Nigeria: CSOs Demand Withdrawal of Foreign Aid Bill

What the report says

Five human rights and civic groups in Nigeria have asked the National Assembly to withdraw the Foreign Aids (Regulation, Transparency and Disclosure) Bill 2026, also known as SB. 1034. In a joint statement reported by Premium Times and distributed by AllAfrica, the organisations said the proposal could narrow civic space and expose human rights defenders, survivors and witnesses to risk. The statement was issued in Abuja on Wednesday, 13 August 2026.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Dankwambo and already passed at second reading in the Senate in July, would create a Foreign Aid Regulatory Commission with powers to register, audit, coordinate, sanction and suspend foreign grants, donor funds and technical assistance. The groups said the measure goes beyond NGOs and could affect government bodies, civil society organisations and private recipients of overseas support. They argued that several provisions are overly broad, including requirements for rapid registration of donations, public disclosure of funded partners, and a rule that foreign-funded work must align with national priorities.

The organisations said those rules could hinder emergency assistance, increase surveillance and allow authorities to treat rights-related work as non-compliant. They also pointed to possible overlap with existing regulators such as the CAC, SCUML, FIRS and the NFIU, saying a new commission could add bureaucracy without improving accountability. The groups urged consultation with civil society, stronger confidentiality protections and faster channels for emergency protection funding. More broadly, the debate reflects a continuing tension in Nigeria between transparency rules for foreign funding and concerns about the independence of advocacy groups.