Tijjani Sarki
I commend the Kano State Government for inaugurating the High-Powered Committee on Profiling NGOs and Donor Organizations.
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This decisive move underscores a strong commitment to ensuring that NGOs and donor organizations align with the state’s development priorities, values, and laws.
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The committee’s focus on transparency and accountability is critical, especially given the recent concerns regarding some organizations with fraudulent and evil activities
The allegations involving USAID-funded NGOs promoting terrorism-related activities highlight the urgency of this initiative.
Reports linking certain foreign-funded organizations to illegal activities, including financing terrorism, make the establishment of this committee essential to protect Kano State from potential abuses and destruction of the good moral values and religious practices, under the guise of rendering humanitarian services
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This engagement will allow for the profiling of NGOs, knowing their funding sources, and ensure they do not serve as vehicles for promoting harmful ideologies or illegal operations, for those who are clean
A troubling example is the case of the NGO Women Initiative for Sustainable Empowerment and Equality (WISE), which, in July 2024, was accused of promoting values that contradict the state’s moral and religious norms, particularly in relation to LGBTQ+ rights.
The public outcry following these actions highlights the urgent need for stringent Profiling of the good and clean NGOs supporting the development of the State agenda, and to prevent the dirty NGOs from undermining social cohesion or violating the local values of the good people of Kano.
The committee’s authority to shut down organizations engaged in illegal activities and investigate their funding sources is a critical safeguard.
Given Kano State’s status as a rapidly growing and cosmopolitan hub in Nigeria, it is crucial to take swift and strategic action to strengthen the role of NGOs and donor agencies in supporting the state’s development.
The activities of these organizations must be effectively coordinated to ensure they align with the state’s strategic development goals.
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A similar approach has been implemented in other states across Nigeria, with Borno State leading the way. On December 11, 2019, the Executive Governor of Borno State signed a law establishing the Borno State Commission for Social Development, Humanitarian Affairs, and Relief (BACSDAHR).
This agency is charged with creating policies, guidelines, and programs to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian and development partners, ensuring that their efforts are in line with the state’s development agenda.
Additionally, BACSDAHR is responsible for creating frameworks and strategies to oversee, coordinate, and monitor the activities of all humanitarian and development organizations operating within the state, including both international and national NGOs (INGOs,NNGOs) and civil society,community-based organizations (CSOs,CBOs).
This model offers valuable insights for Kano State as it seeks to enhance the impact of its development partners.
As the committee, led by the Honorable Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, begins its work, I urge them to carry out their mandate with utmost diligence, safeguard the rights of the good NGOs to operate freely without any hindrance, as they have always remained partners in the development strides of the present Kano State Government.
Only organizations that genuinely serve the interests of the people of Kano and operate within the law should be allowed to function. This proactive approach will protect the state’s security and values, ensuring that resources meant for development are not diverted to harmful causes.
The people of Kano deserve a transparent and accountable system that promotes trust, peace, and the preservation of the state’s cultural and religious integrity.
In the long run, this initiative will not only eliminate illegality within the sector but also cultivate an environment where legitimate NGOs and CBOs can flourish, contributing to the continued development and well-being of Kano State.
I am confident that, with such a comprehensive and collaborative approach, the committee will succeed in shielding Kano from both external and internal forces seeking to undermine its security and values.
It is my humble opinion that, the clean NGOs and Donor organizations should have no reason to worry over this development, as the Government is seeking to establish more robust and closer working relationships with the NGOs and Donor organizations, who have been supportive to the State Government in the implementation of its blue prints of transforming the State to a greater heights
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Tijjani Sarki
Vice President, Human Rights Watch and Youth Empowerment Foundation, Nigeria