Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have inaugurated a regulatory platform to monitor as well as enhance the performance of CSOs in the country.
Speaking at the ceremony on Tuesday in Abuja, Mr Damilare Babalola, the Programme Officer of European Union-Agents for Citizens Driven Transformation (EU-ACT) said that there was need to change the narrative on CSOs.
Babalola said that over time, CSOs have been accused of just collecting money and that some stakeholders argue that CSOs are not regulated.
He said that some of such narratives are as a result of none compliance by some CSOs to extant laws and regulations.
“This initiative started in conversation aimed at what can be done differently to counter the narrative that says CSOs are not regulated, they just collect money but that is not necessarily the truth.
“There are quite a lot of regulations, there are quite a lot of legislations, legal policy from different levels regulating the activities of CSOs.
“We discovered that there is limited understanding of stakeholders peddling such narratives and we also discovered that there is an issue of non compliance.
“Many CSOs are not aware of some of these regulations so they do not comply;what you do not know, you do not know.
“So we felt that if we are able to put all these regulations together and identify which area it relates to the work of CSOs and provide some necessary guide and advice, it will keep improving the compliance by leveraging on the power of technology,” he said.
Babalola said that the platform is not to impose new legislations on CSOs but to protect CSOs by helping them to be more responsive and accountable on their own.
He said it is to enable CSOs to comply with extant laws and regulations saying that it is one of projects of EU-ACT.
He urged all CSOs to engage the platform and take utmost advantage of the opportunity and also send their feedback for further improvement.
Also, the Programme Officer, Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice (West African) Ms Olufunke Baruwa said that the platform would also serve as means of sharing information.
She said that it would also help identify the roles of CSOs and areas each CSO is operating and would also serve as a guide for donor agencies willing to donate funds for development.
According to her, it will help us hold ourselves accountable and to support each other to enhance performance.
Baruwa said that the longterm goal is for the platform to become a resource warehouse for the activities of CSOs in the country.
Chief Executive Officer of Food Basket
Foundation International FBFI). Dr Funmi Akinyele said that reports showed that, in Nigeria, CSOs operate under weak and complex regulations.
She said that many CSOs needed to familiarise themselves with the Companies and Allies Matters Act (CAMA) provisions regarding their mode of operation.
According to her, this gap in information have hindered effectiveness limited the potentials of CSOs.
“To address thin gap, the European Union funded Agents for Citizens-Driven Transformation Act Programme, the Open Society Initiative West Africa (ACT) Programme and the Open Society Initiative West Africa (OSIWA) to establish a committee.
“This committee is on the Civil Society Regulatory Environment to create the Society Regulatory Plettorm (CRP) to promote civil society transparency and credibility through improved compliance to extent and self- regulatory frameworks.
“This platform is designed with a compendium of statutory regulations to help provide information to CSOs about laws and serve as national public directory,” she said.
