THE Federal Government has accused the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and some other Non-Governmental Organisations of working against the interest of Nigerians.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this when he featured in “Radio Link,” a phone-in programme of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
He urged Nigerians to be circumspect about the activities of many NGOs in the country.
Mohammed said: “There are many NGOs in Nigeria today that are not working for the interests of the people of the nation.
“Otherwise, why will SERAP for instance take the Nigerian government to court because it suspended the operations of Twitter, an entity that is a platform of choice for people working to destabilise the country.
“This (Twitter) is an entity that was not registered in Nigeria, did not employ any Nigerian directly and is not paying tax in spite of the huge amount of money it is making in Nigeria.
“The same SERAP, when we later had an agreement with Twitter, wrote to my office to ask for the details of the agreement and we obliged.”
The minister noted that the agreements signed with Twitter to resume operations in Nigeria were beneficial to both parties.
He added: “We understand that in every case being filed by some of these NGOs, they receive subventions from their donors and sponsors and this should worry Nigerians.
“If you noticed, one of the fastest growing businesses today is the NGO and the country is full of all sorts of NGOs which are being funded for ulterior motives.”
SERAP had in the last few years filed several cases against the Nigerian government over rights violation, corruption, insecurity, and nepotism among others.
