The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has disclosed that the House will reconsider the controversial NGOs bill from the 8th Assembly.
The Speaker today during plenary shortly before he announced his departure to Uganda for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Session, noted that the House will revisit the bill in response to the security briefing with the Service Chiefs.
The NGO bill was sponsored in the 8th Assembly by Buba Jubril, however, several members of the Civil society kicked and protested against the bill.
Also the Army has been having friction with several NGOs in Northeast including Amnesty International.
“Buba Jubrin in the 8th Assembly sponsored the NGO bill, and there was a lot of public outcry, but with the revelations from the meeting with the Security chiefs, this time we will invite the NGOs and we may need to revisit the bill, because we are sure they will not want few rotten eggs to spoil the whole basket, we will invite them,” the Speaker
The House also resolved to investigate activities of Non Governmental Organizations in Nigeria, specifically those in the troubled region of North East.
The decision followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno) on the need to create a special security fund.
By way of amendment, the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu moved that all NGOs should be investigated to look into their sources of funding and the total number of NGOs in Nigeria.
“Ask relevant committees to investigate all NGOs in Nigeria, to investigate their total number, source of funding,” Elumelu moved.
