EU-ACT Trains CSOs On Good Governance

The need to engage compliance officers with prescribed qualification, file reports of annual returns and being up to date in remitting taxes to the appropriate quarters were salient points deliberated on at the training of members of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Sokoto State at the weekend.

The training which focused on ‘Compliance with CSO Regulatory Framework’ was at the instance of the European Union (EU) – Agents for Citizens-driven Transformation (ACT) programme in conjunction with the British Council.

Issues bordering on corporate governance and CAMA 2020, Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (SCUML); Pensions Regulations, CAMA and FIRS; SCUML and Pensions, were thoroughly explained by the two facilitators, Professor Adedeji Adekunle, Obare Dafiaghor and representatives of CAC, FIRS, SCUML and Pencom.

Professor Adekunle highlighted that the essence of the training was to serve as a manual to the CSOs and help build bodies of expertise on compliance.

According to Professor Adekunle, among the key compliance obligations is the fundamental structure of a general meeting, board and management whose specific details are outlined and a secretary as the custodian of corporate records and the chief compliance officer of CAMA.

“Even though, some of the CSOs may not be for profit, they still use money to carry out their activities.

They raise money through donations, employ people and pay salaries, they engage in procurement.

“It is not only profit that is taxed, according to our tax laws. There is VAT, which takes care of transaction tax, there is income tax for salary earners, among others,” he stated.