Nigeria Civic Space Shrinking, As WACSI Tasks CSOs To Look Inward For Funding 

The West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) has decried that Civic Space in Nigeria like many other West African countries is shrinking and creating a disenabling environment for civil society’s effectiveness. 

WASCI lamented that this has hampered civil society organisations to monitor government policies and actions, hold government accountable, engage in advocacy, and serve as a source of information for both citizens and the government.

The executive director, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), Nana Afadzinu, disclosed this at a press conference on the launch of WACSI Node Nigeria in Abuja yesterday.

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Afadzinu raised the alarm over the fragility of the financial sustainability of many CSOs in the country.

“It also points to the compelling need for CSOs to look inward towards reducing their dependency on foreign sources of support.

“Therefore, in the face of shrinking international support, it has become expedient to broaden the support base available and accessible to CSOs in the country to involve every Nigerian,” she said.

With support from the Ford Foundation, she said WACSI is implementing the Civic Space Resource Hub in collaboration with Spaces for Change to provide the needed resources to civil society actors in these countries to build their resilience and also confront the civic space challenges.

“This programme targets three West African countries, including Nigeria. Civil society actors in Nigeria are therefore a key player in WACSI’s sphere of influence,” she said.

Afadzinu said the establishment of the WACSI node in Nigeria on 16 November 2022 is a significant milestone for the Institute but also opens up more opportunities for civil society in Nigeria.

“Given the large number of civil society organisations in the country, comprising of approximately 46,000 non-governmental organisations (and counting) across the six geo-political zones of the country, it became evident to the board and management of WACSI that to be more responsive to the demands of civil society in Nigeria, we needed to make the Institute’s services easily accessible and more affordable to civic actors in Nigeria,” she added.