ICC Note
Nigeria is looking to pass a bill in which they will be able to have oversight of all NGO project within Nigerian Borders. The government says it is to stop the funding of terrorism and to stop people from establishing fake NGOs and disappearing with the money they have raised. Other groups and church leaders, such as CAN, say that this will help the government in Nigeria have more control over Church affairs than they want. This is because in Nigeria, Churches are considered as NGOs under their constitution. They do not want this bill passed until Churches are given a different categorization.
2017-09-28 Nigeria (Crux) A proposed law to regulate non-governmental and civil society organizations in Nigeria will be used to promote Islam, according to a leading Catholic group.
The Nigerian House of Representatives is scrutinizing the bill introduced by Deputy House leader, Umar Jibrin, which would establish a commission to regulate the functioning of Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations.
Jibrin has argued the bill is intended to bring sanity to a sector that enjoys wide-scale corruption, and can potentially endanger the security of the country.
“Recent developments have shown that some people registered NGOs, solicited for funds and disappeared,” he said defending the bill, adding that some NGOs “are used to fund the activities of terrorists and insurgents.”
Jibrin said he wants to ensure accountability and transparency in the way NGOs collect and manage funds, and that the proposed commission will be empowered to “facilitate and coordinate” the work of all national and international NGOs, as well as to provide policy guidelines to harmonize their activities in line with the National Development Plan determined by the government.
It will also exercise control over projects implemented by NGOs.
And this has raised concerns among some Catholic organizations, who note that under Nigerian law, religious groups are incorporated as NGOs.
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