INTRODUCTION:
“The pigs” in George Orwell’s Animal farm stated authoritatively and categorically that “All animals are equal but there are ones who are more equal than the others”. No matter how paradoxical this may seem,it has a great element of truth which no human race can interpret away. Drawing inspiration from “the Pigs' view” and opinion and relating it to the Nigerian setting,there are two ideas in human classifications. Firstly,the human rights ideas of human equality and the social idea of classism. The human rights notion is as old as man and is backed by law. This notion puts it that all humans are equal. This is an appeal made to humanity to foster a sense of uniqueness and oneness but no matter how we want to create this social equality through human rights,we cannot escape the truth of the social idea of classism and that's the origin of the saying that “all fingers are not equal”. The pig considered these two concepts, that's why it accepted firstly that all animals are equal but yet created a sense of classism by considering some more equal than the others. It is natural that in a functional society, there are different classes and stratas and every individual knows where he belongs. No matter how natural it may be,it is also humane that there's a cooperative endeavor among the entire classes for the growth and development of the society and the economy. By a cooperative endeavor, we're tilting to the situation where the people at the high class and the privileged ones in the society helps the people at the lower class and the underprivileged to meet their basic needs which ranges from education,shelter,healthcare,food and a plethora of other needs within their capacities and abilities. This is a promotion of the services of CHARITY which is the guiding principle of non profit organizations(Herein abbreviated as NPO for the purpose of this work). This cooperative endeavor is largely made by organizations which are non profit and independent in nature.
NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION DEFINED.
A non profit organization is a legal entity that has no governmental alliance and no intentions of making any gains whatsoever from the services they render to the people. These organizations are established for the purpose of addressing the social, economic and environmental issues in the society. They're put together to complement the government. They depend solely on their resources and contributions or donations made by independent individuals or bodies to carry out social services with no intent of making any profit from their beneficiaries. The origin of Non profit organizations in Nigeria dates back to the rusty days. In the days when there was no colonial infiltration yet in Nigeria and when Nigeria was as raw as created,yet to be tapped and refined from its source,we operate some local structures like age grades, maiden groups, council of elders and so many other entities which constituted the social beddings of different part of the country. These entities tremendously cater for social and economic welfare of the society and service some individual needs of their members. While doing this, they were not operating to enrich their purses or enlarge the bound of their wealths and this justifies their description as Non profit entities. When we finally felt the white and “admirable” hands of the colonial masters, these structures already in existence were not tampered with but there was a form of advancement of it. The Christian missionaries who were basically whites established charitable organizations, educational institutions and health care facilities thereby laying concretely a foundation for modern Non profit organizations. The services of these establishments by the missionaries were all free and there was no form of money paid for it. Getting down to the Post independence era, the government encouraged Non profit organizations to support national development and this audacious encouragement birthed some organizations serving the charitable purposes like the RED CROSS SOCIETY which saw the Nigerian light in the year 1960 with primary contributions to healthcare services, the NATIONAL EMERGENCY RELIEF AGENCY (NERA) established in 1976 with the aim of providing humanitarian aids and support during national crisis and emergencies. The NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES (NCR) which was founded in 1989 to assist and rehabilitate refugees and internally displaced persons. In modern Nigeria, there are a lot of Non profit organizations, operating and working with a particular aim of contributing to the economic and social development of the country.
KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.
There is a litany of organizations priding around as Non profit organizations but on a close perusal of its structures and activities,one wouldn't hesitate to describe them as a business entity. There are however certain features which every Non profit organization shall possess and these key features includes:
- MISSION DRIVEN: For an organization to be called a non profit organization,it must be known for a specific mission. Such missions can be a medical mission, advocacy mission, business development mission, educational mission or religious mission. It must be on a mission to address a particular social need or issue. It's mission is usually defined by its contributions to the welfare and growth of the society.
- NON PROFIT DISTRIBUTION: This is the hallmark characteristic of a non profit organization. Every Non profit organization is precluded from profiteering from their services and every resource pulled from the organization is not distributed to its members but are reinvested in the organization. If this singular feature is found wanting in an acclaimed non profit organization, there's nothing to distinguish the organization from a commercial organization.
- INDEPENDENCE:Non profit organizations are most of the times called a non governmental organization. This underscores their nature of not having any form of alliance with the government or any other external body. They're a sole and singular association with their resources and contributions of the individuals in the society.
- TAX EXEMPTION: Non profit organizations are usually exempted from paying tax. This is because of its charitable purposes but this exemption is subject to jurisdictional variations.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTH.
1. CHARITY AND SOCIAL WELFARE:
One of the primary focuses of nonprofit organizations is on providing aid and sustainable support to indigent citizens of Nigeria. These supports can come in form of Clothings,food supply, provision of shelter and business funds to those in need of it. It extends to making provisions that fosters social and economic growth such as distribution of agricultural incentives like fertilizer and seedlings. A saying goes that one does not need a mirror to view what is worn on the wrist. The contributions of these charities from the Non profit organizations does not need a soothsayer to testify. When food, clothings and other basic needs are gifted in charity to those in dire need of them,it can help to reduce crime rate in the society because commonsensical,one can say that the high rate of crime in our society can be traced to lack of these basic necessities and those in lack of it resolves to take the criminal track in order to make provision for themselves. This is however not in all cases. In furtherance of this view, Chief Obafemi Awolowo opined that “the children of the poor you failed to train will never allow your children to have peace”. So,if these people with these needs are not attended to in charity,the society will wreck their terrors. In order to prevent this,non profit organizations are filling the vacuum of donating to charity.
Conversely, Agriculture is one of the ways through which the Nigerian economy is strengthened. It helps us to produce our own food, have enough for our consumption and the surplus for sales. This underlines the contributions of Agriculture to Economic growth and development. Through the donations of Agricultural incentives like fertilizer and seedlings,Non profit organizations are contributing their quota to economic development. Organizations like WORLD VISION, FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION (FAO), INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (IFAD), NIGERIA AGRICULTURAL FOUNDATION (NAF),SIR EMEKA OFFOR FOUNDATION and a plethora of other organizations meets this need.
2. ADVOCACY:
Most of these organizations through their redemptive actions promote and influence policies and create awareness on certain issues in the society. This function underscores the need for social justice and peace. The Non profit organizations with this goal challenges policies that work hardship on certain classes of persons in the society. They push for a society safe for every class of persons to live in and the instrument with which these organizations carry out this responsibility is Advocacy. Some notable organizations which serves this purpose includes ActionAid Nigeria which advocates for human rights, social justice and poverty reduction in Nigeria,Youth Advocacy Network (YAN) responsible for the promotion of youth empowerment, education and health,Women and Child Justice Initiative of Nigeria (WOCJIN) responsible for advocating for the fundamental rights of women and children in Nigeria. All these organizations while possessing the features discussed above ensures social sanity which promotes economic development tremendously.
3. EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
Non Profit organizations also contribute to educational advancement,literacy programs and vocational training. They achieve this through scholarship schemes, providing vocational training centers, organizing public enlightenment programs and training programs which can come in the form of internship and mentorship programs. While rendering these educational services, they're not after making profits from their beneficiaries but they're intentional about the self actualization and development of their beneficiaries. It is of paramount importance to recognize METALEX LEGAL in this category and many other law firms and establishments which through internships and mentorship programs pay their token to educational advancement. Furthermore, organizations like Save the Children Nigeria,Slum2school Africa,UNICEF and a host of many others are under this category. Countries with a buoyant social and economic structure are notable for its contributions to educational advancement. It is not in dispute that the government has been mandated by Sec. 18 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999(as Amended) to promote educational advancement but these Non profit organizations have tremendously filled in the gap left by the government in this area. A lot of them have pulled a lot of children from the streets and sent them on educational journeys and this is very much commendable.
4. HEALTHCARE DEVELOPMENT:
Non-profit organizations contribute massively to medical development. As the saying goes, health is wealth. A healthy citizen is a wealthy citizen and a country with healthy citizens is a wealthy country. Non profit organizations provide healthcare services to the underprivileged including low income and rural areas. They also help in health education as they teach the people different healthy habits, disease prevention and management. They help in the funding of health and disease research. They render support services by offering emotional support, counseling sessions and practical assistance to patients. They contribute to the training of health professionals and carry out health outreach in rural areas. Examples of institutions with these charitable flavors are Red Cross Society, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,World health Organizations and a plethora of others.
5. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:
Non-profit organizations play a functional role in community development. Through their explorations,they usually identify community needs and priorities and seek a sustainable means of attending to these needs. They also promote community engagements by fostering participation through sponsoring some community cultural festivals. They support the vulnerables in the community such as women, Children and minority members. Through their advocacy,they push for policy change to benefit the members of the community. They foster social bond and cohesion through promoting unity, recognizing the diversities and the need to coexist even with those diversities. In most situations, when there is a conflict in the community,they make steps with their resources to resolve the conflict and restore peace. This speaks of their contributions to peaceful coexistence. Peace attracts development and growth. Due to the burning desire of Non profit organizations to bring development and growth in the society and nation at large,they sometimes make huge contributions and sacrifices to restore peace where there's none.
There are so many other contributions of these non profit organizations like human capital development, social entrepreneurship,Job creation, environmental conservation , support of research and development, capacity building and many others. This is a testament of how needful they're in societal and human capital development
CONCLUSION:
The role of Non profit organizations to individuals, society and the nation at large is inexhaustible. Even in the legal industry,we can see a touch of these services in practice. Let's take for instance,many law firms and lawyers in their bid to enhance the service of justice offer pro bono services to the indigent clients. This is to ensure that we design a society where no one is disadvantaged by his deficiency. The legal Aid council also contributes to this Course and is a good example of an organization that protects public interest. As much as we commend these services of the functional Non profit organizations,we still abhor the activities of many other organizations which hide in the cloak of Non profit organizations and amass donations made for public causes. Many non profit organizations are no longer fulfilling the purposes for which the organization was established but solely run a business venture where they Pocket resources mapped out for charities. There's a need to enact implementable laws to regulate the establishment and activities of non profit organizations in Nigeria to fish out all these hunger-driven organizations operating under shadows.
