A traditional ruler in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Etsu Kwali, Dr. Shabban Audu Nizazu III has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to give security issues a topmost priority in the country.
Nizazu lamented and disclosed that people are being kidnapped on a daily basis in Kwali Area Council of the FCT and enjoined the President not to decline assent to the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) Establishment Bill when transmitted to him as he did during the eighth National Assembly.
Speaking at a lecture on: “Nation Building and Security Challenges: Advancing an All-Inclusive Security Architecture”, organised by the PCN to mark the end of the year 2020, the traditional ruler claimed that the country needs the PCN to enable it to contribute solutions to security challenges.
He said that from his interactions, the Peace Corp officers are well-trained and highly educated and will do well for the country in the intelligence gathering that will help other arms of the security agencies to combat and curtail the unpalatable security situation in the country.
The monarch, who expressed happiness that President Buhari is aware of the enormity of the security crisis engulfing the nation pleaded that Peace Corp should be allowed to join the security architecture of the country to enable it to contribute to the fight against terrorism, banditry and armed robbery.
The National Commandant of the PCN, Ambassador Dickson Akoh, raised the alarm over the growing insecurity ravaging the country.
Akoh said that Peace Corp of Nigeria is worried that the ugly trend has gotten to a point that students in their innocence have become subject of attack, adding that the recent kidnapping of secondary school students at Kankara in Katsina State is a sad reminder of how the security situation in the country has degenerated.
The commandant said that PCN represents a formidable, untapped organizational resource, adding that it provides opportunities for effective actions in the areas of developing its well trained and vibrant members as supporting agents of social order by providing a second line of public safety.
Akoh expressed hope that the Bill will be speedily passed by the National Assembly in early 2021 and will be subsequently transmitted to President Buhari for his assent.
