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Stakeholders in the country’s civil society space have emphasized the need for the government to address the issue of the multiplicity of regulations for the civil society organizations sector in Nigeria.
This,they advised, will include addressing the issue of multiple reporting demands on the CSOs by ensuring uniform reporting to the regulatory bodies in the country.
They gave the suggestion at a National Conference on Civil Society Operational Environment in Nigeria hosted by the Steering Committee on Civil Society Regulatory Environment with the support of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria
The three- days event brought together various actors from the civil society sector, and government including regulatory agencies and legislators, as well as donors and other stakeholders, to discuss pertinent issues that affect the effectiveness and impact of the civil society sector from the point of view of enabling a conducive regulatory environment for CSO operations in the country.
A communique issued at the end of the confab,said statutory regulation for CSOs should be complementary to self-regulation for the sector as the latter provides a veritable instrument for regulating CSO operations in the country.
It advised that regulators must prioritize effective engagements with civil society organizations in order to promote mutual understanding.
It added: ‘’CSOs in Nigeria have always been regulated but recently introduced regulations such as amended CAMA 2020 and the proposed NGO Regulation Bill have provisions that cast doubt on the intentions of the government. These kinds of regulations are what continue to put both regulatory agencies and civil
society actors at loggerheads.
‘’Item 32 Part 1 of the second schedule of the 1999 constitution that deals with
incorporation, regulation and winding up of bodies corporate must be moved
from the exclusive list to the concurrent list of the constitution to empower state governments with the legal backing to deal with such issues as the provision currently impedes the country resilience and innovation index’’.
According to the communiques,there was an urgent need for the government to drive incentives for companies operating in Nigeria to make donations to the nonprofit sector and such
donations are to be deducted from the company’s tax liability as stipulated by the company income tax regulation.
It also advised relevant government agencies must ensure CSOs have access to needed
information on existing guidelines and obligations of the non-profit sector to
ensure total compliance with such regulations.,adding that regulators should constantly engage the CSOs sector with a view to providing updates and providing needed assistance in compliance with the seemingly multiple regulations including complying with the Financial Reporting Council.
It said:’’ It is expedient to accentuate that although CSOs are exempted from paying
Company Income Tax (CIT), where they do not engage in any trade or business, they are however mandated to file CIT returns, Value Added Tax (VAT) returns and Withholding Tax (WHT) returns where taxes of corporate service providers have been withheld, whether or not they access grants or
carry out projects.The Federal and State Inland Revenue Services must as a matter of obligation
constantly engage the non-profit in providing an understanding of the existing tax responsibilities as well as comprehensive guides to aid compliance.
‘’It is not only relevant but imperative to have harmonization of extant laws
regulating CSOs operations in Nigeria, especially at the sub-national level.The unjust clamping down on CSOs on mere suspicion of non-compliance to certain regulatory demands ought to be a last resort after such CSOs must have been given more information on compliance by the regulators’’
It said the requirement for CSOs compliance should be backed by the obligation of the regulators to build the capacity of the sector to fully understand all its requirements in the face of the multiple regulatory demands,adding that the peculiarities of the Nigerian society must be put into consideration when developing statutory or self-regulation for CSOs because the sector does not operate in isolation of the host community.
It advised that donors/development partners should not work with only Corporate Affairs Commission’s -registered CSOs, but must be open to working with those registered with other bodies, including
those registered with states/local governments.
Civil Society Organisations,it said, must help correct /improve donors’ perception of the civil society
regulatory frameworks by CSOs themselves getting to know and understand
properly the relevant regulatory frameworks and their requirements.
The communique advocated the need to review the Pension reforms Act 2014 and other relevant
labour law to clearly define who volunteers and interns are for the purpose of determining their pension and tax status.
The Steering Committee on Civil Society Regulatory Environment will drive the process of a coordinated CSO engagement on constitutional amendments to move item 32 Part 1 of the 2nd schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from the exclusive legislative List to the concurrent legislative List
It will also set up a team to scrutinize the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights’
Freedom of Association Guidelines to measure its current adoption within the domestic framework and offer suggestions as to enhanced implementation at the national and sub-national levels.
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According to the communique, civil society organizations in Nigeria should drive a coordinated engagement with the National Assembly, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Federal
Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other regulators on establishing a clear categorization mechanism for CSO/NGOs in Nigeria for compliance purposes, based on suggested and agreed thresholds.
It added that the Steering Committee on Civil Society Regulatory Environment should engage
all stakeholders within the Open Government Partnership (OGP) process to
ensure civic space commitments in the National Action Plan (NAP) II which are not
fully implemented are included in NAP III and bring the recommendations from the
National CSO Conference to the attention of the government and civil society CoChairs of the OGP so that issues of enabling environment for the sector are grounded in a binding commitment both locally and internationally.
It will work closely with development partners to institutionalize the National CSO Conference as an
annual event to track progress made within the sector and should mobilize relevant stakeholders to train CSOs on how to relate well with the government.
It said: ’’ The Steering Committee on Civil Society Regulatory Environment should facilitate
the formation of a forum of donors/development partners interested/supporting
initiatives on enabling environment for CSO operations to serve as a platform to regularly update/ educate donors on appropriate regulatory frameworks while also avoiding duplication of initiatives working to promote civil society enabling environment.The donor community must deliberately support the legislative Committees on Civil Society and Development Partners to strengthen their capacities to engage with civil society and move for oversight appropriate regulatory reforms’’.
