Over 7,000 Peace Corps personnel stranded in Kano, Kaduna

More than 7, 363 personnel of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) in Kano and Kaduna states have been affected by the recent clampdown on the corps operations by the police.

While 3,000 personnel were recruited in Kano 4, 363 were engaged in Kaduna.

In Kano, the government had facilitated the recruitment and training of 2,000 youths into the corps.

Khadija Muhammed, deputy commander of the PCN in Kano, told NAN that the 2,000 were part of the 6,000 the corps intended to recruit in the state.

“The state government has sent in 2,000 youths to be recruited and it has already paid the sum of N83 million for their application forms and training,” Muhammed said.

She explained that N3 million was for the application forms while the remaining N80 million was for training.

“The corps sold each application form at N1,500 while the training for each youth cost N40,000,” she said.

The deputy commandant said the corps had so far recruited about 3,000 youths who were about to commence training on March 6, before the police arrested Dickson Akoh, commander-general of the corps.

She commended Kano government for its support to the corps, which also included provision of free office space and accommodation for its top ranking officers.

Based on the police action, many youths have been submitting application letters, seeking refund of their registration fees.

One of the applicants, Bashir Lawan, said recent issues affecting the corps had cast doubts on the legality of its operations.

Meanwhile, The Kano state police command has ordered the immediate closure of the state headquarters of the PCN in the state.

Magaji Majiya, the command’s public relations officer, told NAN that the order was issued by Rabi’u Yusuf, commissioner of police, during a meeting with senior police officers of the command.

“We will continue to monitor their activities even after the sealing of the office to make sure that they are not recruiting youths into the agency,” Majiya said.

In Kaduna, the peace corps office remained operational and its commandant said they had recruited 4,363 personnel.

Sunday Baye, commandant, told NAN in Kaduna that the personnel comprised 3,303 males and 1,060 females.

“We use the NYSC camp to train our personnel, and during the training period we organise lectures for our personnel with Federal Road Safety Corps officials, police, fire service, and NDLEA as our guest lecturers,” he said.

“Peace corps is unarmed. Our training includes parade, drills, first aid, unarmed training and safety lectures.

“We don’t extort money from anybody, we only charge money for the following which are not compulsory:

“N40,000 for uniform, boot, badge, training manual, beret, crest, belt, facing cap and T-shirts.

“We work with security operatives in the state lawfully.”

In Katsina, the corps has shut down its state office located near Liyafa Palace Hotel in the state capital while the corps members are nowhere to be found.