Draft Communiqué Issued at the End of the 2nd National Conference by CSO Accountability and Transparency Initiative (CATI) held on 8th-9th November, 2023 as presented by Omotunde Clement

Reported by Bliss Ojeruse, Executive Director, Saving Hand Development Initiative (SHADE-IN)

Introduction

The communiqué was drafted by a 3-persons committee including Newton Otsemaye, British Council State Coordinator, Edo State, Temple and Omotunde Clement.

Saving Hand Development Initiative (SHADE-IN) was represented at the Conference by Bliss Ojeruse, Executive Director, who participated virtually.

Background 

Against the backdrop of the resolution reached at the inaugural national conference held in September 2022, the steering committee on civil society regulatory environment was saddled with the task of working closely with development partners to institutionalise the national civil society conference as an annual event to sustain and track progress made in improving the civic society operational environment in Nigeria. 

To drive this initiative that would facilitate continuous engagement within the regulators and civic actors, beyond donors' intervention, the CSO Accountability and Transparency Initiative (CATI) was conceived in March 2023 through the support of the EU-ACT programme. 

CATI was conceived to serve as a centralised vehicle that champions the sustainability of donor initiative, connecting CSOs to existing resources and supporting CSOs in building their purpose of contributing significantly to national development.

CATI is primarily governed by six CSOs on it's board.

As a follow-up on the 6th resolution of the 2022 national conference and in line with the mandate to serve as a vehicle to facilitate enabling environment, CATI organised the 2nd national conference with support from European Union and ECOWAS, the EU-ACT programme, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Luminate, USAID -Palladium Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement (SCALE), among others. 

The theme of the conference was: “Sustaining Public Benefit from CSOs through Collaboration and Enabling Regulation." 

The purpose of the 2023 conference was to foster continued engagement across diverse stakeholders' groups to gain a shared understanding of issues, challenges, gaps and propose solutions to further facilitate an enabling environment for CSOs to operate within the context of regulation and adherence to best practices and ethical standards.

The 2023 conference is aimed at consolidating the progress of the inaugural conference to strengthen collaboration between legislators, regulators and civic actors.

Exploring the avenues for impact and global best practices in defining and categorising civil society organisations in Nigeria, the 2-day consultative forum was put together by 13-member committee with representatives which cuts across the government, civil society organisations and donor community.

The Conference was a hybrid event with over 250 participants in attendance in-person including an online attendance.

Attendance cut across the legislators, representatives of the key regulators EFCC, FIRS, CAC, Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the media and CSOs from diverse locations.

The agenda for these two days event featured 3 keynote addresses, 2 panel plenaries, 2 round table discussions and 4 technical breakout sessions.

Between the technical sessions were goodwill messages and remarks from the special guests and key stakeholders.

Recognition

Dr. Josephine Ogazi-Egwuonwu moderating the session on "Definition and Categorisation of NGOs", Bliss Ojeruse as participant

It was recognised that despite the maiden edition held in 2022 to deepen efforts by CSOs, regulatory agencies, various committees of the national assembly and partners, it appears that the issue of vertical and conflicting legislations and policies that currently guide the activities of the Not-for-profit sector is still a huge challenge for CSOs.

The communiqué further read,

"We recognise also that these misguided perceptions are pre-debated ideas to make more laws and regulations which we believe will be unhealthy for CSOs operations in Nigeria and CS environment.

We recognise that government, private and CSOs have great roles to play in the development of society and these roles need to be done collaboratively.

We also recognise that self-regulation will help strengthen CSOs compliance with statutory regulations. 

We recognise that regulatory gaps are primarily caused by the adoption of inappropriate templates and perception of equating human with material resources, resilience with prosperity and common objective with uniformity.

We recognise the public benefit as a primary purpose cannot be equated with ours."

Observations

Having recognised the little issues on the CSOs' regulatory environment, the following were observed:

📍There are still conflicting regulations regulating the CSOs operation in Nigeria.

📍That there are adequate regulations and legislations for CSOs in Nigeria and only self-regulation is necessary to prevent over-regulations.

📍There are multiple categorisation of CSOs in various legislations in Nigeria.

📍There are still subnational regulatory frameworks that support state-level registration of CSOs in Nigeria.

📍There are still gaps and ambiguity in Not-for-profit regulatory framework.

📍CSOs regulatory environment has a given impact on CSOs sustainability in Nigeria.

Concerns or Challenges

◾While it is a known and acceptable fact that continued tripartite engagement between legislators, regulators and CSOs partners improve the process, this should however be institutionalised. Peer learning and mentoring support among CSOs is a way to ensure that knowledge and understanding of the regulatory framework is achieved.

◾CSOs understand that laws are meant to regulate but there are concerns that these laws are complex for CSOs' offtake.

◾The conversion of CSOs into a single body could result in challenges in the civic space which could be harmful. It could lead to cabal or cartel.

◾Duplication of registration at the subnational level remains a challenge. 

◾Digital security is one of the biggest challenges we face in the CSO space in the country. 

◾Politically exposed persons cannot efficiently engage Government for developmental outcome.

◾Insufficient capacity development of civil society organisations, regulators and legislators. 

◾Lack of collaboration between CSOs resulting in duplicity of efforts.

◾Lack of credibility and inability to say the truth in the founding objective of the organisation.

Summary of the Conference Observations 

◾There are currently multiple legislations regulating CSOs and these multiple legislations are conflicting with irregular categorisation of CSOs.

◾The legislations that do require only better interpretation must have relative impact on the regulatory environment and CSOs sustainability in Nigeria.

Conference Recommendations

◾Platforms like CATI should continue to advocate and engage with regulators and Government at the level of senior management for policy formation and to provide guidance for both sides - both CSOs and Government.

◾Asides bridging the knowledge gap, before we provide 360 degree a platform like this for regulators which will translate to improved service delivery, all CSOs or Not-for-profit organisations should be fully carried along in the review of statutory laws going forward.

◾The word "turnover" should as much as possible be avoided in relation to civil society organisations. What should be used to aid better understanding should be income and expenditure, as it is currently captured with various legislations.

◾CSOs are multisectoral but for the purpose of interpretation under statutory laws, NPOs are private entities with public interest because they serve the Public.

◾The legislation should be simplified in local languages.

◾There is need to harmonise the registration at the state level. 

◾The CSOs should continue to intensify their participation in capacity development programmes.

◾There is the need for adopting proper administrative operations of CSOs.

◾CSOs should try to infuse technology into their operations.

◾Financial strategy and planning is important to tackle staff retention and program sustainability.

◾CSOs need to understand that they are running a business, although it is Not-for-profit but it should be run with the basic principles of running a business.

◾Financial reporting is important for business, whether filing same or not.

◾There is need for creativity and innovation on the part of CSOs.

◾CSOs should embrace the economic and social governance in core CSO business because donors may in the future ask for ESG to be able to attract funding.

Conference Resolutions

◾The National Assembly going forward should recognise the input of CSOs in legislative process.

Commitments from the Conference

SCUML/EFCC: They will review the registration process by January, 2024 to help fast track SCUML registration in Nigeria.

FRCN - Financial reporting council of Nigeria will review the categorisation of CSOs.

National Assembly: The representative of the National Assembly confirmed that it will be an issue of top priority to reopen the liaison office and facilitate more democratic legislative process.

There will be holistic amendment of the constitution.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 2023 national conference will create opportunity for continuous engagement between the various arms of Government, Donor communities, private sectors and CSOs.

As an improvement on the 2022 conference, the private sector was fully integrated e.g. access bank.

The Conference afforded the civic actors opportunity to define and categorise the CSOs based on the context in which they operate. 

It is expected that, if adopted, this will lessen the burden associated with compliance. It was agreed that compliance should not be a blanket regulation.

The importance of the use of digital tools to enhance service delivery was extensively discussed, highlighting the opportunities available for CSOs.

Government and CSOs are afforded the opportunity to discuss their concerns and postulate suggestions with the hope of improving compliance and arriving at an agreed point.

Conversations on the lacunas in the law and suggestions on addressing the complexities of ambiguity presented by the law were postulated.

Next Steps and Action Points from the Conference presented by Merit Anike Emmanuel

1. CSOs should advocate for harmonisation of conflicting requirements between the regulations of the FIRs and the CAC.

2. Simplification of Regulatory language: The structure of the regulations governing CSOs should be simplified to aid comprehension even at the grassroot level.

3. Streamlining of CSOs' registration: Registration process both at subnational and national levels should be simplified to create a more enabling environment.

4. Moderation of penalties for non-compliance: Regulations and penalties should be less stringent to encourage compliance.

5. Inclusivity in lawmaking: The process of lawmaking should be inclusive with inputs from stakeholders and this will promote transparency accountability and buy-in from all stakeholders.

6. Institutionalisation of continuous engagement: Continuous active engagement between the legislators, regulators and CSOs should be institutionalised.

7. Advocacy and engagement by CATI: CATI will advocate for and engage with regulators and Government at the senior management level and CATI will provide guidance for both sides and enhance regulatory compliance within the CSO space.

8. Advocacy and engagement by CATI: Intensification of self-regulation - FRC should intensify efforts in the area of self-regulation, which they've been doing before.

9. Standardisation and self-regulation: Networks and coalitions should set minimum standards in line with best practices for their members. They should also have a code of conduct and CSOs should self-regulate themselves to enhance regulatory compliance.

10. Confirmation of tax-law amendment: CATI should follow-up on FRS to confirm if the amendment of the tax law is a provision of the law establishing the FRS.

11. Advocacy for Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020: CSOs should advocate for the amendment of CAMA 2020 to classify Incorporated Trustees as either small or big organisations.

12. Review of national cooperative law: A review of national cooperative law is now urgently needed to enhance preparatory compliance and promote consistency. 

13. To ensure the input of CSOs in CAMA amendment due process, they should be involved in the public hearing, multistakeholder dialogue session and consultations that are ongoing during the amendment process. It shouldn't be done in silos.

14. Legal backing for CBOs: Community Based Organisations (CBOs) should synergise to bring up a law that provides legal backing for States to register CBOs. This will enhance regulatory compliance and promote consistency. 

15. There should be focus on unregistered organisations. The next national risk assessment must focus on unregistered organisations. Self-regulation by unregistered organisations can provide SCUML guarantee. 

16. State regulators should be trained to enhance regulatory compliance.

17. The supreme court judgement that stated that cooperatives do not need SCUML should be shared to promote consistency.

18. Other laws that affect CSOs apart from CAMA and PENCOM should be reviewed.

Reported by Bliss Ojeruse, Executive Director, Saving Hand Development Initiative (SHADE-IN)