The Non-Governmental Organisation
Regulatory Commission Bill has suffered major hitch at a house of
representatives public hearing organised to deliberate on it.
None of the persons who appeared
before Nigerian lawmakers on Wednesday expressed support for the bill to
regulate non-governmental organisations, NGOS.
A public hearing on the bill was
held at by the House of Representatives at the National Assembly complex in
Abuja.
At the hearing, all the attendees,
including a Catholic cleric, Matthew Kukah, and a former lawmaker, Abdul Oroh,
opposed the bill.
The bill seeks to, among others,
create an NGO Regulatory Commission to regulate NGO’S and civil society
organisations, CSOs.
The bill, sponsored by a lawmaker,
has been criticised by many activists and NGOs as government’s way of clamping
down on civic groups.
While the hearing was going on,
scores of protesters marched to the National Assembly asking that the bill be
scrapped.
The bill recently passed second
reading at the House of Representatives and subsequently referred to the
committee on civil society organisations and development partners.
In his submission after the
public hearing, the chairman of the committee, Peter Akpatason, assured that he
will present the recommendations of the committee to the House without bias.
He had earlier asked if there was
any attendee who was in support of the bill. There was none.
Details later…
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