So, after much anticipation and keenness, I am back to the working world at Connected Development (CODE). In many ways, it feels as if I never left – as if my entire absence for my internship was nothing more than a slightly peculiar dream. I remember vividly how I received the news of getting the internship slot, It was a dream come true as I had anticipated working in an environment where maternal and newborn health were the focus but this was coming with a prize, and the prize was quitting my job at Connected Development.  This wasn’t an easy decision, my friends were like, you can’t do this, they couldn’t understand how I could walk away from what I had at CODE and they couldn’t see a path for me to walk back later. One year later I’m back to where I started from, the motivation house as Chambers stated on one of his posts on Facebook.

Bumping into Hamzat that fateful Wednesday was actually orchestrated by higher powers, because I was thinking about what I was going to do with my life when my internship ends on Friday. We got talking and I told him I was going to be done on Friday.  He was shocked, “So you are going to be jobless? He asked, I said yes, after a while he told me I could come back to work for CODE if I’m interested. I was elated. At this time where the rate of unemployment has skyrocketed to 13.3%, here he was giving me a second chance and offering me an opportunity not to be among the statistics and also contribute again to the success of CODE. I sent out a mail the Friday I ended my internship and anxiously waited for his reply, the Hamzat I used to know while I was working with him, always reply his Emails before he retires for the day. I got scared when I didn’t get a reply and thought maybe he had changed his mind, I checked my mail over and over, refreshed it countless time yet no reply. Every notification I got on my phone got me running to check if it was the expected mail and trust MTN to keep you on your feet with their messages. Alas, I finally got the mail to resume on Wednesday.

The day before my big return to work was possibly the worst experience of Tuesday night I’ve ever experienced. But then, of course, it would be, wouldn’t it?  The cough wouldn’t let me sleep; the anxiety of the changes I have to face and the new people I will have to be working with was all making me restless. I managed to doze off with the intention of waking up early so I can be punctual and not show myself as the famous late comer to work which I was actually known for before I left. I woke up that glorious morning with a beautiful smile perched on my lips, got prepared and set out for work in time, but the desire for me to break the barrier of going late wasn’t possible as I stood at the bus stop for close to 30 minutes looking for a cab. I finally arrived 15 minutes late. That feeling of dealing with enough newness on your first day was hanging around me, but then I have to deal with it. I met some strange faces which was expected because, over the year, I have kept up with the activities happening at CODE. I was introduced to the new ones and the old ones were happy to have me back I guess.

My running nose chose this blessed  day to come in full force which got me sneezing every minute, I managed to start off with documents on what CODE currently does and how they achieve their objectives and targets, surprisingly it has really evolved. While I was here a lot of things were done by everybody, but right now we have people who work in different teams. They are new projects and also new partnership with various bodies has also been formed.

Now, though, I’m back in the rhythm of it, and back to finding ways to make every moment of my work count – moping around is certainly not allowed if I really want to make it up to the steep learning curve ahead of me.  I have also been assigned to a team and I hope to add the new skills I developed while interning to propel my team and also learn more. I hope to also gain insight on how Follow The Money track funds meant for marginalized communities and how to use the FOI Act to hold our leaders accountable.

Another project of CODE that gets me really excited is the tracking of the Save 1 million Lives grant by the World bank to improve maternal and child health in states. This I hope to get really involved in as i am ruthlessly passionate in issues that leads to the survival of mothers and newborn. Finally  I hope that my return to the motivation house will  hone my skills in using advocacy to advance and bring about  development in health, education and environment sectors.

Ijeoma Oforka is a Program Officer at Connected Development, with a background in Public Health. She is passionate about advocating for the plights and issues surrounding women and girls health and education. She tweets via @ijoforka

A wise man once told me that it makes little or no sense to sit back and bemoan the state of things, the best way to get real change is to go out and ACT! In other words, if you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.

This past year, working in the health advocacy circle has been a journey of some sorts. I remember taking the health campaigns for an increase in the health budget and the implementation of the National Health Act to one of the rotary clubs in Abuja and during the session, one of the club members asked a question that really got me thinking. He asked “say we eventually get all these monies we are asking for, how do we ensure that the funds will be properly implemented, the monies been allocated presently, how are they being utilized?”

It is no secret that we have a major problem of implementation in Nigeria; we are always among the first countries to ratify treaties and sign international conventions. But when it comes to implementation, naa-da!

The innovative ways CODE is tracking funds meant for capital projects in rural communities is an excellent way to ensure that Nigerians get what they deserve. What better way to eliminate extreme poverty from Nigeria and the world at large than ensuring that funds meant for the construction of Primary Healthcare Centers in rural communities are properly utilized so that people do not have to spend more money out of pocket to treat basic illnesses? Or ensuring that funds meant for the provision of basic amenities such as pipe borne water in rural communities are properly and fully utilized so that girls do not have to go long distances to fetch water and they can instead spend that time in school? Or ensuring that funds meant for providing basic amenities for education in rural communities are properly and adequately utilized?

It is important that in addition to advocating for increase in allocation of funds in areas of social development such as health, education and environment, we should also find ways to track how these funds are being implemented- this is what CODE does and I am excited to be part of the team.

In my first few days, I have come to understand that young people in Nigeria are becoming more interested in how they are governed and how resources are being utilized. You hear cases of young men (and women) spending multiple days in transit, all in a bid to reach the remotest communities to track capital projects’ expenditures. Some of these communities are almost forgotten by the general public and indeed the government. In fact, some lawmakers representing some of these communities do not even know that they exist talk less of even visiting them to know what their needs are or even ensure that they get what is due them.

These young people who are willing to risk their lives as a way of contributing to national development give us reason to hope and believe that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel as long as you and I do our parts in ensuring accessibility, transparency and accountability in capital projects’ expenditures.

Celestina is a Project officer at Connected Development. She spends her time writing and volunteering in organisations that work in development and health. She tweets via @Celna4all (https://twitter.com/)

Thoughts on the Interrogation of the NGN 9.2 billion Women Clean Cook Stove Project Saga by the Federal House of Representatives

I have been involved in several dialectics on the practical importance of the National Assembly (NASS) since 1999. Most of such dialectics have ended with the conclusion that the institution has been a gross waste while levying the country so much. The foundation of this conclusion is rooted on several actualities. First, since 1999, the NASS has been used as a compensatory platform to settle former politicians and a mechanism for accentuating a post-1999 outbreak of political patronage in Nigeria. In short, the institution has directly supervised the proliferation and culturalization of contemporary corruption in the country. Secondly, the leadership crisis the Senate experienced from 1990 to 2003 started occasioning some elements of incertitude on the minds of Nigerians on what could be the real essence of such institution. Thirdly, one cannot remember any bills from the National Assembly that has had any impacts on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

Fourthly, since 2007, despite a peroration of leadership crisis in the Senate, the NASS then became a traditional resort and relaxation point for failed and grossly corrupt governors, who siphoned all their states had, and were seeking ways to get covered with some sort of immunity from prosecution. To some of the lawmakers, it was a tool of still being relevant and in the political game. Fifthly, what irritates most Nigerians also encompass the fact that over 5 per cent of our national budget goes to the National Assembly. Conversely, such expenditure has been immersed in extensive secrecy with even pedestrian knowledge-deficit on what they do with such percentage. Sixthly, the NASS has gross-transparency and accountability deficit. The Nigerian lawmakers are the most paid all over the world, with humongous amounts of constituency allowances for implementing projects in their constituencies which they do not account for.

I am personally an exponent of this narrative that NASS has been a colossal waste up to this point, since 1999. I am part of those advocating that law-makers remuneration should be grossly cut to de-incentivize the transposition of clueless politicians to either of the chambers. While law-making should be a part-time activity. I am also part of those advocating for the eradication of constituency allowances since there are no monitoring and evaluation regime to ensure project implementation. I am also part of those advocating for the concatenation of the two chambers. Ultimately, I am part of those strongly advocating for #OpenNASS.

However, despite the inadequacies of the NASS including the present one, and the fact that it is still business as usual, one would be sincere of the fact that this present NASS ain’t that entirely useless. If you could remember, they were the ones that stopped the government from borrowing $30 billion while there were no plans on what to use it for. They were the ones that suspended the sale of national assets. They were the ones that suspended the increment on phone data tariffs. They have indeed made some critical interventions whether they did this in the interest of Nigerians or for political intricacies.

Consequently, just few days ago, the Federal House of Representatives (HOR) commissioned its committees on Anti-Corruption, Environment and Habitat to carry off an investigation over the last administration’s “Clean Stove For Rural Women Project,” which was under the Ministry of Environment. The project was at NGN 9.287 billion and initiated in 2014 to supply 750,000 units of clean stoves and 18,000 wonderbags to rural women. If you could remember so well, the project was chaperoned by a saga, resultantly from ambiguity in its contracting processes, cause celebre on the number of stoves that were procured and dynamics of the 2015 political transition.

This is a project that Connected Development’s Follow The Money (a grass-root anti-corruption movement) has been tracking its spending since 2014. The organization subsequently found out that only 45,000 clean cookstoves were provided and exhibited at the Velodrome of the National Stadium in Abuja. In addition, it also revealed that out of the 9.2 billion Naira, Federal Ministry of Finance only released N5 billion to the Federal Ministry of Environment for the execution of the project, and the Ministry of Environment only released 1.3 billion Naira to the contractor of the project – Integra Renewable Energy Services Limited. Till today, no one has seen any single beneficiary of the cookstoves.

It’s beautiful that the present NASS has also intervened in another great area through this investigation. I hope the investigation would not be compromised but would rather springboard appurtenant sanctions for those that compromised the rule of law in the process of the project.  I also wish to call on the Committees involved to implement this investigation in an open manner so that all relevant stakeholders (civil society and the media) can witness it to share findings, narratives and ensure transparency in such effort.

Chambers Umezulike is a Program Officer at Connected Development and a Development Expert. He spends most of his time writing and choreographing researches on good and economic governance. He tweets via @Prof_Umezulike.

A new year presents a sea of new possibilities, especially for our works, lives and careers. It’s a time for making resolutions and setting goals. To kick-start our work for the year at Connected Development (CODE), an internal mentorship class was organized between January 16 – 20, 2017. The training was conducted to ensure that the team is guided at the work to be done and learn more about the inner workings of the organization that aren’t often spelled out in the organization chart and policies and also provide us a chance to attack our work with new vigor and passion.

The first day began with Oludotun Babayemi who was our mentor taking the first session on the concept of creativity, he highlighted the things that influence creativity. The session established that a project must challenge the statuesque as the most successful ones do not live on default and that there is also need for having the right attitude, gaining actual knowledge and connecting and combining with people or network for a project to run successful.
After the break, he took us on what Problem statement, mandate, scope and stakeholders analysis were, after which he asked that the team be divided into groups, with each person identifying a project he/she would want to carry out and state their goals, objectives, problem statement and scope of it.
Following the presentations and debrief, the training class was closed for the day.
Day 2 began with a presentation on Action plan which is an activity carried out throughout the project lapse. He also stated that it is measured by number of people carrying out the project, timeline and roles of people executing the project. He also did not fail to let us know what strategies, activities and execution of a project entails.

The focus on the morning of Day 3 was analyzing the funding ecosystem and coming up with budgets for projects. The team was then identified to present short summaries of what had gone on in the first two days of the training-workshop where we were all asked to work and pitch and pitch a project at the end of the training.

The fourth day which happened to be the last day of the training class happened to be the best day for me. We were asked to write what we would like to see on our tombstones. Tunde a colleague went overboard and said he wants to be” remembered as that who was able to solve world challenges” this got everyone interested to know how he intend to do that when identifying activities, input, output and outcome towards achieving that. Another outstanding experience was Chambers, who I believed was going to awesomely do well owing to the fact that he is our amiable office professor, unfortunately he was given the lower belt when it was clear that he didn’t understand the task given.

The day came to an end with Dotun reminding us of our presentations the next day. The presentation day offered us all an opportunity to review what we learnt the past days and where the strength of each member lies.
I am most grateful to the organization for giving us such a wonderful start for the year, through the training, I was able to get a clear understanding of a grant proposal and what each activity entails. Now is the time for me to define not just long-term goals but also short-term milestones that are both aspirational and achievable within the organization.

Ijeoma Oforka is a Program Officer at Connected Development, with a background in Public Health. She is passionate about advocating for the plights and issues surrounding women and girls health and education. She tweets via @ijoforka

The President Muhammadu Buhari led government is triumphing on safeguarding policy crisis, or policy contradiction or policy kerfuffle. This has manifested in several ways. An exemplar is a contradiction over the government’s vista of using a counter-recession expansionary budget(s). Through such fiscal stratagem, they intend to improve Gross Domestic Product performance and counter infrastructure-deficit. They also intend to raise disposable income, and spur demand & production. Paradoxically, the government is also pouring out an avalanche of several minacious mechanisms to raise taxes, and tariffs [in its import substitution agenda].

The latter is showcased through bans on the importation of some goods so as to reduce pressure on FOREX and amplify domestic production. Last year, the Central Bank banned 41 items and recently planned to increase tariffs on other goods such as anti-malaria drugs etc. However, import substitution can really be counter-productive. It skyrockets prices of goods, amplifies smuggling, frustrates Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. That is, it miffs demand & production, reduces disposable income – the primacy of the expansionary budget idea.

Import Substitution VS Export Oriented industrialization strategies was an imperative factor that occasioned the divergent economic outcome of East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). While SSA countries such as Nigeria (1962 – 85) were employing import substitution, East Asian countries were implementing its contrapuntal. A key example is that while Singapore policymakers were hovering all over the world courting investors, the Gowon led government started indigenization decree through which many non-oil sector foreign investors were chased out of the country’s economy. The outcome of this is run-off-the-mill.

One at this time, fails to understand what this government intends achieving by mismanaging these economic principles. The government must resolve this policy crisis or contradiction as Nigerians are passing through worsening economic times in this recession. Ultimately, the cynosure of this government should be on strategies to increase export size and attract foreign investors. For the former, the government should provide subsidies, incentives, enhanced power supply and choreograph structural reforms to stimulate domestic production as against import substitution. The government does not have to shanghai Nigerians into what choices to make on goods. Bans were not placed on Hollywood movies before Nollywood triumphed. Bans were not placed on foreign Hip-Hop songs before the music industry expanded. Rather the creativity and persistence of Nigerians guaranteed these.

In addition, the government should ensure the Central Bank’s independence and assure investors of a stable macro-economic environment. The government should focus on providing incentives for investors and boosting ease of doing business. Most importantly, the topical FOREX regime should be revised while the government uses diplomacy to ensure political stability in the country. But President Buhari’s government is fixated on an anachronistic maximalist international dependence revolution influenced Buharinomics while battling with the free market realities of the century.

Chambers Umezulike is a Program Officer at Connected Development and a Development Expert. He spends most of his time writing and choreographing researches on good and economic governance. He tweets via @Prof_Umezulike.

Healthcare promotion is critical in building human capabilities and realizing economic development. The United Nations emphasizes that poor health status can negatively affect a person’s ability to learn at school and the level of productivity. Life expectancy in Nigeria as at 2016 is currently at 54 years, placing the country on 177^th position out of 183 countries. This showcases that Nigeria is currently having deep challenges in the health sector. The Nigerian healthcare has continuously faced challenges such as the shortage of doctors, as a result of brain drain. In addition, Nigerians are also amongst the most traveled in the world for medical tourism because of lack of extensive medical equipment, and lack of medical practitioners for grave health issues.

The set of Nigerians mostly affected by the poor healthcare provision in the country are rural community members whose only option is the dilapidated Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) across the country. In our experience in assessing capital funds implementation in PHCs in rural communities, we observed that most of them lack water supply, electricity, security, functioning toilets, functioning wards, shortage of drugs & human resource, as well as non-availability of medical doctors.

Statistics such as this explains why under 5 mortality rate in Nigeria is at 90/1,000 births as at 2013. And why according to the United Nations Children Emergency Fund, every single day, Nigeria loses approximately 145 women of child bearing age and 2,300 under-five year old. This makes the country the second largest contributor to the maternal mortality and under–five rate in the world. Similarly, malnutrition has been considered at the underlying cause of mortality of a large proportion of children under-5 in the country. At the same time, a woman’s chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is 1 in 13 from predominantly preventable causes.

Following this cheerless trend and as a counter measure, the World Bank alongside the Federal Government of Nigeria initiated the Saving One Million Lives Initiative Program-for-Results (PforR) Project for Nigeria. The project is for improvements in reproductive, child health, and nutrition outcome, through the provision of vaccines for children, training of skilled birth attendants etc. Through the project, in 2016, the World Bank announced the provision of USD$55.5 million (NGN 17.4 billion) to the Federal Government. The Federal Government would then distribute the fund at USD$1.5 million (NGN 471 million) to each of the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

On receiving this news, the Follow The Money Team of CODE immediately started tracking the employment of the fund across PHCs in Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Kogi, Osun and Yobe States. We wrote to the concerned governmental agencies and persons (Governors and Commissioners of Health) in these states for their costed work plan for the fund’s implementation, whose provision was a proviso to be eligible for the fund. We observed several ambiguities, kerfuffle, secrecy and anomalous reports on the receipt of the funds, with many of the states saying that they haven’t gotten the fund. States such as all the aforementioned except Yobe also could not provide us with their costed work plan for efficient tracking of the fund.

Just 3 days ago, while the President went to Kuchingoro, Abuja to commission a PHC, he announced that the USD$1.5 million has been released to all the states and the FCT. We receive this with happiness as it has solved the information crisis over the fund release and would reinforce our campaign for the states to give us the costed work plan to ensure transparency and accountability in the usage of the fund.

Following this development, we call on the governors and concerned institutions of Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Kano, Kogi and Osun States to provide us with their costed work plan. We also call for transparency and accountability in the implementation of this fund.

Chambers Umezulike is a Program Officer at Connected Development and a Development Expert. He spends most of his time writing and choreographing researches on good and economic governance. He tweets via @Prof_Umezulike.

Dear Honourable Minister,

I wish to use this medium to congratulate you on your appointment as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. It is an honour well-deserved. It is also an elevation that naturally stirs mixed feelings in some of us who are very much aware of what Nigeria stands to miss in your absence.

So far, you have distinguished yourself as not only a dynamic Minister of the Federal Republic, but a hard-working development worker for the people. At a time the nation yearned for deep understanding of its environmental challenges, you brought the insight and hands-on feminine balance that enabled this great country get back on its ecological track in order to retain its pride in the comity of nations.

As an adviser to the Federal Government on Nigeria’s implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the precursor to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), you drove the programme efficiently and attained high points in critical set targets. This of course prepared you for your esteemed role in negotiating the seventeen SDGs under the outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and effectively stood you out as an asset to the development world.

Likewise, the passion and patriotism you have displayed in your duties as a minister, have now engraved your name in the annals of history. This is because the commitment you brought to the job is based on your inherent capabilities and ingrained capacity acquired over the years in your service to society.

Your stewardship is now evident. Nigeria has launched the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The Ministry of Environment has also successfully launched the historic Sovereign Green Bonds – first of its kind; flagged off the Ogoni Clean-up Programme; and streamlined the Great Green Wall programme for a focused and sustainable implementation.

Dear Minister, in spite of the pleasure we find in celebrating your value and landmark achievements, we are still perturbed by the nagging fear that your efforts may yet be in vain if the solid foundation you are laying in the sector is not capped with a seamless transition to sustainable pillars of continued progress, as you move on to your new international office.

This is why we also use this opportunity to draw your attention to some real issues that when properly addressed, would spell the survival lines to this all-important sector, and to the country in general.

Firstly, we are conscious of the fact that your tenure as the Minister of Environment brought a lease of life to the energy efficiency sub-sector, and effectively cleared the foul and dark aura already engendered by the Clean Cookstoves saga. Presently, you have set a fresh course that promises to reignite hope in the achievement of the goals that inspired the project in the first place.

Therefore, we call on you to set a lasting template that would sustain the momentum of the clean cookstoves project, even in your absence. We hope your efforts would help ensure that government delivers on the statutory 15% from the Ecological Fund, while also inspiring the ambition and bureaucratic urgency needed to deliver on the project.

Secondly, we can never forget that your motherly intervention and tireless activism impacted positively on the success of the ongoing Shikira lead poisoning remediation project. However, having assessed the progress of the cleanup, we are convinced that the project has to go beyond just remediation, but also a sustainable structure for ecological management. This is in order to ensure that there is no future outbreak of lead poisoning in Shikira and in other communities involved in artisanal mining.

Thirdly, we are worried that if the proper systemic adjustments are not made in the ministry of environment, we may lose some of the critical milestones achieved under your watch. This is why we call on you to effectively utilize the remaining few months you have to work in Nigeria in strengthening the structures that would ensure that in the absence of a good driver like you that the vehicle does not crash into the bushes. We sincerely pray that things will never deteriorate to “business as usual!”

We wish to see that the ball you have set rolling maintains the momentum, because we are convinced that the environmental sector is the fulcrum of the development sector especially in a developing economy like ours.

For instance, Nigeria’s NDC is an ambitious document, which needs imaginative inter-sectoral engagements for its effective implementation. With the vast opportunities that lie within the NDC and the potential complications that could entangle our bureaucratic infrastructure, we are concerned that, in fact, not just any hands can take over the helms at the ministry of environment.

How we wish, you could groom your own successor! Fourthly, we also cannot forget the fact that two critical regions in Nigeria are directly affected by your present and future offices: the South South and the North East. The Ogoni Clean-up project which you successfully initiated needs a proper and sustained project implementation.

The social dislocation that has erupted as a result of the humanitarian emergency in the North East also waits for your intervention. We humbly call on you to use your esteemed position as the UN Deputy Secretary-General to redirect the eyes of the world to the region. This would not only entail getting the required international support for humanitarian aid, but most importantly in ensuring that transparency and accountability are mainstreamed in their disbursements.

Finally, conscious of the importance of your UN appointment not only to Nigeria but to Africa as a region, we are hopeful that you will utilize the platform to inspire a revived spirit of transparent democratic governance, which we believe is the only effective way to address the region’s development challenges. And, we are glad that your experience in the development of the SDGs will also give you the fillip to inspire a proper mainstreaming of its implementation process in Africa.

Then, ultimately, we hope that you spearhead Nigeria’s bid to becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council. We are convinced that you have a date with history, and would have stamped your name in gold in the annals of history if you could work with your new boss to reorganize the UN and make it more democratic by increasing the Permanent membership of the Security Council. History will remember you if Nigeria fills Africa’s slot in the new arrangement, in order to reward our great country’s half-a- century old contributions to the UN.

Sincerely,

Hamzat Lawal
Chief Executive, CODE
Co-Founder, Follow The Money

Global Rights organized a town hall meeting, which brought together stakeholders in Nigeria’s energy sector, including government, coal mining companies & their host communities, the media and civil society. The meeting was for a debate on coal in Nigeria’s energy mix considering the challenges the country suffers from energy deficit that is negatively affecting its socio-economic development and practically every other part of its national life. Because energy sources in Nigeria can no longer meet demand, the Federal Government, therefore proposed alongside with other sources to meet 30% of Nigeria’s energy local need demand from coal energy without considering the implication of utilizing coal as a source of energy in Nigeria.

Key Highlights from the Meeting:

Looking at an overview of global trend on coal energy, coal was accountable for emitting 14.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (C0₂). That is 44% of all energy associated carbon dioxide emissions and more than one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. In other words, no other energy source other than coal contributes as much greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, digging up coal to generate electricity stirs out emissions that escalate greenhouse effect and because coal is pure carbon, it is one of the enormous sources of climate change. However, coal is burned to manufacture heat and electricity that emits a lot of CO₂ along with some quantities of methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂0). (Friends of the Earth International, COAl ATLAS 2015).

Usually, producing electricity from coal is harmful to the climate, most gas powered plants releases only half as much as carbon dioxide as modern coal-fired power stations. This is why most coal mining companies in advanced countries are shutting down because of the enormous effect it has on the environment and health of the people which in turn will adversely affect sustainable development.

(Okobo Community Traditional Rulers explaining the ordeal they are facing)

Nigeria really need to consider the concept of trade-off, looking at the cost of ownership which covers short term benefit and long term cost. As a coal mining company in Okobo community in Kogi State is already affecting the people and their sources of livelihood.

Nigeria’s proposed utilization of 30% of coal is definitely going to jeopardize our commitment to the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) to The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement. Focusing on coal as energy source will only give us short term benefit and long term cost, as a country we should look at other sources of energy which will benefit us more in the long run.

In addition, the Federal government of Nigeria could consider cleaner alternatives to coal such as windmill energy: which is dependent on available wind, has no impact on landscape and no emission of carbon dioxide, Biomass energy: from wood, crops, landfill gas, alcohol fuels and garbage. By using biomass in power production instead of fossil fuel, C0₂ emissions are significantly reduced. Hydro power plants have a long economic life with no fuel cost and lastly solar energy which is the fastest growing renewable energy source. All these are cleaner and achievable sources of energy which we could take as a country to meet our energy demand.

SAY NO TO COAL…

Open Data Party (ODP) is a quarterly event initiated by Connected Development (CODE), meant to expose experts from different fields to gain hands-on experience on the use of data to make an informed decision. The last ODP took place in Kano on November 22 – 23, 3016 and I was  part of the team  to make things run smoothly.

“Don’t you think someone from CODE needs to be in Kano ahead of time to monitor the situations before the core team and other out-of-town participants starts arriving”, asked Oludotun Babayemi – I will go, that was my reply to him and he asked me more than 3 times if I meant my answer considering the fact that I just arrived  from the United States of America (USA) 3 days earlier from an assignment to observe the USA general election in Colorado.

I packed my bag on 20th of Nov which was a Sunday and head straight to Kano, my arrival was at night, I lodged in a hotel and reflecting on how to start the next day which is the eve of the event.

The week from 20th to 25th was a busy week for all of us at CODE as we are also having NASS event that same week and we have to split ourselves to grace all the event, also our finance officer fell ill  as she was on drug throughout the week, and I was left with some of her functions while also planning the event.

Monday 21st came so fast than I had expected, I rushed out of bed and went straight to freshen up before moving to eHealth Africa (EHA) Office in the ancient city of Kano where the event was slated to hold, I worked all day planning and strategizing  with the EHA staffs (energetic people like Ayodele and Olajumoke) on  logistics and accommodations before the participants will arrive  in Kano.

The first day of the event graced the most important session of the event with versatile facilitators from EHA and outside. I was more captivated by the session on mobile data collection by Nonso of Reboot as it does not just discuss data collection but design processes and thinking is a whole fraction of his session. I cannot believe I took the class twice.

“We are all designers” said Nonso at the beginning of his session, every participant was quizzed including myself at the beginning of the session but I got to learn more by the time he explained what he meant.

One way or the other, we all design our way to wherever we find ourselves, coming to Kano on 20th instead of rushing to come on 21st is a design well thought of by the team back in Abuja and it paid us in full by the end of the event.

The agenda for both days of the events is well thought of and it was one of the most efficient designs as both the participants and the facilitators are put into considerations which made the event a lot of successes with a turnout of more than 100 participants in both the 1st and the 2nd day of the event.

I end up connecting with more people and getting to meet physically with the community reporters whom we have always been meeting only but online. “Are you Tunde, you mean you are Sharru Nada?” those are the questions I was asked the most  of them.

The event ended with a mapping session by the EHA GIS department guys as we are all walked through mapping of Chibok in Borno State (I cannot believe we just mapped Chibok).

Tunde Adegoke Presenting the new iFollowTheMoney Platform to the participants

I also facilitated a session on our new platform which we aim to use as a medium to reach out to more people to follow the money together.

Though the platform is still in its infancy stage, the growth has been exponential since it was launched and our team is working more on using the platform to domesticate our follow the money project in the whole country with a vision to expand to other African countries.

The ODP16 is gone but the knowledge gain and the connections made are far expanding by the day, I cannot wait for the next 2017 version of it as I look forward to learning more as the year goes on.

With projects like School of Data Radio and ODP, I believe the challenges that follow #OpenData which is usability can be solved to some extent if organizations like CODE, EHA can work more on reaching out to more prospective data users and other organizations who are still sitting on the fence can leverage on the success of the event and build more capacity around data knowledge.

If you are interested in following the money, you can request an invites HERE