By Mustapha Salisu
The One Voice Development Initiative has declared its full support for the newly inaugurated High-Powered Committee for Profiling NGOs and Donor Organizations in Kano State.
Speaking today during a press conference at Kano’s NUJ Press Centre, the group’s chairman, Comrade Abbas Abdullahi Yakassai, described the initiative as a crucial step toward ensuring accountability, transparency, and alignment of NGOs with the state’s development objectives.
Yakassai emphasized that the profiling initiative is not aimed at stifling NGOs but rather at enabling collaboration between the government and development organizations.
“This effort will enhance the integrity of the sector and eliminate unscrupulous organizations whose activities may contradict the moral and religious values of Kano State,” he stated.
The committee, led by Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, includes representatives from the government, security agencies, civil society, and religious organizations. Yakassai commended its composition, noting that it will ensure a balanced approach to regulating NGO activities.
Citing similar efforts in Borno, Rivers, and Yobe states, Yakassai stressed that a regulatory framework is necessary to prevent harmful projects like the controversial Purple Things, Fifty-Fifty, WISE, and Chain Pfizer Trovafloxacin initiatives.
“NGOs play a critical role in health, education, and social development, but without oversight, there is a risk of activities that could undermine the state’s foundational values,” he warned.
The One Voice Development Initiative urged all stakeholders, including the public and civil society organizations, to support the government’s move, emphasizing that a more accountable and ethical development sector will benefit the people of Kano.