Civil Society Organisations (CSOS) has said they were not enemies to the state contrary to government assumption but rather they were partners in progress for the good of Nigeria.
They said this at the Conference on the Impact of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria organised by the Centre for Development and Democracy (CDD with support from the European Union – Agents for Citizen-driven Transformation (EU-ACT) through British Council.
A CSO member and the researcher while presenting the findings on CSO impact in Nigeria, Mr Jaye Gaskia said that CSOs often find themselves pitted against government and the market while performing their critical role as agents of change.
According to Gaskia, the reason is that government holds and can pull the levers to make CSO work difficult.
He said that through hostile regulatory frameworks, anti-CSOs mobilisation, and disinformation campaigns calling into question their relevance, the government in less tolerant states assail CSOs.
Some of the state actors that spoke called for the need for better understanding of the duties of government and the need to compliment it.
Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Spokes Person ,Frank Mba ,said that the meeting was important because it enabled government to continue to asses CSOs properly adding that it would also help in project the strengths of CSOs and the areas where they have challenges and to project into the future.
