Foundation urges proper regulation to drive proposed NGO bill

A group, the Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation, has called for proper regulation on the bill proposed by the National Assembly seeking an act for the establishment of the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) Regulatory Commission.

The Foundation said that when there are too many restrictions, there would be jeopardy in the sector that is already beaming with problems.

The group, which stated this during a courtesy visit to the Corporate Head Office of The Guardian yesterday, said there should be a soft-landing because what NGOs do is out of passion and sufferings of humans.

The ACT Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Osayi Alile, said that taking permission from government before projects could be embarked on might not work owing to the cumbersome process one must pass through.

She said: “With this bill, we are asking government to call us to a roundtable and have conversations. Government cannot work without us. Once they put the bill on, all the big players they are trying to invite to the country will begin to have problems too.

“How many people can come and how many people can you look at?

“In terms of auditing our accounts at the end of the year, every NGO that is run properly is already audited. So, it will be great that we do those things.

“Other countries of the world have rules and regulations that govern this sector. I think we should do that too but it’s something that we need to think properly about because if you infringe on us getting the work done, we are going to have problem in the sector because the sector is large.”

Alile said the Foundation, which started in March this year, has four major areas it is focusing on which include health, environment, entrepreneurship and leadership.

The ACT Foundation CEO, who stated that about 7,000 Nigerians had benefited from the Foundation and more are still applying to get grants, said the group also targets partners to relate on their projects and also showcase non-profit organisations that are doing great work in the country.