A public hearing on the bill to regulate non-governmental organisations, NGOs was held at the House of Representatives at the National Assembly complex in Abuja. At public hearing before Nigerian lawmakers none of the persons expressed support for the bill to regulate NGOs. All the attendees, including a Catholic cleric, Matthew Kukah, and a former lawmaker, Abdul Oroh, opposed the bill.
Speaking against the bill, M. Kukah said, “Without civil society, democracy would be in danger. I stand with civil societies very firmly. The great benefit for us in a democracy is freedom. Nigeria already has enough laws to cover almost every dimension of its citizen’s life. We have other institutions that are literally malfunctioning and unable to deliver services.”
Also present at the public hearing, The Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, Clement Nwankwo said, “No single person supports the bill. A resounding NO to the NGOs regulation.”
On behalf of the Health reform sector coalition Mike Egboh said, “Passing the NGO bill would amount to sentencing the women and children of Nigeria to death. Creating the NGO Regulatory Commission means killing Nigerian women and children because when there is an outbreak of meningitis in Kato, the government was helpless, but my organization flew in vaccines within 24 hours.”
Former Member of the House of Representatives Abdul Oroh said, “Civil Society organisation is collectively a force for good. He added the House of Representatives should rather work to strengthen democracy. You cannot be accountable to government if you are not a government organization.”
Protesters marched to the National Assembly while the hearing was going on asking the bill to be dropped. The bill was subsequently passed to the Committee on Civil Society Organisations and Development Partners after the bill passed the second reading at the House of Representatives. The committee after the public hearing, present its report to the house for consideration, clause by clause.
