IN STRONG SUPPORT OF THE NGO COMMISSION BILL

I write in strong support of the now ‘controversial’ NGO Regulation Bill as being put together by the National Assembly, subject to some reviews and amendments. I am compelled to speak up because of the media frenzy that has been generated in some quarters, which have been suspicious to say the least. In an age where total transparency rules, it is beyond comprehension that the same department in society, which holds governments to account, is pushing for opacity in its own operations. I therefore posit without equivocation, that rather than the proposed bill being ‘the worst piece of legislation since return to democracy in 1999’, it could perhaps become the best. I urge Nigerians to please get in touch with ourselves and ask what exactly do we want from this country. I urge us to reach the conclusion, that the greatness of Nigeria and indeed the black race, rests on how much we are ready to concede of our hardened positions. The vehement attack on the bill is to say the least, surprising and unwarranted and leaves a bad taste in the mouth and fear in the heart.

I should perhaps start by quoting what is perhaps the most widely-shared short video in Nigeria’s history, or if you like, since our return to democracy in 1999. It was done by no less than Professor Chidi Odinkalu. Whereas I fear to join issues with him being a senior friend and one I look up to, I am compelled for so many reasons to be put on record on this matter, and I hope he understands that this is an intellectual debate as well as a war for nation-building.

Professor Odinkalu, formerly the Chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission has this to say about the bill, in his very famous video:

“… This is the most dangerous piece of legislation since 1999… All resources, funds, everything collected or liable to be collected, will be subject to Abuja. Before you can raise funds in your church you have to get Abuja’s permission. After you raise the money, you have to return them to Abuja for Abuja to tell you what to do with them. When you’ve done that only Abuja can help you to do your audits. Nobody can operate anything without the clearance of Abuja. It’s worse than a totalitarian piece of legislation. For the old Mamas and old Papas doing Esusu in the village – that is revolving credit - before you do your collections you come to Abuja for clearance. After you’ve done your collections, before you share the money or rotate the collections amongst the beneficiaries, you come to Abuja for clearance… Ahmaddiya movement will have to come to Abuja for clearance. NASFAT will have to come to Abuja to do anything. The Mosques that do collections every Friday to support people in their congregations and their communities will all have to account for such monies to Civil Servants who would either tell them what to do with it or collect it and trouser it into their pockets.  The churches will be out of business. The Mosques will be endangered… 

… This is what the legislators want us to subscribe to. And as a citizen, you have to understand that this means there will be no voice of criticism for government. Nobody can tell government anything. What this body proposes to do; what government is proposing with this bill, is that after it has been passed, anybody organizing in Nigeria under any form; students, old students association, Reverend Sisters in convents, Reverend Fathers and Pastors wherever they may be, Imams, Alfas and everybody, you will have to apply to Abuja for them to register you to operate. If they agree… they can refuse to register you, in that case you cannot do anything. Now if they agree to register you however, you will have to only hold that license for two years. After those two years you will have to apply to them to renew your license. If they agree at that time, you can continue to operate for another two years. If they don’t agree, that license lapses. If you try to do anything with that license, you will be liable to be imprisoned for 18 months and if they are sympathetic and decide not to send you to jail, you may be liable to a fine of N500,000. The civil servants will collect this money in the name of the Politicians. It will be used to fire up political power that will not be accountable to any one of us. And this is why I’m saying that this is the most-dangerous piece of legislation that’s been considered in our country to date, in the past 20 years... this is your country too, and unless you fight for it, these people are going to destroy it, not just for you, but for your children and for your grandchildren and that, they don’t have a mandate to do”.

I was sad listening to this message but it was sent to my WhatsApp number more than 50 times and we also got a request to sign a petition. As I type this on Sunday 24th of September, 48,000 out of 50,000 signature has been gathered. However, I believe that the content of the video is, to say the least, flawed and misleading.

I went and looked for the piece of legislation, which I found at https://aledeh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NGO-Bill.pdf. I read thoroughly and found nowhere were it is stated that all monies collected by NGOs – including Churches and Mosques – will be subject to ‘Abuja’. Well, Professor Chidi lives with us in Abuja, so the collateral effect of whipping up sentiments against the government and the apparently ‘privileged’ people who live in ‘Abuja’ – most of whom are still looking for their children’s school fees – will be borne by all when the trouble comes. But it was a sad reminder of the tactic employed by the Jonathan government when it tried to push through a total deregulation of fuel prices in 2011/12. I remember the adverts that accused those who had more than one car of oppressing those with none. One of them was addressed to “oga’s driver”, his cook and maiguard. ‘Look well’, it said, ‘it is the oga that is enjoying the fuel subsidy’. It came barely short of asking the Maiguard to get a dagger and disembowel oga’s wonderful fresh-skinned children. This is the type of tactic employed in this quest to scuttle the bill in its entirety. Again, we should ask; why do civil society, as respected as they are and given their desire to hold government accountable, want to fly under the radar and dwell in the dark alleys of total opacity?

It is therefore simply untrue that the bill requires that all monies raised by NGOs cannot be spent except the permission of the proposed NGO Regulation’s Commission is obtained. That bit, and especially the copious references to specific religious houses (Ahmaddiya, NASFAT, Catholic Church), was designed to whip up sentiments like never before. Members the NGO/CSO (Civil Society Organisations) are extremely powerful in society. They even have the power to uproot governments and have done so many times before. I shudder at their strength, so I am only appealing for us to look at the larger context here. The bill actually said nothing about religious houses, but we know that they are implicated if they are registered as NGOs by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). As a catholic by marriage, I take exception to Odinkalu’s dragging of the Catholic Church into this matter because Catholics are known for their frugality. No Commission will go after Reverend Sisters and Fathers because they don’t fly private jets around or drive exotic cars which were bought with church money. But even at that, that part of the message was carefully calibrated to get the dander of usually militant Pentecostal churches. The Muslims have not really had much problems with transparency even when Obaze the former head of the Financial Reporting Council tried to force them. In fact, as much as we totally condemned Obaze’s Gestapo actions in trying to remove General Overseers and Founders of Churches then by pulling up the issue of corporate governance, what was proposed as the proper thing to do, was the creation of an NGO Regulatory Commission to handle such affairs in a structured manner, because all the issues are not just about finances.

Regarding old men and women in the villages and markets jejely doing their Esusu, I urge that we please leave those poor Nigerians out of what is actually an international, elitist matter; a matter which – for the discerning – borders on the economics of sheer power. We needn’t aggravate the poor people. That was an unkind cut, simple. At no point was it stated or implicated in the bill, that Esusu collectors will come to Abuja or anywhere before collecting or sharing their puny funds.

The aim of the short video is evident to those who know, and it’s effect was achieved as the event easily stole the show from the IPOB brouhaha. Nigerians are used to having one trouble per week.

Nigerian students were also stoked. However for students especially at tertiary institutions, they know what the issues are. Their unions and associations are properly registered, and of late, the majority of the students who are not members of their EXCOs have seen their leaders fighting physically in Abuja over money. The other day it was a fight with broken bottles at Ife, still over money. I interact with students almost on a weekly basis, and most of them are now quite cynical about student unionism. Leaders of unions and associations in those schools only have to ensure they display transparency in their affairs in order to dispel any rumour. For them, the idea of such an agency, if it can guarantee improved transparency, is welcome.

Regarding civil servants collecting monies meant for NGOs on behalf of politicians, that is another unkind cut. Prof Chidi skewed that aspect to anger every Nigerian that this was a commission setting out to extract everything from everyone just to deliver to specific politicians for the purpose of prosecuting election wars. Nothing is farther from the truth, from my thorough reading of the bill. I think for once, Odinkalu was too emotional but he did so at the risk of his own reputation, even if he succeeds in killing the bill. Beyond this bill is Nigeria; and beyond Nigeria, is humanity. Nation-building is a long-term project.

OTHER CRITICISMS

I have taken some time to review the clip because the words have carried far and many people – educated and uneducated – have bought the words therein 100%. Not even my explanations here will convince most people. Whereas I had no part in putting the bill together, but I had written on these pages – thrice – about the need for a Charities Commission like they have in the UK and indeed many African countries.  NGOs are Charities, so that is exactly what this bill seeks to achieve. The need for such a commission is imperative in Nigeria for several reasons that we shall consider, and especially because we are very religious people and therefore have invested untold trillions in religious institutions. Any responsible government should care about where the people’s cash is going. However this is beyond religious houses. Some of the bigger issues are with amorphous non-religious NGOs as we shall see shortly. Let us look at some of the planks of resistance as stated by Nigerians in the past few days;

1.   The NGOS are helping the people.

2.   It is not government money. What is their business?

3.   Politicians are running the country with Stone Age ideas by seeking to regulate NGOs.

4.   A corrupt government has no right to demand transparency from NGOs

5.   We have all the laws we need.

6.   The new commission is just another avenue to steal money and create redundancies.

7.   The Corporate Affairs Commission can do the work

8.   The Police can handle the crimes

For some of the points above (1-4), can I just explain that because NGOs are helping people does not put them above the law or entitle them to impunity? And that because it is not usually government money they spend – though a great number collect money from government one way or another – does not entitle them to have opaque operations? Also, if NGOs desire to hold government to account, it is compulsory for them to be accountable themselves, after all it is said that he who comes to equity must do so with clean hands. If an NGO takes government to court for financial malfeasance, can the government not also allege financial misappropriation on the part of the NGO, in which case it’s ‘two cross two’ as we say on the streets? Why do we think it is the government that must first show transparency anyway? Are the people in government not chosen from amongst us? If NGO members don’t start to learn total transparency, will they learn when they contest for elections and win, or when they are appointed? Are there no former NGO warlords in this government and the last? Are they not continuing the legacy of non-disclosure that they’ve been used to while running their NGOs?

So it is the civil society and the citizens that should bell the cat where government is not moving quickly. Let us show them the example so that they can follow. Not only that, when we show example, we shall be able to take absolutely no nonsense from these government guys, but not before. Perhaps the non-adherence to simple rules of accountability is the reason why the government doesn’t take we the people very serious.

MY OWN EXPERIENCES

For me, I run at least three organizations. The first is my consulting firm; Global Analytics. Being a fully private organization, we are thrown into the deep sea that is Nigeria’s business world, and survival is by the skin on our teeth. I believe this has shaped my world view and helped develop my mental muscle; having to go out there and compete for the crumbs on a daily basis, in a business world where many bite the dust daily.  In my industry, we are not only subject to registration at the CAC. In order to compete and survive, we have almost 15 other requirements to fulfill. If anyone can advocate for businesses they should try. Many of the issues we face are not captured in the Ease of Doing Business index or the recent committee to that effect that the government put together. In short, we are additionally required to register at the Bureau for Public Procurement, Audit our annual accounts under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) conventions – and that is expensive, register at PENCOM and make your remittances for your staff (and this also requires taking out a full insurance for yourself and staff with a reputable insurance company, entailing a yearly premium), register at Financial Reporting Council (and this requires belonging to and updating your annual dues at a professional body like ICAN, NBA, NSE etc), register and pay at Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and also National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), among others. The list is still growing, as we groan under the weight of taxes, levies and regulation. All these do not guarantee that you will make a dime. I therefore find it a tad annoying that anyone makes or administers money without any accountability or obligations in this Nigerian space, be they government or NGO.

Then I run an NGO, named the Institute for Service Excellence and Good Governance (ISEGG). In spite of being an NGO, I am keenly aware of the need to prepare annual accounts and fulfill my reporting obligations to CAC for now. I know that being an NGO does not exempt one from preparing audited accounts yearly. But I will not resist any proper regulation that allows NGOs to sit up and perform. How can we be an institute concerned with good governance and not subject ourselves to regulation and corporate governance?

Even the budding political party that I present head, the ANRP – Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party – is big on transparency and accountability. Being a crowd-funded party, we already prepare and distribute to all members, the collections of the party every two weeks – even when it is zero. We have nothing to hide and don’t want to hide anything. That saves us a lot of trouble. We have a standing National Auditor and will engage an external one once fully registered. We are aware of the slipperiness of being at the centre of other people’s monies and not accounting properly, and so we are very ready to render our accounts promptly to our regulator; INEC. In our interactions with INEC, they have been very pleased with the level of transparency we have established in the political group.

So what are our NGOs trying to hide?

LOOKING FORWARD

A few of us have argued stridently, using the example of the Charities Commission based in the UK. We see no reason why such should be good for that society and not be good here. The Americans are not too good in that area but they have achieved stability in their society and can decide to look elsewhere. Still I found this highly critical American article on the issue; https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=94. In Nigeria here we need all the attention we can muster to be trained on this critical source of influence and cash flow.

We should probably separate the duties of the proposed commission into two, viz Religious NGOs, and non-Religious NGOs, including associations, in order to get a proper picture of our challenge.

There are many areas that are presently left unmonitored and undocumented in Nigeria today. This country is full of loopholes and it is these loopholes that are responsible for our economic woes and our perennial battle with poverty and terrorism. It is the reason why today the country is being pulled apart in every direction and it seems we shall soon tip over. It is the reason behind the growing income inequality. Rescuing the country is everybody’s mission.

For religious NGOs, the fact is that many new ones are springing up daily that are not even registered and CAC does not have the mandate to go and compel anyone to register with it. A new body is required for that. Also after registration, the CAC does not have the duty to ensure your operations remain in tandem with what you have signed up for or is not injurious to national interest. We know about ‘churches’ where they ram 6-inch nails into the heads of children in the many bushes of Nigeria, in the name of looking for witches! We can view this here if we have forgotten: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7pvQJD9cpQ. We also know of those who bathe children with acid. See here for that; https://saharareporters.com/2011/06/08/nigeria-turn-dark. It is not the role of CAC to ensure that these atrocities are not being committed, and the police can only come in after the fact/act. The Police is not orientated to know the finer details of the mandates of NGOs. People don’t also have much trust in them. And if people do, it is still better for this NGO commission to be at the forefront and for police to back them up. This type of NGO is actually a further policing of the more nuanced issues in the land. I actually believe that if we don’t poison the idea as we are already doing, this could be a good turning point for the country. Those who are stalling it know how high the stakes are and what exactly they are trying to achieve. That truth is hidden to me and most Nigerians; but this is one bill that will tell the world that we are trying to think for ourselves and do things the right way.

Nigeria has so much money locked up inside NGOs – religious and non-religious. A close relative who is a pastor in one of our mega churches told me they are sitting on ‘obscene’ amounts of money. His words. The GOs are warlords, and have convinced themselves that what God himself requires of us in this world is to show that we are richer, monetarily, than those who don’t worship like us. There is nothing wrong is growing the church and acquiring funds, but a proper charity should ensure that such amounts are constantly used to reduce poverty in the land. The rich religious organizations – churches, mosques or synagogues – should give free food, establish good affordable schools and hospitals and ensure the larger society benefits like it used to be when people attended Baptist Boys, Methodist Girls, and Ansar U Deen Colleges. If the trillions that our religious houses are sitting on is unleashed properly on this society, food poverty will disappear and Nigeria will start to emerge as a second world economy at least. This Commission can ensure that. In spite of the deluge of criticisms, I think on balance this commission will lead to a better Nigeria, plus or minus.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NON-REGULATION AND OUR INABILITY TO FUND OUR BUDGET + OUR CONSTANT NATIONAL DEBT CRISIS

If we didn’t have too many NGOs already (of all types), the nation would be generating higher taxes and would be able to fund it’s budget without borrowing. It is no wonder that our tax to debt ratio is only 6%, when our peers in Africa – like Kenya and South Africa – are beginning to nudge 40%. In the Jonathan era we saw how powerful religious leaders leaned on the government and obtained all obtainable waivers (in spite of having cash to pay), even for luxury items like cars and building materials. Of course some of the world’s most powerful religious leaders reside here but if we are not careful, their powerful influences may lead to a divided, class society. People who have power naturally want to maintain the status quo. But looking at the current reality, the status quo for Nigeria, is shameful. The new commission should ensure a keener focus on NGOs so that Nigeria gets it’s complete taxes from some of their commercial or luxury operations and decisions.

EXPANDING THE ROLE OF THE COMMISSION

Whoever drafted the bill knows what they are doing and should be commended. I only have a singular misgiving, which can be explained. Still, the bill has been drafted to basically focus on non-religious NGOs, and perhaps with a mind to tackle international NGOs. I don’t know what intelligence they may have had, but I hear many NGOs have obtained money from abroad in respect of our many calamities and not delivered – Boko Haram, Chibok Girls, Benue Floods etc. I also hear that some of the yahoo-yahoo boys (fraudsters), all over Nigeria but especially in the south, have created a sector out of obtaining money from abroad under false pretense that they are NGOs. The commission is relevant here.

If the proposed commission considers the religious angle, they will find out that their role is massive and they need to be on ground all over the country. It’s not just about finance, but about practice as explained above. Look at Boko Haram or Maitatsine or the many other sects or cults around the country? All we need is to formalize them quickly so as to know which trustees to hold to account. In the case of Boko Haram, when we needed to know who was behind them or who could help speak to them, or even to put a face behind the dastardly acts, it was impossible.

FORMALISING THE ECONOMY

This bill is about FORMALISING an otherwise largely informal Nigerian economy. It’s indeed therefore a shame that highly-enlightened leaders of CSOs are fighting the issue and with so much venom. Formalization starts with documentation, and later on, standards will come in. Even Beer Parlors are now being compelled to get registered and be formal. Yet, in arguing their position, someone told me how Campaign for Democracy (CD) was not registered in the military era. That doesn’t make it right. I would expect that CD tried to register but was blocked by the military. There is no pride in being unaccountable.

Funny enough, while this went on, I watched a movie I bought from Owerri Airport, titled Camino. It is the story of an NGO - which purported to be Missionary - in the jungles of South America, but ended up being a cover for trafficking in hard drugs. We would be too simple-minded to expect that every NGO is good at all times and they are just so meek, looking for dying countries like ours to spend free money upon. At the end, nothing is for free. Like Al Pacino said in the movie Carlito’s Way, “I don’t need no favors. Favor kills you faster than a bullet”. Nigeria, or the black man’s fixation with receiving favors is a great problem we have. I watched one Barrister Chris Akiri struggle to discredit the bill on Channels TV and how he floundered under the cool gaze of the Channels interviewees. He felt he made a point when he pointed to how the bill was discarded in Sierra Leone. He lost the sense of irony in expecting that country to set standards for us. Perhaps we should dust up and use everything Sierra Leone has discarded, in order that we may get exactly the opposite results from what that country become. I was equally in Liberia in 2012 and every third car was owned by an NGO. Yet the depression and poverty pervades everywhere. I’m not sure NGOs are all we need in large quantities, to make Nigeria great. They haven’t helped Liberia much.

So whereas I am used to fighting losing battles just to make my point, I know powerful stakeholders are behind this and they will most likely get their ways, and because they must get their ways, they are offering a free pass to everyone else. I humbly appeal to powerful NGOs that they should not stand in the way of a sanitization of the system.  They should help us consider the larger picture. If nothing, we should remember that not everyone comes to Nigeria with clean hands. Not all NGOs are good. Some are criminal. Some are here for money laundering. Some for espionage. Not all churches are interested in the gospel. Some are here for selfish and greedy purposes. Not all mosques are interested in piety. Some are preaching hate and winding up their people for imaginary religious wars. We need to save our country. We need this clearing-house to be established.  

THE BILL IN A NUT SHELL

I close by listing the key provisions of the bill for everyone’s education. These are the core points I extracted upon reading through. The Bill is to:

1.   Enable and encourage NGOS and CSOs to accomplish their missions according to the law

2.   Ensure transparency and accountability of the operations of NGOs and CSOs

3.   Supervise NGOs and CSOs

4.   Facilitate and coordinate the work of NGOs in Nigeria

5.   Maintain a register of national and international NGOs

6.   Receive and discuss their annual reports

7.   Advise government on the activities of NGOs and roles in development

8.   Establish a documentation centre on NGOs

9.   Ensure that applications for registration includes names of CEO and Directors, plus expected sources of funding, sector of interest, annual budget etc

10.                 Exempt some from registration (especially international NGOs), where necessary.

11.                 Review work permits for foreigners/expatriates

12.                 Ensure hanneling of funds through normal banking system

13.                 Ensure the limiting of administrative costs to bare essentials and that NGOs focus on their beneficiaries

14.                 Ensure through Section 26 of the bill, pre-approval of specific projects by the ministry and registration with the Commission. This is where some contention is but I understand this to be where specific foreign NGOs set up special projects involving large amounts of money. NGOs may seek for this to be amended. With the experiences of Pfizer Meningitis tests gone bad in the 1990s, we should not expect that every foreigner that shows up be allowed to do and undo.

15.                 Work with Customs and Excise to supervise importation issues that concern NGOs. Some NGOs import goods for resale. They are therefore not exempt from taxes. We have goods in Nigeria too and must protect our markets. Some NGOs are used to dump goods on a country. Others import luxury items which are not exempt from duty.

16.                 Ensure that assets are transfered to NGOs through the commission to the organization. This is contentious and should be probably expunged. Assets transferred to NGOs should merely be registered as such with the commission.

17.                 Ensure that funds transferred directly to organization by donor, through normal banking channels.

18.                 Ensure through Part IV Section 35 of the bill, the establishment of Nigeria National Council of Voluntary Agencies (NNCVA), by which NGOs can self-regulate.  This is a body of only NGOs. Very commendable. This is aside the fact that there are 3 nominees of NGOs on the main Board of the proposed NGO Commission. Fair is fair.

19.                 Ensure proper asset disposal when NGO is closing down.

20.                 UN and other international agencies encouraged to help develop capacity in local agencies

21.                 Ensure, through Section 50 of the bill, submission of audited accounts of the commission  to the President through the supervising Minister not later than June 30th of each year.

With this I urge that we must not throw away the baby with the bathwater. I know a nation-changing bill when I see one. Frenzy and emotions must not be deployed to deflect our reasoning at this auspicious moment. If you are an NGO and are unregistered, undocumented and unaccountable to anyone, you are actually walking a thin line in the realm of criminality. Moral hazards will ensure you mismanage funds. If you are an NGO that is properly constituted already, kudos to you. But you can only vouch for yourself. Let us establish institutions.

See here for my previous articles on this subject:

JULY 2015. https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2016/02/12/171085-2/

FEBRUARY 2016. https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2015/07/11/a-case-for-establishment-of-nigeria-charities-commission-by-tope-fasua/

JANUARY 2017. https://jimidisu.com/asking-g-os-to-step-down-is-an-overkill-by-tope-fasua/