Proactive Vigilance: How Citizens can hold their government accountable
Oludotun Babayemi
18 July 2016
“Abeg, you cannot come and fix a programme that will start at 8 am on a Saturday morning, I will not be able to attend, please postpone it for another day or cancel it” responded Ijiwere to her colleagues, who wanted to visit another friend; “Let me tell you, If you want me to come for that ‘owambe’ party on Saturday, then you should let it start at 10 am” affirmed Giringori, to his friends who were planning an event for Saturday.
“Imagine, those my friend wanted to suggest 8 am as a time for that party, I totally disagreed, and told them Jigida will be aired on radio at that time, and that is the only way I can report the lack of water in Kagara” said Giringori to his elder brother – Ijiwere.
These are the kind of conversations that go on in Kagara community, with everyone looking forward to Jigida, a weekly, one – hour radio programme that allows for citizens to call – in and express their community needs, which afterwards are been documented and sent to the various local government chairmen, and State House of Representative for response and decisions to be made. That’s not all, the first 30 mins of the programme is dedicated to the Councillor of the community sharing with the community, how much and what they will be spending on in the week. This is what proactive vigilance is all about!
Although proactive vigilance or public participation in budgeting or government spending is relatively new, the evidence attesting to its impact on resource allocation and service delivery is growing. Many of the existing findings are based on the well-known Brazilian experience with participatory budgeting, established first in Porte Alegre in 1989, and now replicated in over 40 countries around the world. Nigeria, is not left out as well, as its government hopes to encourage citizen participation, with its recent commitment to joining the Open Government Partnership, a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.
You might be wondering, how many – landlord associations,vigilante groups, market women associations, community development associations, we have in rural communities. A lot of them! When are we going to start having “project vigilante” in rural communities, that will become voices of several communities, because by the time you wake up tomorrow morning, the news will be agog with “one billion dollars to be released to provide water in Kagara” only to go to Kagara after one year, you will find out that Kagara has no water source or a broken water source. Quite pathetic, and that’s is the way we are – the leaders and followers.
Nevertheless, I am excited that the Story Story writers at BBC Media Action are focusing on how citizens at the local government level, can be proactively vigilant on such issues of government spending in their communities, and I recently had some hours of session brainstorming with the crew, on how citizens can become vigilant themselves, I hope all will be reflected in their popular radio drama coming up sometimes in fall. Thanks to Nkem, our Reseach Lead on government finance, who took some notes on the highlights, and I have added them below:
Citizens can at every stage of this budget cycle engage their various government, but limited participation is expected during during formulation
- There is the local government or state government budget, a document that highlights government spending and revenue which can be for a financial year, or a multiyear.
- The Budget has its on cycle starting from formulation (when Ministry, Department, Agencies, put together their budget), to enactment (when the national or state legislative arm assent to the budget), to implementation (the stage at which contractors start executing projects in your communities), and lastly, the assessment stage (where everyone assesses the implementation of the budget, to provide feedback on how the next stage should look like)
- At every stage of the budget, citizens can make noise about their plight, and join in the conversation. They can form themselves as vigilante group or association, and always knock on the door of their local government officer or Councillor.
- They can forward a freedom of information request letter to the local government chairman to request for their budget immediately it passes the enactment stage, and even ask more question like who is the contractor, what is the work plan for the project, how much is the contractor getting, and when will the project be concluded. Here is an example of a freedom of information letter if you want to write one
- Government at the local government and state government level should starting providing platforms as well, for the assesement stage. E.g. using local radio programmes like Jigida, create a referendum mechanism for your local government area for people to have their say on projects proposed for next financial year. It should not be only during elections, that citizens see chairmen of local government or governors of states canvassing for votes.
- Like I always say, the budget is not only the means by which government declare their spending, in fact 50% – 60% of what’s on it might not be relevant. The other way is to always listen to the state news on your local radio, projects will be announced at all times, especially when they are project funded by other partners, such as the federal government or international donor agencies.
Ijiwere and Giringori have decided to do away with social gatherings, and focus on becoming a vigilante for community projects in Jigida, and if you are reading this, you should be towing same way, and you should share this piece. I look forward to the final drama series on this – If you have listened to Story Story, Voices from the Market program, then you should be more expectant. See you all in Kagara town, listening to Jigida on radio!
From left, Oludotun Babayemi, Nkem and the BBC Media Action Writers
I’m impressed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter
a blog that’s both equally educative and amusing, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head.
The issue is an issue that not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about.
Now i’m very happy that I came across this in my search for something regarding this.
Hello everybody, here every one is sharing these experience, thus
it’s good to read this weblog, and I used to pay a visit
this blog all the time.
I am extremely impressed together with your writing skills as smartly as
with the structure on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did
you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality
writing, it is uncommon to peer a nice weblog like this one nowadays..
Wһаt’s up, aftter reading this awesome paragraph і аm also cheerful to share mу familiarity һere witһ
mates.
I just could not leave your website prior to suggesting
that I eextremely enjoyed the usual info a person provide in your visitors?
Is going to be basck frequently iin order to inspect new posts
송탄출장마사지
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it
for you? Plz respond as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to know where u got this from.
cheers
This web site definitely has all the information I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after browsing through some
of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely delighted
I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back
often!
Saved as a favorite, I really like your blog!
Everything is very open with a very clear explanation of
the challenges. It was really informative. Your site is extremely helpful.
Thank you for sharing!
Hurrah! At last I got a weblog from where I be capable
of really take valuable information regarding my study and knowledge.
Right here is the perfect web site for everyone who would like to find out about this topic.
You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I really will need to…HaHa).
You definitely put a fresh spin on a topic that’s
been discussed for many years. Great stuff, just excellent!
Answered: Your Most Burning Questions about Lip Fillers Wigan
Hello, i read your blog occasionally and i own a
similar one and i was just wondering if
you get a lot of spam feedback? If so how do you reduce it,
any plugin or anything you can suggest? I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy
so any support is very much appreciated.
It’s actually a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m satisfied that
you just shared this helpful info with us. Please stay
us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Aw, this was a very good post. Taking a few minutes
and actual effort to generate a superb article… but
what can I say… I hesitatte a lot and don’t manage to gett nearly anything done.
대구유흥
My coder is trying to pefsuade me to move to .net from PHP.
I havve always disliked tthe idea because of the costs.
But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been ussing Movable-type on severral websites
for about a year annd am concerned about switching to anothr platform.
I have heard very good things about blogengine.net. Is here a way I can transfer
all my wordpress posts into it? Any help would bbe really
appreciated!
향남출장마사지
Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you can be a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and
may come back from now on. I want to encourage you to continue your
great writing, have a nice weekend!
Independent Together: Building and Maintaining Values in a Distributed Internet Infrastructure
Thank you for some other wonderful article. Where else
could anyone get that kind of info in such an ideal approach of writing?
I have a presentation next week, and I am on the
search for such information.
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never
found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth
enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as
you did, the web will be a lot more useful than ever before.|
I could not refrain from commenting.
Very well written!|
I’ll immediately snatch your rss as I can not
to find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service.
Do you’ve any? Please let me realize so that I may just subscribe.
Thanks. |
It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to
be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions.
Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this
article.
Hey there! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering
which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting sick and tired
of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking
at options for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a
good platform.
I am actually glad to glance at this webpage posts which
contains lots of valuable data, thanks for providing these
information.
I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this site.
I am hoping to view the same high-grade content by you later
on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has motivated me to get my own site
now 😉
Great blog here! Also your site loads up fast! What web host are you using?
Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my site loaded up
as quickly as yours lol
I enjoy the info on your web sites. Kudos.
link
If some one wants to be updated with newest technologies therefore he must be visit this
site and be up to date daily.
Yes! Finally something about fraudchex.
What’s up to every body, it’s my first pay a visit of this web site; this web site
carries remarkable and really excellent stuff in support of visitors.
This is my first time go to see at here and i am really happy
to read all at one place.
Good respond in return of this query with real arguments and describing
everything regarding that.
Do you have any video of that? I’d like to find
out some additional information.
Right now it seems like Drupal is the best blogging platform out
there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you
are using on your blog?
Great blog here! Also your website loads up very
fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
Incredible points. Outstanding arguments. Keep up the great spirit.
I’m gone to say to my little brother, that he should also pay a visit
this weblog on regular basis to obtain updated from
latest gossip.
It’s remarkable in support of me to have a website, which is helpful designed for my knowledge.
thanks admin
Thanks to my father who stated to me concerning this blog,
this website is really remarkable.
What’s Taking place i am new to this, I stumbled upon this
I’ve discovered It absolutely useful and it has helped me out loads.
I am hoping to contribute & aid other users like its helped me.
Great job.
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well written article.
I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to
read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post.
I’ll certainly comeback.
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It’s always useful to read articles from other authors and use something
from their sites.
I read this post completely about the difference of hottest and previous technologies, it’s
remarkable article.
Полезно данные Благодарим за это!
Simply desire to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your submit is simply excellent
and i could suppose you are an expert on this subject.
Well together with your permission allow me to clutch your feed to keep up to
date with forthcoming post. Thank you 1,000,000 and please
continue the rewarding work.
Hey there are using WordPress for your blog platform?
I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own.
Do you need any coding expertise to make your own blog?
Any help would be really appreciated!
Thanks for finally writing about > Proactive Vigilance:
How Citizens can hold their government accountable < Liked it!
I was able to find good advice from your blog posts.
I for all time emailed this website post page to all my contacts, because if like to
read it after that my friends will too.
Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.
Very soon this web site will be famous among all blog users, due to
it’s good content