The House of Representatives has said that it has the same objectives as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil societies (CSOs), News About Nigeria reports.
Victor Obuzor (PDP-Rivers), Chairman of the House Committee on CSOs and Development Matters, stated this on the sidelines of a meeting with CSOs and development partners in Abuja.
He noted that the move of the House to regulate the activities of NGOs and CSOs in the country does not translate to war on their part.
According to him, the bill to regulate the activities of NGOs just came up for the first reading and will go for the second reading, adding that it was stepped down by the speaker for further consultation.
“We are not at war with CSOs. What they do for nation-building cannot be overlooked, we are their friends and we have the same objectives,” he stated.
He further noted that the House aims to build up the nation and make Nigeria great, and therefore urged the organisations and civil societies to work alongside the House in achieving this goal.
He disclosed that a lot of bills, including humanitarian law and the Persons with Disabilities Act, among others, for the operationalization of CSOs have been passed in the House of Representatives but have not been implemented, noting that he is putting all of them together.
This, according to him, is to ensure that they fine-tune the bill in a way that it could be implemented, adding that the lawmakers were also looking at amendments to those bills.
