in the country would be able to worship his or creator. The Peace Corps mission was unjustly misconstrued,” the monarch said.