Reps’ repressive bill on NGOs funding JUNE 30, 2014 BY EDITORIAL BOARD, PUNCH WORKING in tandem with anti-democratic forces, the House of Representatives is coming up with a draconian bill designed to incapacitate non-governmental organisations. The bill, sponsored by Ifeanyi Mbadiwe, is seeking to criminalise the funding of NGOs and civil society organisations by foreign organisations. This is a gratuitous move by a self-centred parliament that has obviously forgotten the decisive role NGOs and CSOs played in enthroning democracy in the country. It is the latest in the government’s widening scope of despotic tendencies towards civil liberties and all things democratic. It is evident that the legislature has lost its bearing. Essentially, the bill, seeking to “Regulate the Acceptance and Utilisation of Financial/Material Contribution of Donor Agencies to Voluntary Organisations,” makes it an offence for NGOs/CSOs to receive foreign grants. Also, it seeks to confer on the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission the right to receive all donations on behalf of NGOs and monitor the way they spend their funds. Even under a military dictatorship, this belongs to the worst form of censorship. It continues, “All voluntary organisations having defined cultural, economic, educational, religious or social programmes cannot accept financial contributions from donor agencies.” The bill also prescribes a jail term of two years for NGO officials who receive gifts without registering with the ICPC. Why elected representatives of the people would preoccupy themselves with such a law defies belief. Strangely, the provisions of the bill permit government agencies to receive foreign donations without being accountable to anyone. Why would legislators conspire to bleed life out of organisations that play major interventionist roles in development and service delivery? Why antagonise those who, at the risk of their lives, families and business interests, united to form CSOs that withstood the despotic regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and his more brutal successor, the late Sani Abacha? While some of them were ruined or even killed in the process, others fled into exile from where they continued the struggle. The role of organisations such as the Campaign for Democracy, National Democratic Coalition, Civil Liberties Organisation and Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, as well as activists like the late Beko Ransome-Kuti, the late Gani Fawehinmi, Ledum Mitee, Tunji Abayomi, Ndubuisi Kanu, Frank Kokori, Abdul Oroh, Shehu Sani, Ayo Obe, Ola Oni and Udenta Udenta, will forever remain indelible in the annals of Nigeria’s democratic struggles. As brutal as Abacha was, the civil society groups campaigned vigorously against his pariah regime to make Nigeria a just, egalitarian and progressive society. Many activists, including the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, made the supreme sacrifice. It is amazing that the lawmakers should now be using the legislative instrument to cripple the organisations that made it possible for them to be in political decision-making offices. In an environment where the government has been found wanting in its duties and responsibilities to the people, it is not surprising that NGOs have been mushrooming. Many parts of the rural areas of the country would never have known any development without NGOs. In many cases where the NGOs have thrived, it is because the international agencies willing to partner in development efforts have lost confidence in the government and have found willing allies in NGOs. Even the ICPC being promoted to handle the funding of the NGOs, what has it made out of its primary functions of fighting corruption in a country rocking on its knees from rampant corruption, with the Transparency International rating of Nigeria as 144 out of the 177 countries? This is simply a disguise to kill off any NGO that the government may not approve of. If indeed the National Assembly is worried about the proliferation of NGOs, there are many other ways of regulating them without necessarily interfering with their sources of funding. This can start by making good laws that will impact positively on the society and thus make the existence of NGOs irrelevant. There are many people-oriented bills like the Petroleum Industry Bill and the Railway Bill in the National Assembly shelves that the legislators have not mustered the will to pass into law. Although it is not expressly stated, the aim of the National Assembly is to emasculate the NGOs or discourage their existence altogether. Such laws criminalising NGOs find space only in autocratic countries such as Russia, China, Zimbabwe and North Korea. Corrupt, incompetent and dictatorial regimes detest NGOs because their activities expose government’s failures and ineptitude, which is why such governments always seek to destroy them. One favourite tactic is to label them as agents and spies of foreign governments. Our lawmakers should face the urgent tasks of making laws and exercising oversight on the Executive and leave the NGOs alone. Developing countries like Nigeria benefit immensely from their activities. Whether in politics, health, agriculture or the economy, NGOs have become an integral part of Nigeria’s development process. Organisations like the Transition Monitoring Group and CD are contributing to the nation’s political development. In the health sector, for instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its Nigerian partners have contributed $400 million to the eradication of extreme poverty and polio in Nigeria directly and through CSOs. The Clinton Health Access Initiative has also set the goal of saving the lives of one million Nigerian women and children who are at grave risk of death because of our dire health indices. There are several United Nations and European Union organs contributing to the development of Nigeria through local NGOs. No conscientious parliament will seek to decimate the collaboration between Nigerian NGOs and foreign organisations that provide the much-needed succour for the needy. Since the House of Representatives has fixed a public hearing on the bill for Wednesday, NGOs, CSOs and other stakeholders should make their voices heard against this retrogressive document. They should seize this window of opportunity to the fullest. Stakeholders should also test the constitutionality of its provisions in the courts. Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH. Contact: editor@punchng
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 10:31:38 +0000
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