By Benedict Ahanonu
The Nigerian Senate recently passed the Nigerian Peace Corps Bill which was sponsored by Senate Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume (APC-Borno), and first read at plenary on March 10, 2016.
The head of the corps will be referred to as Commandant General with six Deputy Commandants from the six geopolitical zones of the country and the headquarters will be located in Abuja.
The functions of the corps include promoting social and economic development, empowering and preoccupying Nigerian youths through job creation and provision of alternative employment but the bill failed to specify how this will be actualized.
In passing the bill, the ‘distinguished’ senators believed that it would create job opportunities and help in augmenting the efforts of security agencies. They were also of the view that there is the need to use multiple approaches in tackling security matters.
In his remark, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that the passage of the Bill would go a long way in institutionalizing the Peace Corps which had been functioning for a long time without the backing of law – sentimental outpouring.
The Commandant General of the Corps, Dr Chinedu Nneji, described the development as the beginning of a new era.
His words: “We will permeate and move into our various communities to ensure that we bring total peace to Nigeria. We will also make sure that the issue of Boko Haram, which the Nigerian military had reduced to the barest minimum, becomes a thing of the past.”
Having weighed the logic which the senators used in passing the bill and the exuberant proclamations of Dr Nneji, who must have laboured so hard to ensure that his Peace Corps obtains legal backing, I vehemently disagree with their trite and unconvincing points.
That was how the under-performing Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) obtained legal teeth and today the economy is groaning under the yoke of two unnecessary government agencies that are merely usurping and duplicating the constitutional functions of the Nigeria Police Force.
Granted that some people not just youths will be provided with employment opportunities yet the number vis-à-vis the total population of unemployed Nigerians will be so inconsequential and when measured against what it will cost to maintain yet another financially unproductive government agency – whatever benefits that might accrue from such, becomes insignificant.
Who knows what went on behind the scenes and out of the knowledge of the poor and suffering Nigerians? Who knows the kind of subterranean lobbying and arm-twisting that took place for this to happen?
Let me assume that the intent is just to give the Peace Corps organization some form of legal backing to function and which will not attract any budgetary allocation, otherwise this group of parliamentarians would have failed Nigerians woefully.
It is unimaginable that in a country with such debilitating economic realities some people would choose to act as if they are not concerned.
How can there be another government agency while there are calls for the pruning down of those already in existence? I mean rightsizing.
Are these senators really worried about the plight of the poor and ordinary Nigerians? Are they really Nigerians?
It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “I am for doing good to the poor, but … I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
He said this over two centuries ago but to date, that line of thought resonates.
That the federal government of Nigeria is the ‘greatest employer’ of labour in Africa is an incontrovertible fact and I stand to be corrected. That is the reason trillions of naria get wasted every year as recurrent expenditure leaving little or nothing for the development of the country.
China is a socialist state that operates capitalism and that has made over 600 million Chinese millionaires. The figure is about twice the population of the United States.
The Chinese government did not do that through welfarism or what might be described as anachronistic political grandstanding in the form of providing job opportunities for the teeming mass of unemployed people through the creation of phoney federal agencies – no.
The Chinese adopted the Benjamin Franklin principle by creating conducive environment for the private sector to thrive and this is given the fact that whatever efforts government might be making to reduce unemployment will be totally far-fetched if it is not private-sector driven. Government can only do so little.
Today, the Chinese are rich compared to where they were at the time of Mao’s death, or even in 1989. Their economy is second largest in the world and with 1.35 billion people, a billion more than the United States, China is without doubt an enormous nation and global industrial hub doing so well economically because the leaders are realistic and believe in a greater and better tomorrow.
Conversely, the Soviet Union collapsed because it adopted the current Nigerian model of rudimentary socialism/communism whereby the government attempts to provide everything and for everybody – quite impossible.
President Buhari should in his wisdom, refuse to follow this doomed and beaten path by not signing that bill into law as it is ill-timed, wrong and counter-productive.
The senators just whipped up sentiments and pretended as if they care so much about creating jobs for the youths while they are the same people that recently took delivery of Sports Utility Vehicles which they claimed are for their oversight functions regardless of public outcry against such due to the state of the economy.
Are these not the same senators that control constituency fund that is mostly unaccounted for, yet there are virtually no feasible projects in the constituencies or senatorial zones?
These are the same senators that have yet to disclose the actual cost of running the legislative assembly and if you ask me, I will say that we do not have any need for a bicameral legislature because of the huge financial implications or if we must have one, let it be a kind of voluntary and patriotic service to the nation.
If the senators really mean business, they can provide jobs for the unemployed by properly channeling the constituency fund that is not taxed.
They can give interest-free loans to emerging youthful and serious entrepreneurs or those with proven business acumen.
They can also prevail upon the Central Bank to reduce interest rate and make borrowing from banks easy as it is done in China, Europe, the United States and other prosperous nations of the world.
The so-called Peace Corps, I believe, can function without any subvention from government if the coordinators are thinking out of the box.
Unfortunately, they make a lot of noise just like the NSCDC, FRSC and National Orientation Agency, NOA with duplicated roles, much stereotyped activities but zero financial output.
Let me reiterate that the role of government in an economy is to create enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.
This means providing safety, security, reliable power supply, water, skilled manpower, proper road and rail networks, effective sea and air transport system in addition to a supportive legislature which encourages enterprise and protects innovation.
Therefore, it is time for government at all levels in Nigeria to resort to its primary role and allow the private sector to provide the necessary lead which the economy so badly needs and in so doing create employment opportunities.
Whatever, the so-called Peace Corps organization intends to do can be effectively handled by the Federal Ministry of Information, the Nigeria Police through the much touted Community Policing and the National Youth Service Corps.
Rather than hindering the private sector from creating employment by pretending to create employment itself, the government should reevaluate and restructure the country’s education system which keeps churning out products that are mainly unemployable because they lack requisite trending skills and this is a failure of the entire education sector especially the tertiary education programme which focuses on producing administrators, teachers, political scientists, social workers etcetera instead of professionals in high demand such as engineers, lawyers, doctors, creative writers, entrepreneurs, Information Technology (IT) experts, etc.
With many economic, social and political challenges to grapple with including the ongoing war against Boko Haram, I advise that this Peace Corps distraction should be carefully trashed as it is not what Nigeria needs at this very defining and critical point where people are dying of hunger and utter lack because of the hyped economic recession.
Have the ‘distinguished’ senators bothered to establish the root cause(s) of the perennial epileptic power supply in Nigeria?
Pouring all blame on the current bombing of oil and gas facilities in the Niger Delta is unthinking because even before the onset of the latest hostilities, power supply had been erratic and this is one crucial sector of the economy that has the potential of creating jobs by powering the creative instincts of determined Nigerians.
Dear President Buhari, please don’t sign that bill.
Benedict Ahanonu, an Abuja based social commentator, analyst, editor, author and media consultant can be contacted via: 08033944198 or email: bahanonu@yahoo.co.uk
Pls Mr president assent 2 peace corp bill, help nigerian youths, if d private sector dont want 2 model deir jobs 2 b beta Dan d Govt, like is seen in developed countries dey can continue in deir primitive way of thinking, by hoping dat manner will fall frm above in d form of Govt reforms 2 favor dem well dey a well equip 2 enact a trend change demselves in nigerian labour force. By bringing in experts who wud introduce new models for sustainable job creation in d private sector and hence economic growth.
@ Benedict! Ur article is jus filled wit ammunitions but its just shooting blanks, u talk as if u’re born yesterday u kip saying d government shud provide infracture so dat d private sector can thrive, how long has Nigeria been in existence, but yet d masses still prefers govt work 2 private sector y bcos d private sector is filled wit so much bias, selfishness & even more corrupt, private sector work dat will abandon a bsc holder 2 hire a ond holder in his place so dey can pay less & over border dere employees, make so much profit frm d work of deir employees and yet pay less, demand 4 yrs of experience frm newly graduate seeking employments wen dey shud serve as a platform of experience by given dem a chance, d same private sectors like banks wud hav contracts wit anonymous company to hire and fire candidates of deir own chosen provided dey accept 2 share some percentage of deir salaries to hiring companies who hire 4 d banks or else dey Won’t get d job or even fire dem wen dey can’t cope up. And dis so called companies are secretly oversighted by d bank bosses. Dere a many ways d private sector in Nigeria hav failed d youths and u com here and say dis bullshit abt d parliament who tries 2 make deir job appeasing 4 d populace by attaching pensions, gratuity, bonuses, health care, allowances, leave, premium pay, no strict years of workin experience required, no bias, training of Deir employees, etc. y can d private sector in Nigeria do dsame like its seen in oda countries, by training deir candidates 2ru workshops b4 employing dem, forming corporations which joins hands 2geda 2 compliment d work of Govt. And even succeeding where govt hav failed. Hence dey can leverage d Govt. Contracts & even commissions for deir establishment. Private sector in nigerian shud strive 2 make deir jobs more attractive Dan govt work lets see if dere wud not b a change in trend in favor of private sector jobs.