News Bit

The Nigeria peace Corps (Est, etc) Bill, 2019 has been read for the first in the Senate Chamber of the National Assembly.This followed the reintroduction of the Peace Corps Bills to the lawmakers during Tuesday’s plenary by Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume.The bill seeks to transform the Peace Corps which operates as a non-governmental organisation into a paramilitary government agency to be known as the Nigerian Peace Corps.The 8th National Assembly had passed the Peace Corps Bill in 2017 following a protracted battle involving the organisation and security agencies in the country.While many Nigerians, especially the youth were hopeful that the creation of the corps would reduce the unemployment rate, the bill failed to become a law as President Muhammadu Buhari withheld his assent in February 2018.The President had explained that he rejected the bill due to security concerns and the burden of funding the organisation by the Federal Government.He also s...

A human rights advocate and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Joshua Alobo, on Monday, insinuated that his party originated activities that can now be interpreted as hate speech in the current administration.Mr Alobo was responding to a question on Sunrise Daily, about the Department of State Services’ treatment of founder of RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore.He said he was “seriously embarrassed” by the situation as Sowore was “among those who canvassed for the ‘change’ mantra.”“APC, in which I am a chieftain, originates hate speech,” Mr Alobo, who is the President of the International Human Rights and Development Centre, continued.“Look at what happened at . . . even Lai Muhammed and the rest, nobody was arrested. Look at the fuel subsidy protest at the freedom square. If not that Jonathan was proactive to deploy soldiers . . . I was in Abuja; even though I wasn’t in the general protest, I was using my vehicle to monitor the whole situation. “So a lot of showbiz was ...