The House of Representatives Committee on Civil Societies and Development Partners has insisted on making civil society organisations in the country accountable the the citizens.
Chairman of the panel, Hon. Kabir Idris, reiterated the resolve of the parliament to ensure Organisations, Civil Society Organizations, Donor Agencies and Development Partners operating accountable to the citizens.
Hon. Idris who stated this during an oversight function to the office of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nigeria, applauded various humanitarian interventions initiated by ICRC across the country.
He said: “The mandate of the Committee on Civil Societies and Development Partners, as was clearly articulated in our letter to you, includes among others, the Oversight of Local and International NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, Donor Agencies and Formulation of Policies and Guidelines for the Coordination and Regulation of the Activities of External Donor Agencies in the country.
“We are aware that there are a lot of humanitarian organizations operating in the North Eastern part of the country, including the ICRC, and other local and International NGOs.
“We are also aware that the funding for most of these aid activities comes from international donors, and that such funds runs into hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Recently there has been a lot of controversy and misinformation relating to the activities of some of these NGOs and the funding organizations, and how such funds are being expended.
In his remarks, the deputy head of the delegation (Prevention), Mr. Rochus Peyer, assured the ICRC will continue to expand its operations in the North East of Nigeria to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of the people by providing assistance to internally displaced persons in the terms of food, essential household items, shelter, water, sanitation snd health care including nutritional as well as mental heth and psychological programmes.
