- Dr. Chinedu S. Nneji, Commandant General of the National Unity and Peace Corps, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to approve the National Unity and Peace Corps Bill
- He called on non-state actors, including Boko Haram, IPOB, bandits, and kidnappers, to embrace peace and laid down their arms
As Nigeria observed International Day of Peace, Dr. Chinedu S. Nneji, Commandant General of the National Unity and Peace Corps (NUPEC), pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant permission to the National Unity and Peace Corps Bill, which will soon be legislated by the National Assembly and transmitted to him.
This comes as he calls on all non-state actors in Nigeria, including Boko Haram, IPOB, bandits, kidnappers, and other criminal elements, to lay down their arms and embrace positive action, inaction, and peace ambition.
Dr. Nneji, who stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday to commemorate the United Nations-designated International Day of Peace, said the need for a peacekeeping agency in Nigeria cannot be overstated for obvious reasons.
He claimed that the existing security agencies are overburdened as a result of the widespread insecurity in the country.
We are also joining the United Nations and the rest of mankind to achieve this target action for peace and ambition for Global Goals through the instrumentality of National Unity and Peace Corps project, he said.
With the 2023 theme: “Actions for Peace: Our Ambition for the Global Goals,” he said: “We need to apply our daily actions, planned actions and inspired actions and inactions with caution towards peacebuilding, advocacy, justice, equal rights and fair play.”
He went on to say that individual and collective ambitions, whether positive or negative, are critical to a peaceful and non-peaceful society, and that all hands must be on deck to achieve this because peace is so important to human progress and development.
He maintained that peace is a panacea for socioeconomic and political development in every sane society.
Therefore, for us to achieve a society devoid of conflicts, our actions must be positively inclined, otherwise, we will continue to build and grow non-state actors in our society inadvertently, he said.