Civil society organizations (CSOs) in the country have been urged to adopt “self-regulatory mechanisms” to sustain their organizations and expand civic space.
Idem Udoekong, Project Manager, European Union (EU) Strengthening Bridges, Abuja, gave advice in Enugu at the recently concluded two-day capacity building workshop on scaling up the adoption of civil society organization self-regulation in Nigeria.
Organized by the Ethics and Leadership Awareness Initiative (EGLAI) in partnership with the EU CSO Strengthening Bridges Project (EU CSO-Bridge) and implemented by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), the workshop targeted team leaders in the South-East who are expected to leave what they have learned to their members.
Udoekong also appealed to members to carry their board members on board, noting that board members are important stakeholders and hold members accountable.
In his words, “We are focusing on the training of members, but not on our board members. They are important, because the board holds members accountable. So we need to find a way to take board members on board on this, because if anything goes wrong, it is the board that is held accountable.”
“Now is not the time for us to impress donors, now is the time to do things to impress ourselves. What I mean to say is that if we were doing things to impress funders, now we need to do things to survive and that means internal governance in the form of self-regulation.
We need to self-regulate to keep our institutions running.”
Harry Udoh, Team Lead, Ethics and Good Leadership Awareness Initiative (EDLAI) said CSOs in Nigeria have made progress but he said they are not moving as fast as they should and that is why the workshop targeted CSO champions-team leads in the states.
“We are looking at scaling up the civic sector. We are building the capacity of these individuals who we have identified as champions to adopt self-regulation modalities within their states and I believe that before the year ends, we should have a lot of CSOs who are adopting self-regulation modalities in their organizations and those principles will guide their governance, financial management, operations to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability and by doing so, donors, Will attract the confidence of important stakeholders like regulators, so that they do not come forward with restrictive laws,” Udoh said.
The workshop formed part of the national effort to strengthen accountability, transparency and regulatory compliance within the civil society sector through the adoption of approved hybrid CSO self-regulation (SR) modalities.
The training held on January 21-22, 2026 brought together South-East State CSO Champions and Subnational CSO Network Leads from five states in the South-East region, who will serve as peer leaders driving self-regulation at the state and thematic levels.
The training improved public understanding of CSO self-regulation and its relevance to good governance, highlighted constructive, non-coercive approaches to strengthening accountability in the civic sector, and promoted informed public discussion on the role of CSOs in civic space, compliance and national development.
