CISLAC Hails Reps For Dropping Bill To Gag CSOs

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has commended the House of Representatives for dropping the controversial bill to regulate civil society organizations.

The group has, however, charged the House to drop other controversial bills directed at regulating the social space.

While commending Tajudeen Abbas, the sponsor of the controversial Civil Society Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2020 for heeding popular demand to drop the bill, CISLAC in a statement by its executive director, Auwal Ibrahim Musa said:

“The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) ensures non-profit funds are subjected to appropriate taxes and exemptions; Financial Reporting Council ensures that audit reports produced by non-profits are in line with the International Financial Reporting Standards and that auditors providing services to the sector are doing the right thing; and the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) ensures compliance with anti-money laundering regulations,

“Having taken this step in the right direction, we would like to call on the members of the National Assembly to extend this gesture to other controversial bills – the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill, 2019, also known as the Social Media Bill; the Hate Speech (Prohibition) Bill, 2019 and the National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches (Est. etc.) Bill, 2019.

“It is worthy of note that while the Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulation Bill, 2019, also known as the Social Media Bill plagiarizes a similar Bill by the Singapore parliament, the latter explicitly defines some terms, while the Nigerian bill leaves a lot in the air with frightening ambiguity

While there is a need to control the spread of false information, the danger lies in being a victim of the relativity of the interpretation of the terms “Falsehood” and “Truth,” which not only gives the government a monopoly on the truth but violates the enshrined constitutional rights to freedom of expression.

“We condemn the aforementioned Bills in their entirety as we believe that the punitive sanctions prescribed by the Hate Speech Bill are extreme considering the current civil reactive unrest in Nigeria. The Bills seek to create Draconian laws that only a non-democratic government can tolerate and one that will infringe on the rights of citizens.”

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG