CAMA And Karma: A Humbling Cloak Of Accountability

CAMA 2020 Seeks to entrench greater degrees of accountability and transparency in matters of public interest amongst NGOs and related organizations. It is not a new idea, Nigeria is only catching up with the rest of the world. The opaqueness, arrogance and outright lack of accountable leadership amongst some of these organizations has necessitated this amendment. It points to one fact;
“the interest of the public is sacred”.

For religious organizations, a clear distinction would have to be made between the practice of #Faith and #Administering over the affairs of a people. The Master Jesus never administered over finance or related issues, someone else did. Same way, the Apostles after a while realized the need to retract back to their primary calling, which according to Peter, was the ministry of the #word and #prayers. Deacons had to be appointed to focus on #administration and #welfare.

The amendment also establishes the fact that Nigeria is a sovereign state and that there are no independent entities within it. All persons within Nigeria are therefore subject to the direction and control of the government of Nigeria, on whom the ultimate powers and sovereignty of Nigeria rests.

Section 38 of the Nigerian constitution has provided sufficient guarantees for the unhindered practice of ones faith. Therefore the amendment has not placed any limitation or restriction on the ” practice of faith” by any Nigerian. What we should see from this amendment is that;

(1) The practice of faith is private and personal, (2) The administration of the affairs of a people in whatever form is primarily government’s.

It is for this reason sundry legislations governing various aspect of a people’s life are made and enforced by government. If the administration of the affairs of a people under the guise of religion or any other concern, runs parallel to those of the legitimate government, anarchy will naturally arise and everyone’s interest would be in jeopardy. It is common sense that there can’t be two captain in a ship. Therefore, the campaign against this amendment is anti-government and as such anti public interest and also anti theological injunctions as seen from Romans 13:1

“Let every soul be subject unto the high powers. For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God”

The rights of every Nigerian to freely practice his/her religion is fully guaranteed by Section 38(1);

“Every person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance”

The amendments have not in any way infringed on the above rights.

This amendments will in time eliminate opaqueness and establish the culture of accountability, not just amongst FBOs, CSOs, pan cultural groups, but also in national life. It will also help us to appreciate that it is a huge honour to be of service to humanity in whatever capacity we find ourselves and that when such trusts are bestowed on us, we must exhibit high degrees of personal discipline and carry out such responsibilities with all humility, sincerity and with a strong awareness that, public interests is Gods interests and it is sacred.

As earlier mentioned, religious organizations would have to clearly identify what their primary calling or focus should be, and also come up to the fact that administration of the affairs of a people and the practice of faith are mutually exclusive in a secular state as Nigeria.

In a figurative sense, it may be said that CAMA, 2020 has taken the cloak of Karma and the spirits once untouchable will now come in their humble humanity to give account of their stewardship.

God bless Nigeria.

Onakpoberuo Onoriode Victor
17th August, 2020

Editor’s note:
Why we agree with many things said in this article, we believe the statement of Bishop David Oyedepo in opposition to CAMA was an outburst that seemed to show reasons why the government should not be involved in appointing a member to the Board of Trustees for a religious body. This move will be mistaken for a spying arrangement by the Federal Government. There are many ways to seek accountability. I don’t think this is one of them.
That to me is a daring and provocative move.
The church has its own government and should be allowed to be. This does not mean acxountability is not to be demanded from church leaders.
The government should focus more on delivering on her mandate and not be distracted by secondary things.

Daniel Dafe for Oasis Magazine