Culled from DW
I read about the activities of "Follow the money" I was very impressed at their milestone achievements via social media especially twitter, so I thought I share their latest post with you.
More than 10,000 people on Twitter are following the Nigerian initiative, Follow the Money. It tracks how funds allocated to aid and development projects are actually being spent. Pressure on the government is mounting.
I read about the activities of "Follow the money" I was very impressed at their milestone achievements via social media especially twitter, so I thought I share their latest post with you.
More than 10,000 people on Twitter are following the Nigerian initiative, Follow the Money. It tracks how funds allocated to aid and development projects are actually being spent. Pressure on the government is mounting.
Nigeria as well as South Africa
have the largest national economies in Africa. But given widespread corruption
in Nigeria, most of the wealth there bypasses the general public. A major
hindrance is the government's lack of transparency. Although the national
government has made a commitment to join the Open Government Partnership lower
levels of government have no plans to provide open data on their budgets and
spending.
Follow the Money, however, is a project that's striking back. Using a combination of grassroots and online activities, it tracks whether government funds officially allocated to health, education and development projects do in fact reach their targets. If they do not, Follow the Money launches campaigns and demands government accountability.
"We focus on extensive
social media activities and also bring in traditional media and hold local
hearings," explains Oludotun Babayemi, co-founder of the project. This
way, he says, Follow the Money can exchange information with citizens across
the country and learn about shortcomings.
When a major flood in 2012
destroyed the Gutsura community in Nigeria's northwestern state of Zamfara, the
government announced it would provide emergency relief, allocate funds and
relocate the 3,000 residents. "But one year later, not even a cent had
arrived," recounts Babayemi. "A citizen reporter of ours in the area
told us what was happening and we started informing people via Twitter,
Facebook and the radio," Babayemi says. "We told the stories about
the people there and demanded that the government act." A few months later
the residents were relocated to another community and were given new housing.
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