Umar Jibril, deputy majority leader, who sponsored controversial NGO bill, is dead

Sources say the 57-year-old Jibril sponsored the controversial non-governmental organisation regulatory commission bill.

At the time of the bill introduction, the lawmaker said there was no existing framework to supervise the mode of operations of NGOs in the country.

Amid the controversy generated by the bill’s introduction, Jibril had contended that the legislation was aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability in the way and manner NGOs collect funds.

“The NGO bill, therefore, is primarily to set up a commission to regulate their activities and provide a platform for robust relationships between them and the government for the interests of Nigerians”, he had said.

During a public hearing organised to deliberate on the bill in December 2017, no civil society organisation and non-governmental organisation spoke in support of it.

Jibril was until his death the deputy majority leader of the house. He was also a former speaker of the Kogi state house of assembly.