Jibril– NGO Regulatory Bill In The Interest Of Nigeria

The Deputy Majority Leader of House of Representatives, Hon. Buba Jibril (APC- Koton Karfi/Lokoja) has said that the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Regulation and Co-ordination Bill would serve in the best interest of Nigeria when passed into law...

The lawmaker who stated this Monday in Lokoja, Kogi State, said the bill aim to regulate activities of the NGOs and keep them in proper check, as developmental partners of the government.
NGOs, he said, as partners in progress with government, are to intervene in areas with developmental deficiencies and fill the gaps.
He expressed regretted that many of the NGOs remain unregulated, indulging in fraudulent activities, while some claim to be regulated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

According to him: “You cannot use residual laws of other agencies of government to say you are being regulated. We need a commission empowered by the National Assembly and sanctioned by the Presidency to do that”.

He said that the bill which is due for third reading on the floor of the assembly, seek to provide the legal framework for the establishment of a commission to regulate the NGOs.
He said the country would benefit tremendously from the bill, as it would enhance security by checking espionage activities of expatriates who come into the country under the cover of NGOs.
“We are still suffering from the incidences of terrorism and insurgency. We have foreign NGOs coming into this country. People are not looking at that aspect and all these people coming, there is no regulation.
“We must monitor their activities because through these NGOs, a lot of atrocities are being committed. They even have capacity to topple governments like they almost did in Russia before (President) Putin quickly outlawed them.
“You heard what happened in the North-East. A lot of them went in there, collected money and disappeared. There was even one that collected over N250 million, spent less than N15 million and disappeared.

“This people are using the NGOs to launder money and you say nobody should regulate. You want to self-regulate, what kind of regulation is that? I believe Nigerians need to open their eyes.

“All the propaganda and lies being peddled by those opposing the bill are just to safeguard their selfish interests and nefarious activities against this country.
“Like I said, we have procedures in the National Assembly. The bill is for third reading. Anybody is free to come on the day of the third reading to present his position. That is all that is expected”, he explained.