PUBLIC HEARING ON THE ANTI-NGO BILL

Sonnie Ekwowusi argues that the bill lacks merit

Today the public hearing on the anti-NGO Bill being sponsored by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Hon. Umar Buba Jibril will hold at the House of Representatives. It seems as if Hon. Jibril has vowed not to eat or drink until all the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria are brought down under his feet. But the mind-boggling questions remain: Quo Vadis, Jibril Umar? Why is Hon. Jibril playing the spoilt card? Who has sold the wrong idea of asphyxiating the NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria in Hon Jibril’s head? What is the future of NG0s and CS0s in Nigeria amid Hon. Jubril’s hatchet job? Under the pretext of getting CSOs and NGOs in Nigeria to fulfill their main objectives and become transparent and accountable in their operations, Hon. Jibril is sponsoring a bill at the House of Representatives aimed at controlling, blackmailing, intimidating, manipulating and asphyxiating NGOs, CSOs, neighbourhood organisations, mosques, churches, charitable organisations, artists, town unions, village assemblies, voluntary organisations and so forth in Nigeria in order to stifle their independence and efficacy in the revitalisation of the society.

What is most surprising is that despite the mounting public opposition to the aforesaid bill Hon Jibril has simply refused to withdraw it. Instead of respecting the will of the people and honourably withdrawing the bill, Hon Jibril is adducing arguments rationalising the bill. Power belongs to the people. The government ought to conduct its activities in line with the aspirations of the people. Vox Populi Vox Dei (The voice of the people is the voice of God). Democracy is government of the people by the people and for the people. The American founding fathers aptly recaptured this ageless truth when they said many years ago that, “governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”. By voluntarily entrusting to a few elected people with the responsibility of governing their affairs, the people have not relinquished their power. In short, the people are the repository of political power.

But unfortunately most political office holders and lawmakers in Nigeria are yet to come to terms with the fact that those in power should conduct the affairs of government in accordance with the wishes of the people. That is why they treat the people with open contempt and opprobrium. That why a lawmaker like Hon. Jibril can continue to ignore the will of the people and continue to insist that his anti-NGO bill is the best bill he can sponsor at the House of Representatives. He claims that he wants to put order in NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria because some are being used as instruments of fraud. He wants the NGOs and CSOS which have been empowered to operate in Nigeria by the Constitution and the laws of Nigeria to be re-registered under his NGO regulatory commission in order to acquire a new legitimacy to operate in Nigeria. But the Nigerian people trooping to Abuja today to participate in today’s public hearing are telling Hon. Jibril that the combined effects of all the sections of his bill are aimed at emasculating or gagging the operations of NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria in order to stifle their effectiveness. Besides,

JIBRIL’S BILL IS A VIOLATION OF THE RIGHT TO PERSONAL LIBERTY, RIGHT TO PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION, RIGHT TO PRIVATE AND FAMILY LIFE, RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, CONSCIENCE AND RELIGION, AND RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

by virtue of their registration under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 (CAMA), NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria already possess a legitimacy recognised by law to operate in Nigeria. The same CAMA has also provided for the means of regulating, supervising, coordinating and monitoring the NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria. Therefore NGOs and CSOs in Nigeria do not need to re-register with Hon. Jibri’s NGO regulatory commission in order to acquire a new legitimacy to operate in Nigeria because their legitimacy to operate in Nigeria is implicitly founded under the existing Nigerian law.

More importantly, Hon. Jibril’s bill is a violation of the right to personal liberty, right to peaceful assembly and association, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, right to freedom of expression, right to freedom of movement, right to freedom from discrimination of the NGOs, CSOs and their respective operators as enshrined in sections 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42 of our 1999 Constitution. If the government suspects that a particular NGO or CSO working in Nigeria is an instrument of fraud it should set the law in motion against such NGO or CSO. But what the government cannot do is to gag or emasculate CSOs and NGOs in Nigeria under the pretext of regulating them.

I foresee Hon. Jibril’s bill suffering a stunning defeat at the House of Representatives. We live in a country in which the government does not render assistance to the poor, the sick, the needy, the sick, the socially-displaced, the abandoned elders, the abandoned widows, the physically-challenged children, the blind, the orphans and so forth. The only institutions and organisations rendering assistance to the poor, the needy and the suffering in Nigeria are the NGOs, CSOs, private orphanages, Motherless Babies Homes, Church, Hospitals and Maternities and Leprous Centres, and so forth. Now Hon. Jibril is sponsoring a bill to kill the aforesaid NGOs, CSOs and private humanitarian institutions bringing hope and succour to countless helpless Nigerians. That is why most lawmakers at the National Assembly are against the bill. According to Senator Shehu Sani “I will stand against this bill to protect and preserve our fundamental rights to freedom of expression and of assembly”.

Therefore Hon Jibril’s bill is bound to fail. It is lacks merit. It is a poisonous snake which cannot be amended. You cannot amend a poisonous snake. If you dare try do that it will still bite you.

I am embarrassed that we now have a breed of Nigerian politicians unconcerned about the social order. But we are all members of the same human family. God has created us and put us in this world to love and hearken to the needs of our fellow human beings, not to destroy them. Sadly enough, our world is now claiming too many new victims through many man-made disasters and natural disasters. I believe that one day each one of us will be called upon to render an account for what we have done, and may be, more importantly, what we have failed to do in our life time. Therefore we must lend a helping hand to the needy and the suffering in our midst. We must start giving as Michael Jackson is wont to sing. That is the only way to win the human race.