...Some NGOs collected funds for North East IDPs and disappeared
...Churches, Mosques, Esusu, Market Women Associations not affected.
...Churches, Mosques, Esusu, Market Women Associations not affected.
1. Religious bodies and organizations are NOT NGOs
2. Our quasi financial institutions at local levels are NOT NGOs! These organizations have existed for centuries to serve businesses and commerce of our market women and traders.
Now NGOs(Non-Governmental Organizations) and CSOs(Civil Society Organizations) are voluntary organizations that are registered to partner Government at all levels to fill gaps wherever they exist. They are supposed to be partners in progress with the Government; therefore the need for a commission to serve this purpose arises
Secondly and naturally for them to carry out their activities, the NGOs and CSOs solicit for funds from all over the World and collect billions of naira on behalf of Nigerians!
Thirdly they recruit expatriates to help them run their activities in the country with lots of abuses .
Etc etc
However, recent developments have shown that;
--- Some people registered NGOs,solicited for funds and disappeared. That happened recently in the North East.
--- Some NGOs are used to fund the activities of terrorist and insurgents!
Etc etc
The NGOs bill therefore is primarily to set up a commission to regulate their activities and provide a platform for robust relationships between them and the government for the interests of Nigerians.
In addition it is to ensure TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY in the ways and manners the NGOs collect moneys and use them for Nigerians.
The NGOs bill is not new or peculiar to Nigeria. It exists in many countries particularly in the ECOWAS sub- region and all over Africa and other continents. In Europe, Israel passed theirs last year! Kenya has a similar law since 1990!
Nigeria is and should not be a banana republic where anything goes.
Finally, the way the NGOs are reacting to this wonderful and well packaged bill particularly SERAP is not only shameful but condemnable.
The Nigerian parliament is an institution governed by rules and traditions. When a bill is for public hearing you go there and present your views like other interested Nigerians and invited cooperate bodies and government agencies for the standing committee to do justice to the bill. Period!
Going on cheap propaganda and blackmail and even calling on World bodies including the United Nation to help you withdraw a bill from our National Assembly will not help you!
The rate at which NGOs are springing up, i think i need to get one too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pity. Nigerians are just too corrupt. Imagine what they are doing
If the Nigerian Parliament is truly as transparent as they sound, they should make public their salaries and allowances. Itse Sagay challenged them to debunk all he alleged and curiously they have remained silent. This bill is just a political witch hunt.
ReplyDeleteThis bill is uncalled for. There are lots of reasonable bills to be passed and not this thrash.
ReplyDeleteThis bill is a two sided episode. Since people heard Imo state governor made his money via his NGO,the number of NGOs springing up in Owerri became baffling but most are dubious. On another level......the honest ones might not be allowed a level playing ground once they aren't willing to sort financially. So it's two sided. Good and bad in various sense.
ReplyDeleteThese people are just liars and thieves.
ReplyDeleteA country is about to send 20billion to Nigerians.
The government was bypassed and over 10000 Nigerians have been reached . Many people have applied.
These thieves wanna get involved by any means
Why are they so wicked
They steal all the money and are never satisfied
Ask yourselves, why is this coming up right now?
God will punish anyone who wants to ruin Nigerians.
I have worked in NGOs for ten years plus and will tell you that if this bill is well implemented (not likely in naija), it will favor national staff and disadvantage the international guys who rip us off. They hear you have a crisis and rush to your country to use your crisis to get donor funds and end up spending most of the money in their home countries and for international staff. How can an NGO have over twenty international staff with most of them occupying positions we have many qualified Nigerians for. Kenya, Ethiopia etc. have strong NGO laws protecting their citizens.
ReplyDelete