Agbakoba urges NASS to withdraw Bill on NGOs

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Olisa Agbakoba has called on the National Assembly to drop the Bill seeking for the establishment of a Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Regulatory Commission.


The proposed commission is for the Supervision, Coordination and Monitoring of Non-Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations among other, and was sponsored by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Umar Buba Jubril.

But Agbakoba, who is the senior counsel of The Human Rights Law Service (HRLS) in a letter dated October 3, 2017 and addressed to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogora, argued that there is no need for such a Bill.

According to him, “Civil Society is concerned by the implication of this bill and can see no reason for its proposed enactment as there is a plethora of laws on our statute books regulating activities of NGOs in Nigeria. The growing perception is that the bill is an attempt to proscribe some NGOs in Nigeria.

“I am shocked that 18 years after defeating the military and enthroning democracy; civil society still has to fight to exist in a democracy. I urge the National Assembly to withdraw the bill”.

The Bill on NGOs has over the last few weeks generated countless debates, with many Nigerians also condemning the move which they argued was meant to stop NGOs and CSOs from monitoring and criticising the activities of political leaders in the country.