Ahead of the presidential election, apps and phone texts are
mobilising communities to tackle government neglect.
The stakes are high in Nigeria's presidential election on
March 28. Ethnic tensions, Boko Haram's violent attacks, and the
"north-south divide" have spurred speculation about a post-election
crisis.
Citizens are watching closely and they want to be heard.
Simple new technologies are giving them a chance to scrutinise their candidates
and parliament more closely and to have their say.
Activist Hamzat Lawal set up Connected Development (CODE) -
a non-government organisation whose mission is to improve access to information
and empower local communities in Africa - to amplify the voices of marginalised
communities, and ensure the government delivers on its election promises.
"In Nigeria today, young people have never been more
interested in election and governance issues. This is really exciting and has
triggered a series of off and online campaigns which have challenged aspirants
and political parties," Lawal said.
Together with another NGO Vote or Quench, the two groups
developed a tweet chat tagged #AirItOut that provides a platform for disengaged
youth to have their voices heard, he said.
"We aim to increase civic awareness and serve as an
outlet for objective opinions, beyond the extremes of partisan thuggery or
unabashed indifference.
"We also have face-to-face round-table discussions to
bring in opinions from those offline."
Bringing in offline voices is crucially important in a
country where just 38 percent of the citizens are online.
Power of technology
CODE recognised the power of technology to hold government
to account long before the election frenzy.
In 2011, poor mining practises in the Bagega region resulted
in lead poisoning that killed 400 children, while thousands became sick. The
government pledged funds to the region for critical healthcare, but two years
later, it hadn't arrived.
CODE collected testimonies and evidence from the affected
community - who were largely offline - and exposed the situation online through
the #SaveBagega hashtag and posting infographics and stories on its website.
Senator Bukola Saraki, chairman of the Senate Committee on
Environment and Ecology, 48 hours after hosting a tweet-a-thon, announced the
president had approved the immediate release of $5.2m in funds for healthcare
remediation in Bagega.
They've tracked the treatments ever since.
CODE's co-founder Oludotun Babayemi recognises technology's
power.
"Technology penetration is increasing in Nigeria. Even
government officials and institutions have opened Twitter and Facebook accounts
and mobile penetration stands at 75 percent," said Babayemi.
"If we direct coordinated messages to government
agencies and policy-makers and create a feedback loop through SMS platforms and
Blackberry messages, we can reach millions within hours. We've shown how this
results in government action and citizen empowerment."
In the upcoming election, ReclaimNaija is using FrontlineSMS
to engage the offline population.
Citizens can report issues such as missing names or election
fraud. They can send reports by SMS that
are visually mapped on the Kenyan platform Ushahidi.
During the January 2011 Voters Registration Exercise, they
received more than 15,000 reports from the public in just two weeks.
The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) regards
these reports as valuable information that can be validated and used as
evidence of malpractice.
Many of these solutions are created locally.
Local talent serving their community
Across the globe, technologists and innovators are
congregating in innovation hubs, enabling local talent to create solutions to
the challenges their communities face.
Bosun Tijani, founder of Co-creation Hub, the leading
technology innovation hub in Lagos, recognises the role of tech-savvy NGOs in
promoting good governance.
"Innovation hubs across Africa provide the missing link
for young creative talents to experiment around unlikely ideas," Tijani
said. "Their community nature inspires collaboration and encourages shared
accountability among individuals and organisations that won't typically join
forces for societal good.
"Hubs debunk the general perception that good
governance is the sole responsibility of governments by engaging talented
individuals and non-state actors in co-creating novel solutions that bridge the
gap between citizens and government. Not only are citizens now demanding better
governance, talented members of the hubs are creating tools to encourage
widespread social accountability."
The team drew upon the talents of their community and
partnered with Enough Is Enough, an organisation promoting good governance and
social accountability in Nigeria to create GoVote.ng.
The platform helps citizens navigate a complicated
registration and voting process and gathers feedback from citizens, which is
relayed to the Independent National Election Commission to enable improvements.
BudgIT, an organisation incubated at Co-Creation Hub,
creates infographics that help the public better understand the budget. They engage in online and offline dialogue
that encourages citizens to ensure it's being used for public good.
They've also created TRACKA, which enables people to
collaborate and track capital projects in their communities online. They
received a citizen report about an uncompleted school building in Iwoye-Ilogbo,
a rural community in Ogun state, where 429 pupils sat in two classrooms with
exposed roofs.
Despite budget allocation to rectify the situation, the
government ignored community requests to come to their aid.
Through informing the community of their rights in
face-to-face meetings, the team stimulated community action, putting pressure
on the government. It worked, and the school is currently being repaired under
BudgIT's watchful eye.
Information thirst
Another community member, Zubair Abubakar, created the Nigerian
Constitution application, which has been downloaded more than 900,000 times,
demonstrating a thirst for such information. He recognises its role in
empowering citizens to stand up for their rights.
"This mobile application has equipped ordinary Nigerians
with knowledge of the laws that govern them so they can easily stand up to the
government if it's not performing," said Abubakar. "It was used
during the 2012 fuel subsidy protest to educate fellow Nigerians about the
roles and responsibilities of the government, and we saw a huge spike in
downloads."
These groups are well aware that technology's not a panacea
to all social problems. But they recognise its power to amplify the impact of
traditional community mobilisation, at a cost and scale never before
possible. This enables citizens to
scrutinise their elected representatives and demand they deliver on their
promises.
The outcome and aftermath of Nigerian's election remains to
be seen. But one thing is certain - Nigeria's citizens are watching.
Source: Al Jazeera
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