Kwara Peace Corps Commander seeks Buhari’s early assent to Bill

The Kwara State Commander of the Peace Corps of Nigeria, Lukman Yekini,
has urged President Muhammadu BuhariI to assent to the bill
establishing Nigerian Peace Corps in good time.
Yekini told reporters yesterday in Ilorin, the state capital, adding
that “all eyes are on the president and the youths are expectant.
“Since he is a man of his words; assenting to the bill is a chance to
fulfill one of electoral promises to provide meaningful jobs for the
youths. It is an avenue to cushion the effect of unemployment among
the youths,” he said.
He dismissed rumours making the rounds that the corps is collecting
exorbitant amount of money from would-be members.
Said he: “The fee being charged on every individual is just N40,000 at
a subsidized rate. The money we spend on an individual for the one
month camping is far higher than the amount paid.
“At the end of the day when they are certified trained officers, they
are going to have a full uniform with all the kits. There have been
erroneous notion in the town that some people are charging them above
N40,000. It is not happening here, because it is a regularized
standard amount.”
On the passage of the bill by the National Assembly, Mr. Yekini said:
“We faced a lot of challenges before the passage of our bill from our
other uniform outfits employed by the Federal Government. We thank
God, the courts have been there to vindicate us.
“It has been so wonderful after the final passage of our bill at the
National Assembly. We are waiting for the document to be passed across to president for his assent.

“Since the passage of the bill, the youths have been appreciative and
giving kudos to the members of the 8th Assembly because they did
justice to what is really itching them and the problem of unemployment
in Nigeria.
“We know that these days in our environment the employable youths are
not employed. And this has been a major problem. Thank God members of
both chambers of the National Assembly have listened to the yearnings
of the people by doing justice to the bill.
On the number of people that have so far enrolled in the state; the
commander said that we cannot categorically say the number of people
that have registered since we are still giving the people to come in,
but we have sent out sizeable numbers of forms. Since inception Kwara
state seems to be one of the states that have the lowest number at the
membership chat.
“The passage of our bill has encouraged people to come in. We are
optimistic that at the end of the day we will have very reasonable
number that will cater for position and chances of Kwara indigenes so
that other states will not short-change us.”
END