Civil society organisations (CSOs) in Akwa Ibom State have called for the establishment of a central registry to eliminate multiple registration requirements and overlapping levies imposed by different government agencies.
The demand formed part of a communiqué issued at the end of a town hall meeting on the draft Civil Society Organisation Registration Bill 2026, held on 9 July in Uyo.
The meeting, organised under the Community of Practice on Civic Space Strengthening with support from Global Rights, brought together civil society leaders, governance stakeholders and media practitioners to review the proposed legislation.
The stakeholders argued that the absence of a harmonised registration framework subjected organisations to repeated registration processes and administrative charges across ministries, departments and agencies, increasing operational costs and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
They proposed that the Akwa Ibom State CSO Registry should be domiciled under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and serve as the sole entry point for registering civil society organisations in the state.
