The Nigeria Network of NGOs welcomes Federal Government’s decision to reconstitute the Financial Reporting Council

Lagos, January 9, 2017—The Nigeria Network of NGOs representing over 2,000 not-for-profit organisations in Nigeria welcomes the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to reconstitute the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The Nigerian Not-for-Profit sector was upset yet again by the actions of the FRC in releasing the Not-for-Profit Organisations (NFPO) Code in October 2016 despite earlier submissions to the Council on the need to ensure robust engagements with the wider civil society community before the code is released.

By this singular act the President has shown our sector and the world that it stands ready to uphold the protection and strengthening of civic space in Nigeria. We have seen around the world and at an alarming rate efforts by various governments to restrict the operational space for civil society through laws, policies and practices to limit the ability of people to come together to act for a just world.

Our sector remains guided by the ultimate believe that a robust governance system is extremely positive, for both not-for-profits and wider society.

In recognition of the impact and contributions of our sector to the growth and development of the nation’s economy, we call on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Trade and Investment to ensure that the civil society community is included in the process of nominating members of the Council since there is a code released by FRC for the not-for-profit sector too.

As a Network, we hope to continue to use our organizational capacity – including convening power, community management excellence and insight generation to engage with the FRC and its new leadership on the NFPO Code.

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For further information, please contact:

Kunle Idowu

Media and Communications Manager

0803 348 3421 | kunle@nnngo.org

About us: The Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) is the first generic membership body for civil society organizations in Nigeria that facilitates effective advocacy on issues of poverty and other developmental issues. Established in 1992, NNNGO represents over 2000 organizations ranging from small groups working at the local level, to larger networks working at the national level. www.nnngo.org

It’s time Nigerian NGOs were respected as an influential high impact sector that we are. The stats below shows why!

CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance and the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) are deeply concerned about impending legislation to restrict freedom of association in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s National Assembly is currently considering a bill to provide for “the establishment of the Non-Governmental Organisations Regulatory Commission for the Supervision, Coordination and Monitoring of Non-Governmental Organisations, Civil Society Organisations etc. in Nigeria and for related matters.” First introduced in July 2016, the bill has since passed through the second reading in the House of Representatives. The bill has now been referred to the Committee on CSOs and Development Partners for further legislative input.

“The bill is in conflict with Nigeria’s Constitutional and international law obligations,” says Oyebisi Oluseyi, Executive Director of NNNGO. “We must instead strengthen civic space in Nigeria, as our sector’s role in finding solutions to the enormous challenges facing our nation cannot be overemphasized”.

CIVICUS has expressed solidarity with Nigerian civil society, which is deeply opposed to the bill’s provisions on grounds that the operations and finances of NGOs are already regulated by seven legal frameworks and overseen by five government agencies. This was emphasised in a peaceful protest taken to the Lagos State Governor at the Lagos House on 28 September 2016 by civil society organisations from different parts of the country.

One of the problematic provisions in the proposed bill is the mandatory requirement for NGOs to seek permission to operate in the country. This is in contrast with best practices issued by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, which underscore the right to form and join an association, including an unregistered association.

The proposed government dominated NGO Regulatory Commission would be empowered to “facilitate and coordinate” the work of all national and international NGOs, as well as to provide policy guidelines to harmonise their activities in line with the National Development Plan determined by the government. Civil society organisations are concerned about the amount of control this would give to the government-aligned Commission, and civil society ability to operate independently.

The bill also seeks to exercise operational control over projects implemented by NGOs by requiring them to seek prior permission from the ministry relevant to their area of work. The legislative brief of the bill introduced by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly emphasises the intention to establish a National Council of Voluntary Organisations to develop a code of conduct for the regulation of the civil society organisations on matters relating to their funding, foreign relations, national security etc.

“In its present form the NGO regulation bill will weaken the ability of civil society to expose corruption and rights violations,” said Mandeep Tiwana, Head of Policy and Research from CIVICUS. “The orientation of the Bill is patently undemocratic and geared towards controlling the work of NGOs whose independence is vital for a healthy democracy.”

CIVICUS and NNNGO urge the Federal Government of Nigeria and Members of the Nigeria National Assembly to reconsider the NGO regulation bill and focus on creating an enabling environment for civil society in law and practice to maximise the sector’s contributions to national development and constitutional imperatives.

Nigeria is listed in the ‘obstructed’ category of the CIVICUS Monitor

The roundtable workshop (National Conference) for members of the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO), 7 September 2016, Lagos, Nigeria, was convened by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in partnership with the Nigeria Network of NGOs.

The National Conference was held under the theme ‘’Attaining global best practices in NGO formation and management’’ and followed CAC’s commitment to take forward outcomes of discussions at the 15^th NNNGO Annual Conference by organizing an engagement conference with members of the Network on how to improve the enabling environment for the operations of non-profits in Nigeria.

The National Conference aimed:

• to provide information on pre and post registration requirements and processes for complying with regulatory requirements under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
• to strengthen commitment by non-profits to develop strong corporate governance principles, arrangements, methods and strategies for meeting their organisational objectives
• to share experiences, challenges and technical knowledge on how to use CAC’s online registration portal and how to settle internal disputes through mediation considering need to address many of the leadership challenges non-profits may face.
• to reinforce the role of non-profits in the attainment of the SDGs.

Over 235 participants attended, including delegates from 23 States of the Federation, representatives from the Commission, civil society organisations and thought leaders. In addition, 8,116 organic reaches were recorded for our Facebook posts on the day of the conference alone.

Download selected conference presentations here

Invitation to Corporate Affairs Commission’s (CAC) Engagement Conference with Civil Society Organisations

7  September 2016, Lagos, Nigeria

Theme: Achieving Global Best Practices in NGO Formation and Management.

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the Corporate Affairs Commission’s (CAC) engagement conference with civil society organisations on 7 September 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria. As you have seen from our work at the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) in the last 3 years, we have been engaging with regulators on an enabling environment for our sectors operations. You will recall that at the NNNGO annual conference in 2015 CAC committed to organising a conference to discuss and work together with our sector to shape the future of our sector.

We strongly encourage your attendance at this conference as this is a great opportunity to ensure your voice is heard. The conference will bring together senior management at CAC, members of the wider civil society community and other thought leaders in the sector to share experiences and case studies on NGO formation and management in Nigeria.

REGISTRATION

We strongly recommend you register immediately at to ensure your space is guaranteed as we have only 250 spaces. Registration is FREE. Only selected applicants will be contacted.  All participants are responsible for organising their own travel and accommodation.

We look forward to welcoming you in Lagos and to jointly work together to strengthen our sector.

Mahatma Gandhi said “You must be the change you want to see in the world”.

Changing the world begins with life changing experience. If you change yourself you will change your world. If you change how you think then you will change how you feel and what actions you take. And so the world around you changes. Not only because you now view the environment through new lenses of thoughts and emotions but also because the change within can allow one to take action in ways that would not have thought about while stuck in the old pattern of thoughts.

If only 7 percent of world population can care for the distressed, banish selfishness and embrace selflessness, we would be quite amazed by how much we can change the world.

Not underestimating the power of vision to change the world and readily born out of the need to work out the renaissance and orientate the moral value of people in the society, World Changers Foundation in 2011 desired and began to create social network with the responsibility of raising World Changers for nation building.

Taking due account of the presence of genuine future leaders across political divide and the need to quickly attract these birds of same plumage who represent the repressed, depressed, oppressed and deprived populace in the society, WCF envisions a society that is effective, reformed and restructured that these communities may become the ambassadors of change and create a better world for themselves, their state and the nation.

Strategizing to promote behavioral change, WCF has been networking and collaborating with organizations that share common goals and visions to design and develop a youth friendly curriculum geared toward vocational skills to enhance capacity building for self-sustenance which would in turn affect their lives positively.

Opuda Sotonwari, the coordinator of WCF said that the foundation has been able to organize training for about 300 secondary school pupils and youths in the city of Port Harcourt, Rivers state on skills acquisition in soap and bead-making and decoration. This, she said will continue to be part of their  agenda for the youth in the society which would transfer them to the position of employers of labor and will automatically help take burdens off the shoulders of their parents.

According to her, masses in River State are gradually loosing hope for a better future, these threatening challenges again woke WCF to the state of the economy in the state and vowed again never to stop giving humanitarian services. Building the capacity of “In school and Out” school youths, people with disability, less privilege, widows, women and indigent children through empowerment programme and scholarship scheme hence became part of the important goals that must be achieved and reach at least about five hundred thousand people in Nigeria. Opuda Sotanwari revealed that this cause will continue till the year 2025.

Meanwhile, WCF’s coordinator further stated that promoting primary health services through advocacy, social mobilization and free medical services in the area of malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and other related epidemics to remote and hard to reach communities have also been part of the societal transformation the foundation envisioned which till date she said to its credit continues to benefit hundreds of lives.

Vision without action is merely a dream, action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can massively transform the communities around you. This, Opuda Sotonwari proudly said World Changers Foundation has embraced as a watchword.

See below our first quarter report to our members.

Over 50 Chief Executive Officers within the membership of the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO) from the six geo-political zones of the country gathered in Lagos on the 6th of April 2016 to learn, share experience and adopt global best practices in NGO management at the Network’s capacity building workshop with a special focus on responsibilities, productivity and efficiency held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Alausa, Ikeja.

The workshop which was mainly organized for members of the network took participants through the functional core duties of a CEO of not-for-profit organisation. Findings from our work revealed that not many NGO leaders have clear terms of reference for their work which has in most cases impacted negatively on their ability to lead effectively.

Taking participants through their functional roles, Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, NNNGO’s Executive Director noted that efficiency is most important for a terrific outcome, he thus laid emphasis on job specifications, stressing the need for a robust knowledge, intelligence, commitment and dedication in ensuring and ascertaining a successful and impactful touch to their foundations which were established for the sole purpose of service to humanity.

And as result of the changing dynamics of running an NGO, Oyebisi admonished the CEOs to cultivate a healthy relationship with their board of directors for better and clearer strategic direction, further noting that a non-profit director should not only maintain a positive working relationship with employees but must as well function effectively balancing day to day leadership duties with accurate accountability to the board of directors, emphasizing that proper balance and accountability can only be achieved when both the board and the executive directors’ roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. He added that some initial degree of tension or disconnect between the executive director and board of directors is natural but that steps to address challenges will definitely instill mutual trust and strengthen the organization’s operational capacity at the long run.

Participants at the end of the workshop garnered more capacities on the running of their NGOs which included tips on executive director’s job description, committee responsibilities, working with board of directors, maximizing board meeting productivity, staffing, human resource, budget, finance and obtaining grants amongst others. The CEOs were most delighted on this new development which they said has broadened their horizons.

In particular was a participant who confessed that prior to the training, she had little knowledge of how to manage her organisation, she further opened up that she has been a sole funder of her Foundation since its inception but she realized that “it is now getting out of her hands and cannot handle it anymore” however with the knowledge gained at the workshop she now ‘’knows what to do in taking her organisation to the next level’’

The Nigeria Network of NGOs, established in 1992 represents over 2000 organizations ranging from small groups working at the local level to larger networks working at the national level.