Nigeria’s toxic NGO regulation bill By Chidi Odinkalu

Nigeria’s House of Representatives is presently
considering what perhaps qualifies as the most dangerous piece of
legislation to come before the National Assembly since the return
of civilian rule in 1999. It is the NGO Regulation Bill sponsored
by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Umar Buba Jibril.
The Bill is stunning in its audacity, far reaching in its scope and
a danger to elective government in Nigeria. It should not be
allowed to pass.

There is a context to this NGO Regulation Bill which is
important. It comes at a time when the Federal Government, led by
the same party whose parliamentary caucus Hon. Jibril leads in the
House, has signaled enthusiasm and desire to establish a commission
to regulate social media content. This, despite the fact that a
similar measure previously sponsored by Hon. Jibril’s counterpart
as the Deputy Majority Leader in the Senate, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, had
earlier failed to pass muster. Around many states of the country,
social media activists are routinely persecuted. With the active
encouragement of the Federal Government and the ruling party, free
expression is being chilled and dissent criminalized.

The NGO Regulation Bill is the latest among these measures to
constrain the civic space and destroy dissent. It comprises 58
sections of extraordinarily bad drafting, jumbled thinking and
un-concealed ill-will.

The Bill proposes to create an NGO Regulatory Commission, which
will be headed by an Executive Secretary appointed by the President
for five years and a 17-member Governing Board, led by a Chairman,
all of whom shall also be appointed by the President. The Board
will have powers to license all NGOs. Without the license of the
Board, no NGO can operate. The license of the NGO Board alone (not
registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission) will confer
legal personality and perpetual succession on NGOs. However, such a
license must be renewed every 24 months. If not, legal personality
is lost. Clearly, no one told Hon Jibril that the idea of renewing
legal personality defeats the entire purpose of corporate
personality.

The Board can refuse renewal for no reason. It can also
capriciously waive all the requirements of the law, including
registration.

The Minister (of Interior) can direct the Board at his whim as
he deems fit, including, presumably, to register or de-register any
NGO.

All NGOs must submit reports to the Board of their money, where
they get it from and how much. Before an NGO spends any money
received, it must secure the permission of the NGO Board. If it
does not, it violates the law. That’s a crime under the Bill. The
Board will also license NGOs on co-operation with international
bodies.

The Bill requires NGOs to comply not merely all laws but also
with “all national and foreign policies”, whatever that means.

Any violation of the Bill when passed into law is a crime
punishable with up to 18 months in prison.

The Board will enjoy substantial immunities under law and from
process and any judgement against it cannot be enforced except with
the express permission of the serving Attorney-General of the
Federation.

As if these were not enough confusion, the Bill proposes that
the Board will also oversee a Voluntary Code of conduct for NGOs to
be adopted by “the first one hundred NGOs to be registered by the
Board.” The Code will be operated by a National Council for
Voluntary Agencies.

The flaws in the Bill are too many to be covered in the space
available. Seven deserve to be highlighted. First, the Bill will
governmentalize NGOs in Nigeria. Second, it will suffocate NGOs
with exponential bureaucratization at a time when official
government policy is to ease transaction costs for small entities.
Third, filled with a cocktail of whim and caprice, the bill is a
boon to official corruption. Fourth, it will militarise the civic
space and make it impossible for anyone who harbours views
different from those of the government to organize with legal
protection around those views. Fifth, the bill interferes with
constitutionally protected rights to freedoms of expression,
association and assembly in a profoundly partisan and impermissible
manner.

When he introduced the Bill in 2016, Deputy Majority Leader,
Jibril, claimed that there was no existing framework “to supervise
the mode of operations” of NGOs. This was deliberately misleading,
wrong and inaccurate. It is plainly obtuse. This adds a sixth to
the problems with the Bill – overreach. With no hint of modesty,
the Bill proposes to eviscerate the responsibilities of multiple
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the National
Planning Commission; Corporate Affairs Commission; Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS); Customs Service; Immigration service; EFCC;
National Planning Commission and even the National emergency
Management Agency.

Above all, at a time of poor public finances, it seeks to create
yet another pointless parastatal and add to government
overheads.

As military ruler in 1984-85, President Buhari showed
single-minded intolerance for dissent. When he ran again for the
Presidency in 2015, he sold himself as a converted democrat.

A President and ruling party already under considerable
suspicion for intolerance do not need the distraction of this Bill.
It has already passed first and second readings in the House and
has been remitted to committee.

In September, the House of Representatives Committee on Civil
Society will hold a public hearing on the Bill. If the Committee
does not kill the Bill, it will label the President and his party
as politically toxic at a time that neither of them needs that.
This Bill deserves to die.

Odinkalu chairs the Council of the Section on Public Interest
and Development Law (SPIDEL) of the Nigerian Bar Association
(NBA)

Nigeria’s House of Representatives is presently
considering what perhaps qualifies as the most dangerous piece of
legislation to come before the National Assembly since the return
of civilian rule in 1999. It is the NGO Regulation Bill sponsored
by the Deputy Majority Leader of the House, Hon. Umar Buba Jibril.
The Bill is stunning in its audacity, far reaching in its scope and
a danger to elective government in Nigeria. It should not be
allowed to pass.

There is a context to this NGO Regulation Bill which is
important. It comes at a time when the Federal Government, led by
the same party whose parliamentary caucus Hon. Jibril leads in the
House, has signaled enthusiasm and desire to establish a commission
to regulate social media content. This, despite the fact that a
similar measure previously sponsored by Hon. Jibril’s counterpart
as the Deputy Majority Leader in the Senate, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, had
earlier failed to pass muster. Around many states of the country,
social media activists are routinely persecuted. With the active
encouragement of the Federal Government and the ruling party, free
expression is being chilled and dissent criminalized.

The NGO Regulation Bill is the latest among these measures to
constrain the civic space and destroy dissent. It comprises 58
sections of extraordinarily bad drafting, jumbled thinking and
un-concealed ill-will.

The Bill proposes to create an NGO Regulatory Commission, which
will be headed by an Executive Secretary appointed by the President
for five years and a 17-member Governing Board, led by a Chairman,
all of whom shall also be appointed by the President. The Board
will have powers to license all NGOs. Without the license of the
Board, no NGO can operate. The license of the NGO Board alone (not
registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission) will confer
legal personality and perpetual succession on NGOs. However, such a
license must be renewed every 24 months. If not, legal personality
is lost. Clearly, no one told Hon Jibril that the idea of renewing
legal personality defeats the entire purpose of corporate
personality.

The Board can refuse renewal for no reason. It can also
capriciously waive all the requirements of the law, including
registration.

The Minister (of Interior) can direct the Board at his whim as
he deems fit, including, presumably, to register or de-register any
NGO.

All NGOs must submit reports to the Board of their money, where
they get it from and how much. Before an NGO spends any money
received, it must secure the permission of the NGO Board. If it
does not, it violates the law. That’s a crime under the Bill. The
Board will also license NGOs on co-operation with international
bodies.

The Bill requires NGOs to comply not merely all laws but also
with “all national and foreign policies”, whatever that means.

Any violation of the Bill when passed into law is a crime
punishable with up to 18 months in prison.

The Board will enjoy substantial immunities under law and from
process and any judgement against it cannot be enforced except with
the express permission of the serving Attorney-General of the
Federation.

As if these were not enough confusion, the Bill proposes that
the Board will also oversee a Voluntary Code of conduct for NGOs to
be adopted by “the first one hundred NGOs to be registered by the
Board.” The Code will be operated by a National Council for
Voluntary Agencies.

The flaws in the Bill are too many to be covered in the space
available. Seven deserve to be highlighted. First, the Bill will
governmentalize NGOs in Nigeria. Second, it will suffocate NGOs
with exponential bureaucratization at a time when official
government policy is to ease transaction costs for small entities.
Third, filled with a cocktail of whim and caprice, the bill is a
boon to official corruption. Fourth, it will militarise the civic
space and make it impossible for anyone who harbours views
different from those of the government to organize with legal
protection around those views. Fifth, the bill interferes with
constitutionally protected rights to freedoms of expression,
association and assembly in a profoundly partisan and impermissible
manner.

When he introduced the Bill in 2016, Deputy Majority Leader,
Jibril, claimed that there was no existing framework “to supervise
the mode of operations” of NGOs. This was deliberately misleading,
wrong and inaccurate. It is plainly obtuse. This adds a sixth to
the problems with the Bill – overreach. With no hint of modesty,
the Bill proposes to eviscerate the responsibilities of multiple
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the National
Planning Commission; Corporate Affairs Commission; Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS); Customs Service; Immigration service; EFCC;
National Planning Commission and even the National emergency
Management Agency.

Above all, at a time of poor public finances, it seeks to create
yet another pointless parastatal and add to government
overheads.

As military ruler in 1984-85, President Buhari showed
single-minded intolerance for dissent. When he ran again for the
Presidency in 2015, he sold himself as a converted democrat.

A President and ruling party already under considerable
suspicion for intolerance do not need the distraction of this Bill.
It has already passed first and second readings in the House and
has been remitted to committee.

In September, the House of Representatives Committee on Civil
Society will hold a public hearing on the Bill. If the Committee
does not kill the Bill, it will label the President and his party
as politically toxic at a time that neither of them needs that.
This Bill deserves to die.

Odinkalu chairs the Council of the Section on Public Interest
and Development Law (SPIDEL) of the Nigerian Bar Association
(NBA)