Reps To Investigate NGOs After Military Accused Them Of Aiding Insurgents

Operations of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the country will soon be regulated, if the hint by the House of Representatives is anything to go by.

The house said lawmakers may soon reintroduce the bill seeking to regulate their operations.

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The house, through its Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila dropped the hint today while debating a motion on Nigeria’s security challenges, adding that the green chambers has also resolved to investigate all the NGOs in the country.

Recall that the controversial bill was introduced in the last session, and it will now have to be debated afresh.

Gbajabiamila said security chiefs had during a meeting with the house leadership on Monday, complained of the activities of some of the NGOs identified as “bad eggs”.

“Buba Jubrin in the 8th Assembly sponsored the NGO bill, and there was a lot of public outcry,” he said.

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“But with the revelations from the meeting with the security chiefs, this time we will invite the NGOs and we may need to revisit the bill, because we are sure they will not want few rotten eggs to spoil the whole basket, we will invite them.”

The house also approved a motion asking relevant committees to “investigate all NGOs in Nigeria to investigate their total number and source of funding”.

The development comes a few days after the Nigerian army shut down the operations of Action Against Hunger, one of the NGOs providing relief for victims of Boko Haram in the north-east.

The army accused the organisation of providing food for Boko Haram insurgents.

Some of the highlights of the NGO Regulatory Commission Bill are supervision, monitoring and coordination of the activities of civil society organisations, (CSOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs).

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According to reports, the bill has been rejected by many Nigerians, prominent among whom is the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, who is reputed to be one of the lead campaigners against the bill.

He had also described it as “totalitarian.”

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