No fewer than 30 civil society organisations have demanded the immediate withdrawal of the proposed Foreign Aid (Regulation, Transparency and Disclosure) Bill, 2026, currently before the Nigerian Senate.
The groups, including Yiaga Africa, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Gatefield, BudgIT, SERAP, CLEEN Foundation and Enough is Enough Nigeria, made the demand at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, seeks to regulate and monitor the operations and funding sources of non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations.
It has passed first and second readings and was referred to the Senate Committee on Civil Society and Development Partners for legislative review.
The organisations said the bill, originally introduced in 2016 by the late Hon. Umar Buba Jibril, had resurfaced despite previous public opposition.
Reading the joint statement, Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Odeh Friday, said the legislation would place unnecessary restrictions on organisations working to support vulnerable Nigerians and hold public institutions accountable.
“At a time when everyday Nigerians are pulling together to survive unprecedented economic hardship and inflation, the National Assembly is moving aggressively to criminalise local and global solidarity,” Odeh said.
He added, “The government did not provide welfare. It cannot ban our charity.”
Odeh argued that the proposed legislation lacked adequate safeguards against abuse of regulatory powers.
“There are no safeguards written into the statute to narrow regulatory powers, judicial appeal, no political-priority test and no discretionary suspension of legitimate civic organisations,” he said.
He also raised concerns over the requirement that foreign aid must receive official approval and align with government objectives.
“We wonder what this means for essential work that demands government accountability or investigates high-profile corruption,” Odeh said.
The groups urged Nigerians, religious leaders, diaspora networks, student unions and market associations to oppose the bill.
“We do not need a licence to care for our communities. We demand a complete withdrawal of this bill,” Odeh stated.
The organisations also faulted the proposed sanctions, particularly the provision allowing the revocation of an organisation’s operational licence.
They argued that Nigerian NGOs operate through registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission rather than conventional operational licences.
According to the groups, revocation could therefore result in the deregistration of an organisation and potentially silence its activities.
They further criticised what they described as an unequal transparency regime targeting foreign-funded organisations.
“The central defect in SB. 1034 is not that it demands transparency, but it demands transparency selectively,” the statement said.
The groups argued that the proposed disclosure requirements should also cover domestic political donations, foundations linked to public office holders and organisations associated with political figures.
They questioned whether foreign-funded civil society organisations posed the most significant corruption and election-finance risks in the country.
Also speaking, Strategic Lead, Democracy, Rights and Public Sector at Gatefield, Abdulrahman Adebayo, said existing government mechanisms could be strengthened instead of creating another regulatory regime.
Adebayo said the government had committed to recording development cooperation flows on the budget, with quarterly breakdowns, by the 2027 fiscal cycle.
He argued that expanding the existing development cooperation dashboard and linking it to the budget process would improve transparency without placing independent organisations under a punitive commission.
“The proposed National Foreign Aid Register fills no regulatory vacuum,” Adebayo said.
“On the public side, it duplicates the Dashboard, and on the recipient side, it duplicates CAMA, the FRC Act and the SCUML regime.”
He noted that the state already had enforcement powers under existing laws.
Adebayo cited the powers of the CAC under Section 839 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act to suspend trustees and appoint interim managers.
He also referred to Section 56 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, which permits the CAC Registrar-General or the SCUML Director to refuse or revoke the registration of an NGO under specified circumstances.
Executive Director of DigiCivic Initiative, Mojirayo Ogunlana, said the proposed sanctions were another major concern.
According to her, individuals could face up to five years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of N5m for failure to register, inaccurate disclosure or obstruction of the proposed commission.
She added that organisations could face a minimum fine of N20m as well as suspension or revocation of their operational licence.
The CSOs called on the Senate to halt further consideration of the bill and withdraw it from the legislative process.
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