A groundswell of opposition has continued to trail the bid by the National Assembly to pass a Bill for an Act seeking to regulate the activities of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) amid preparations by civil society groups to mobilise support from across the federation to stop the proposed bill.
The Daily Times can report that civil society groups in Lagos and Abuja have been networking and may soon storm the court to seek an interpretation on the intendment of the Bill and avenues to stop the process of passage.
The controversial Bill is tagged “An Act To Provide for establishment of the Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Commission For Supervision, Coordination and Monitoring of Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations, etc in Nigeria and For Related Matters”.
As proposed, a body known as Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Commission of Nigeria is to be established specifically to profile all NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria with intent to regulate their activities.
The main functions of the Commission, as stated in the Bill, is to provide regulatory guidelines to the NGOs for harmonising their activities, register them for effective coordination and to advise the government on their activities vis-a-vis their roles in national development.
Already, some members of the National Assembly who are not disposed to the passage of the Bill have been voicing their displeasure to it, an indication that the Bill may not enjoy a smooth sail after all.
Senator Shehu Sani ( APC, Kaduna Central) had echoed the view of opponents of the Bill, stating pointedly that he would not support it if brought up for debate in the upper chamber of the National Assembly. Senator Sani said his opposition to the Bill is hinged on the need to “protect and preserve our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and of assembly”.
According to him, the law on NGO would be would be abused by those he described as people in power. In a tweet from his official twitter handle, the senator vowed that he would fight against it when it comes to the Senate.
He tweeted thus, “The bill on NGOs will reinforce those with tyrannical tendencies and further stifle rights to freedom of speech and assembly.
I’ll oppose it,” “The increasing cases of human rights abuses and intolerance to divergent views across the country makes it dangerous to endorse or support any bill aimed at regulating the activities of the NGOs.
“I will stand against this bill to protect and preserve our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and of assembly. The tendency of the bill when it becomes law [to] be abused by people in the position of power is clear”.
The Bill on NGO first ran into stormy waters when the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu, released a video to denounce plans by the National Assembly to pass it into law, calling for concerted efforts by well-meaning Nigerians to frustrate the process of passage.
In the video, which has continued to trend online, Odinkalu hinted that the Bill had scaled through the first and second reading in House of Representatives and is on the verge of being debated at a Public Hearing to be held by the Committee on NGO.
Odinkalu had described the NGO Bill as the most dangerous piece of legislation to be made by the National Assembly since 1999, stating that the Bill, if passed into law, will entail totalitarian consequences.
He said the Bill as crafted would empower the Federal Government and by proxy the National Assembly to muzzle the operations of all NGOs in Nigeria and subject their resources and earnings from foreign grants to undue scrutiny.
Odinkalu added that if the Bill is passed into law, the finances operated by the NGOs, churches, mosques, universities, humanitarian organisations and even the Esusu business run by market men and women would have to be reported to Abuja, henceforth and then await directives from the civil servants on how to dispense with their funds.
He said the ulterior motive behind the Bill is to enable government officials and lawmakers arm-twist the NGOs and CSOs and find the means of taking from the funds they raise from international organisations.
Odinkalu said, “This is the most dangerous piece of legislation that has come for consideration in the National Assembly since the return to civil rule in 1999. It covers the activities of every entity that is not the government.
It covers churches, mosques, schools, universities, hospitals, everything including humanitarian activities wherever they are taking place in the country, it is totalitarian in its consequences.
“Basically all resources, all funds, everything that is collected or liable to be collected is made available to service communities or individuals in need in this country will be subject to Abuja.
Before you can raise funds in your church, in your mosque, you have to get Abuja’s permission. After you have raised the money, you have to return them to Abuja for Abuja to tell you what to do with them and after you have done that, only Abuja can help you to do you audit.
It is worse than a totalitarian piece of legislation. “For the old papas and mamas doing “isusu”, revolving loan, in the village, before you do your collection, you come to Abuja for clearance.
After you have collected the money, before you revolve the money, you come to Abuja for clearance. “The churches will be out of business, the mosques will be endangered.
This means that there will be no voice of criticisms for government, nobody can tell government anything. You have to registered for two years and after that two years, you have to apply to renew you license.
If you try to do something without that licence, you will be liable to be imprisoned for 18 months summarily or fine of N500,000.00.
This is totally unacceptable.” Meanwhile, the Deputy Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, Hon. Umar Buba Jibril, has allayed fears over the Bill which he said will not affect Churches, Mosques, Esusu Market women and others if passed into law, contrary to general impression.
