Dr Chinedu Nneji, the leader of the Nigerian Unity and Peace Corps, tells EMEKA NZE that he stands tallest and most qualified to be appointed the Commandant General of the Nigerian Peace Corps which Act was recently passed by the National Assembly.
Can you give Nigerians a brief history of your organisation?
The Nigerian Peace Corps came through an act of National Assembly as was passed in December 2016. The head of Nigerian Peace Corps is to be appointed by the President as was also required by that same Act which is yet to be given accent by the President Muhammadu Buhari. For now the Act is still pending due the absence of the president in the country. He has not been able to accent to it but when he comes back from his journey, we believe that he will give his accent and it is only when he gives his accent that he will appoint a substantive head for the leadership. But on the interim, I am the head.
By what parameter?
The fact that I am the Commandant General of the National Unity and Peace Corps, one of the agencies that was collapsed to form, the Nigerian Peace Corps and because National Unity Corps was born before the other sister agency. Recall that the National Unity and Peace Corps was born in 1992 and the Nigerian Peace Corps was born in the year 1998. Drawing inference from that , the National Unity and Peace Corps should ordinarily head the corps in acting capacity pending the appointment by Mr President.
I am tempted to ask, considering the coincidence in name and objective, was there a prior meeting by the two founders of the sister agencies before you took off as the head?
In the first instance, the National Unity and Peace Corps started as an NGO in 1992, then the federal Minister of Internal Affairs now Ministry of Interior, Prof Jubril Aminu gave a nod that we should go ahead and register an organisation called National Unity and Peace Corps and upon registration, National Unity and Peace Corps applied to the Ministry of Interior to be an NGO supervised by the Interior Ministry which was granted. Sometimes in 2006, an operational licence was approved for us to be under Ministry of Interior. Ever since then we have been under the tutelage of the Ministry of Interior until sometimes in 2008 when we made our first incursion into the National Assembly which you may have also heard. 2008, our bill was first presented by Senator Nkechi Nwaogu one of the Senators from Abia state then.
In the 7th Senate we made another incursion into the Senate under the leadership of Senator David Mark. Our bill was presented by Senator Ben Ayade, now the governor of Cross River state, again without success. In the 8th Senate, we again made another incursion and it was at that point that our sister organisation now appeared at the National Assembly and maybe by shear providence, God now said that these two agencies since they have the same objective, that we should work together. And for us, it is a very golden opportunity to work with our sister organisation in the Peace Corps of Nigeria because we have love for them, we know they mean well for Nigeria by introducing the word ‘peace’ and we intend to work together.
Do you know Dr Dickson Akor?
He is my brother; he is a Nigerian. I only met him at the National Assembly recently. So to that extent, I know him.
So there is no prior meeting between the two of you before the National Assembly?
No. If you recall, there was an interview we granted on AIT, sometime in December. In that interview, there was an allegation that he left our organisation to form his own, which of course, was on record. Apparently, that may be the reason this issue came up but then I wasn’t the Commandant General. The then Commandant General of my own agency told me and I had no course to doubt it.
But why did you quickly transform to Nigerian Peace Corps from the National Unity and Peace Corps because the other group is disturbed by this sudden transformation?
There are three tiers of government; one is the executive, the legislature and the judiciary and the organ that is saddled with lawmaking is the legislature. In the wisdom of the legislature, it has already debated, carried out public hearing, followed the due process of lawmaking and eventually arrived at the conclusion that National Unity and Peace Corps and Peace Corps of Nigeria should be dissolved to form a new agency and it has so been passed by supposedly the entire country, because we elected them, so whatever decision they take is on our behalf. So the entire country has spoken. So it is from that premise that I derive my power to say that today we are Nigerian Peace Corps.
If you are among the team to harmonise the agency, how do you intend to do it?
At this point, we have started discussing with our sister agency and like I told you from the outset, I love Dickson Akor and those Nigerians that are there, I see them as my children. I am going to accommodate all. I will make sure that every member of Peace Corps of Nigeria and the National Unity and Peace Corps will work together as one indivisible entity. It is also my wish and my target that as soon as we pick up, I am going to restore total normalcy and peace in Nigeria. I have already started that process especially in the area of working towards achieving normalcy and peace in the Southern Kaduna area which also a burning issue. We also intend to make sure that every element that has struggled for Nigerian Peace Corps bill to pass through will be carried along as soon as we have our presidential backing. And even the press as we pick up, you will also move with us because you are part and parcel of the success we have recorded today. So we will continue to accord you big space in our activities.
There is this allegation that you have been collecting some amount of money ranging from N40,000, 48,000 to N100,000 from many Nigerian youths with a view of recruiting or placing them in the corps. What is the true position?
Like I said, why do we jump the gun? National Unity and Peace Corps was operating as an NGO. The issue you raised now is also baseless because it is not obtainable in my own organisation, the one I head. Except if it is obtainable in any other place but I speak as the Commandant General, there is no basis for that. Let that person bring evidence of such payment, maybe you paid N100,000 to be placed. To the best of my knowledge, there is no such thing. However, we know that people carry all manner of rumours, especially, when a new agency is about to emerge because… Don’t forget that this is the first time a new paramilitary organisation is emerging in Nigeria through what we call Private Member Sponsored Bill (PMSB) in the National Assembly.
The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC) was sponsored by government to become an agency but this one was a private member bill. When such is the case, there is room for people to begin to insinuate and imagine things, even the ones that are true and the ones that are not true. However, speaking with the head of Peace Corps right now, I am telling you authoritatively that there is no such thing. Remember that at this point in time from our own side, we are not recruiting. Our staff strength remains the same as it was before we went to the National Assembly and that is what we have maintained up till now.
What is your staff strength?
At present I can’t give you the figure because we are still doing revalidation and because the agency has lived since 1992; there are people that have been there since 1992, there are people that joined in 2014 and all these people must be accommodated; they are all Nigerians. So long as you have interest of the unity of the country at heart and also ensuring that there is total peace in the country, you will be accommodated and also bearing in mind that our interest is to make sure that among the 528 ethnic groups we have in Nigeria are accommodated in our organisation and are ready to be used especially when we want to maintain peace or restore normalcy or people can speak their dialects for visitors to understand especially when there is crisis. So we intend to make sure we accommodate all so that anytime we go to the field to mediate, those people will be there to speak for us and help us to maintain peace.
You speak so much of accommodation; we also learnt that if have sent emissaries to the other side so that you can start working together?
We have sent emissaries, we have been meeting. At the initial stage Akor was not forthcoming but recently he has started accommodating us. So there is no dispute between the two agencies, I must state it clearly. We are working together to ensure that we harmonise and also the National Assembly in its own wisdom, is doing its best to make sure that this issue of harmonisation goes smoothly without any problem.
If you were not appointed as the CG, would you be disappointed?
I give glory to God for even making me to sit here and addressing you. As a human being, I never believed I will get to this position even in the first instance. Therefore if I am not appointed I will take it as an act of God but a star is a star, whether he is kept in an incubator or brought out in the limelight. So wherever I find myself, I will still serve the country in my best capacity.
Are you aware that top Generals are lobbying for this position?
The onus lies with the President to determine who the cap fits but in my little understanding, I think there are agencies in the past that have been neglected and government allowed the people that led the legislation to be the ones that will head it since they have the vision and the mission at heart. It is also important that they allow such people to establish it so that whoever that is going to take over will have a foundation upon which he could rely on. But if in the wisdom of government they choose to bring someone from outside, I have no issues with that but I will subscribe that God will make them to allow those of us who are within to be to at least set it up especially as we have the vision to restore peace in the country, let Nigerians try us, within three months, if we restore peace then the government can take alternative decision.
Is your own organisation present in the 36 states?
We are present in the 36 states and the 774 local governments in the federation including Borno states. As I am speaking with you now, as soon as the president gives us go ahead, the first port of call will be to Borno state to declare peace, total peace and we will move on.
It seems you don’t subscribe to agitations by ethnic nationalities in the country for independence?
We have also made it clear that what we recognise is one Nigeria and the Nigerian Peace Corps fortunately is the only institution that is saddled with the responsibility of maintaining total oneness in our country Nigeria. Therefore we are going to live up to that expectation. Whoever that is calling for secession will be made to calm down and whoever that is involved in economic sabotage especially in the Niger Delta, we have a systematic approach we have already pencilled down to be used to calm them down and then the Boko Haram, we have already mapped out strategy already waiting to swing into action that will enable us bring down every tension, every grievances and every disagreement to the extent that everybody will begin to embrace one Nigeria.
