On behalf of the Board, members and staff of the Nigeria Network of NGOs (NNNGO), I write to express our grave concerns with the report written by Mr. Matthew T Page, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published on Carnegie’s website at https://carnegieendowment.org/2021/07/28/fake-civil-society-rise-of-pro-government-ngos-in-nigeria-pub-85041?utm_source=carnegieemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=announcement&mkt_tok=MDk1LVBQVi04MTMAAAFjGqpq0Ro0tfbednVFFmt1b54oDL6UPwNel0qZwcqchLv_JunVFVLstV_byJK_tsUex4_H8uLDrEhbXpcksZBX1Zdhz7TuBBQDDnU0nBci_M on 28 July, 2021.

While we welcome a review of the civil society sector in Nigeria, we are worried that a research report such as the one published by Carnegie damages the reputation of civil societyorganisations in the South especially when it is not grounded in rigorous methodology and evidence.

NNNGO is the first generic membership organisation for nonprofits in Nigeria dedicated to improving the operational environment for nonprofits. NNNGO brings together more than 3,300 nonprofits from around the country focused on education, health, environment, gender, agriculture, social protection, youth, poverty, good governance, and other areas of progressing national development. Since 1992, NNNGO has worked to advance the common interests of the sector, providing programs that advance national development, civil society legitimacy, transparency, and accountability.

.Our initial response will be limited to the “key takeaways” section and Note 3 titled Based on analysis of a detailed, author-compiled data set of more than 360 pro-government NGOs. It is accessible at: https://tinyurl.com/55bem3n8 of the report at this time.

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