Assent To Peace Corps Bill And Make History, Amb. Dickson Akoh Urges Buhari

National Commandant of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, Ambassador Dickson Akoh, says the time has come for youth empowerment to be of utmost priority to both the federal and state governments in the country.

He made his views known at the end-of-year gala and awards ceremony held by the organisation in Abuja.

He said that because youth unemployment has resulted in militancy, terrorism, 419 and other national ills, President Muhammadu Buhari should assent to the Peace Corps Bill, which has passed through the National Assembly.

If President Buhari does this, Amb. Akoh believes he would have distinguished himself as the most youth-friendly president in Nigeria’s history.

This is because millions of unemployed youths being able to engage meaningfully in national development activities would ensure peace and development across Nigeria.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior, Senator Usman Nafada, said at the event that “any effort by any group or individual to engage these youths that we left behind will be a welcome idea by the National Assembly”.

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, regretted that youths have “surrendered their responsibility of being the conscience of the nation” to politicians as politicians now “dictate the content of the leadership of the youth council, the students union”.

He joined the call for better empowerment of the youths in order to make societal vices unattractive to them.

The Peace Corps Act houses the Peace Corps of Nigeria under the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

The organisation boasts of a membership of hundreds of thousands of youths across the country.