House of Representatives which “seeks to properly supervise, monitor and
co-ordinate Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Community Based
Organizations (CBOs) in Nigeria.”
The groups are: Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP);
Women Advocates and Documentation Centre (WARDC); Women Empowerment and
Legal Aid Initiative, (WELA); Partnership for Justice, and Committee for
Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).
The groups in a statement today signed on their behalf by SERAP executive
director Adetokunbo Mumuni expressed “deep concern that the National
Assembly of Nigeria is pursuing anti-people and anti-civil society agenda
by using its law-making powers to wage a deliberate campaign to shield its
members from accountability.”
The statement reads in part: “The latest in the series of obnoxious and
repressive bills being promoted in the National Assembly is the so-called
bill to establish a regulatory commission to monitor the work of civil
society organizations in the country, which passed second reading in the
House of Representatives at a plenary session on 14 July 2016, under the
leadership of Speaker Yakubu Gogara who is pushing, promoting and
fast-tracking the bill.”
“Under the bill, civil society and community groups including the labour
union, association of journalists, association of teachers, association of
market women, human rights NGOs and other civil society bodies will face
intrusive and unwarranted surveillance of their operations. The bill
clearly aims not only to undermine and frustrate the work of independent
civil society and community organizations in the country but also to
intimidate human rights and anti-corruption activists.”
“Like the anti-social media bill, the anti-civil society bill would
seriously violate citizens’ human rights to freedom of expression,
association and assembly, preventing them from freely forming
organizations, meeting together and criticizing the abuse of legislative
powers and allegations of massive corruption in the National Assembly. We
believe that the bill demonstrates the National Assembly’s pattern of
proposing anti-people and anti-civil society bills while at the same time
promoting bills such as the immunity and life pensions bills that serve
their personal and financial interests.”
“We are deeply concerned that the bill if passed would outlaw
anticorruption and human rights activism in this country. We believe that
the bill is an attempt to divert public attention from the deepening
crisis of public trust and confidence in the National Assembly.”
“Like the anti-social media bill, this anti-civil society bill is entirely
unnecessary as Nigeria already has enough legislation such as the
Companies and Allied Matters Act, the criminal code and the penal code and
other common law provisions to address any purported issues of “defective
operational values of such organizations that are left to operate within
its own Constitution and sometimes within the whims and caprices of their
donors.”
“We note that if any institution needs monitoring at the moment, it should
be the National Assembly as it is common knowledge that the priorities of
the Senate and House of Representatives in the past months have been to
push for immunity for its principal officials against corruption; life
pensions for members including former governors now serving in the
National Assembly; and anti-social media bill which was temporarily
dropped but we now understand the Senate has completed plans to bring
back.”
“We consider the anti-civil society bill being promoted by the leadership
of the House of Representatives as marking a new and disturbing pattern of
repressive and anti-people’s bills being championed by the National
Assembly.”
“We agree with Hon Oghene Emmanuel Egor (APC: Delta) who opposed the bill
when he said that “the establishment of the [anti-civil society]
Commission would defeat the aim and objectives of CSOs as it may attempt
to manage and control funds received”, and that “it is not within the
jurisdictions of the Federal Government to monitor funds that it did not
donate nor have ownership of.”
“The bill also clearly amounts to interference and restriction of the work
of independent civil society and community organizations in the country.
The bill also directly violates constitutionally and internationally
guaranteed human rights and the UN Declaration on the Right and
Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and
Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
adopted by the General Assembly in 1999.”
“The bill titled “A Bill to provide for the Establishment of Non-
Governmental Organizations (NGO) Regulatory Commission Nigeria” was
introduced by Umar Buba Jibril (Deputy Leader, PDP: Kogi) According to
Jibril, the bill “seeks to properly supervise, monitor and co-ordinate
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Community Based Organizations
(CBOs).”
“We note that Nigeria has many well-established and reputable civil
society groups which have continued to promote transparency,
accountability in governance and respect for human rights over many years.
Civil society plays a crucial role both in helping draw attention to
abuses by state agents and by providing support and services to victims of
human rights violations.”
“We contend that if the governments of General Sani Abacha and Ibrahim
Babangida as repressive as they were could not win the battle to clampdown
on the civil society, this latest effort by the House of Representatives
will fail woefully.”
“We further note that the anti-civil society bill amounts to regulation of
the constitutional and internationally recognized human rights of
Nigerians to freedom of expression and association and therefore
constitutes a blatant affront on constitutional authority and legitimacy.”
“We also note that the United Nations, the African Union and the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights have repeatedly affirmed the
importance of civil society. human rights defenders. The Kigali
Declaration, adopted by the African Union Ministerial Conference on Human
Rights in May 2003, calls on African governments to “take appropriate
steps to implement the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in
Africa.” The UN Declaration sets down a series of principles and standards
aimed at ensuring that states fully support the efforts of human rights
defenders and ensure that they are free to conduct their activities for
the promotion, protection and effective realization of human rights
without hindrance or fear of reprisals.”
“We therefore call the Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu
Dogara to use his leadership position to ensure the withdrawal of the
anti-civil society bill from the House. We will take all appropriate legal
actions nationally and internationally to ensure that the bill is dropped
and promote the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful
assembly in Nigeria.”