Deputy Senate President praises Nigerian Peace Corps
Mantu tasks FG, stakeholders on youth development
Saturday, December 27, 2003
ABUJA: The Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, has called on the Federal Government and all the Stakeholders in the private sector to give Nigerian youths their rightful place in the National Development, if it is ready to fight violence among them and maintain peace.
The Senate President who was represented by his special assistant on legal matters, Hon. Selman Musa, made this call in Abuja, at the end of the year ceremony of Nigerian Peace Corps and the presentation of 10 motorcycles and a cash donation of N140, 000, to 12 dedicated members of the organization.
His words, " No country can develop without peace, and for this peace to be assured, Youths must be accommodated and given their rightful place in the country. Nigerian Peace Corps has shown a good example and must be included and supported in the 2004 budget of the Federal Government. The organization has demonstrated its readiness to shun violence and sensitize youths on the need to be self-employed by rewarding them with these items for loyalty in the service of the nation".
Speaking at the occasion, the National Commandant, Patriot Dickson Akoh, who made this donation on behalf of the Board of trustees of the Organization through the invited quest, stated the organization is a non-religious, non-political, and body set to up to promote peace and shun violence among Nigerian youths.
According to him, " The donation is a way of rewarding dedicated members of the Peace Corps for their complementary role played in various states in the maintenance of law and order at the polling centers during 2003 General Elections, as well as the campaign embarked upon nationwide by the Organization, prior to the elections to sensitize and mobilize Nigerian Youths to shun electoral violence and refuse to be used for political thuggery by mischievous politicians".
The National Commandant re-affirmed the organization‘s total commitment to Youth Development in Nigeria and urges all stakeholders in Nigeria project to endavour to give the organization its maximum co-operation.
"The Nigerian Peace Corps creates and provides job opportunities for the youth in support of the United Nations Poverty Eradication and Federal Government Youth Empowerment Scheme in order to deter them from taking to criminal and anti-social acts. And under the Alternative Empowerment Scheme (AES), unemployed youth are being mobilized and trained to provide social security services to governments, private corporation and individuals", he stated.
He noted that Nigerian Peace Corps will by next year embark on the construction of an International Youth Centre within the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, in view of the fact that Nigeria provides one of the best physical, psychological and moral climate for the youth to grow.
" On the other hand, I want to emphasize that against the hardship being currently faced by Nigerian youths; and the seeming tides in our national polity, the youth as potent agent of change should realize that their positive contribution to nation building and patriotic commitment to national goals and aspirations can within a short while erode out tears and place the nation on the rightful pedestal towards grater height",
Adding, "I must also add that our leaders at the federal, state and local levels should see themselves as role models to the youth by being sincere with their avowed empowerment and poverty alleviation as it affects the youth".
