Kukah leads others against bill to regulate NGOs

The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese Mathew Hassan Kukah yesterday led other stakeholders to speak against a bill seeking to regulate non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including civil society organizations and religious bodies.

At a public hearing in Abuja by the House of Representatives committee on CSOs and development partners, Kukah said the lawmakers should rather focus their legislative time on legislation that would better the lots of Nigerians.

He said at a time when the gap between the political class and the citizenry was widening by the day, lawmakers could do better if they addressed such anomalies instead of stifling the CSOs, NGOs and religious bodies.

Similarly, the Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, said there are existing regulations guiding activities of NGOs in the country.

He said the issues raised in the bill were adequately addressed in the enacted North East Development Commission (NEDC) Act, and that the House should jettison the proposed law.

A representative of Amnesty International, Ossai Ojigho, said the proposed law is a threat to freedom of NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria, calling for its outright rejection.

Hundreds of CSOs also protested the plan to regulate the activities of NGOs and CSOs.

The protesters led by a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Prof Chidi Odinkalu and the Executive Director of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) Dr Otive Igbuzor went to the National Assembly after marching across some major streets in Abuja.