Concerned by the poor service delivery of Primary Healthcare Centres in Nigeria, two Non-Governmental Organisations, Nigeria Health Watch and Connected Development [CODE], have signed an MoU to advocate for improved service delivery in primary healthcare centres across the country.

The partnership, signed yesterday in Abuja, was established for the purpose of monitoring healthcare service delivery and increasing accountability in the delivery of primary healthcare services in Kano State. It will focus on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services, and will include other services such as family planning, immunization and antenatal services.

Although, Nigeria has many PHC across the country, the performance of the healthcare centres is hindered by poor infrastructure and maintenance, insufficient drugs & vaccines and sub-standard equipment and limited health workers, factors that are hinged on financing and governance.

On the objective of the project, Director of Programmes at Nigeria Health Watch, Vivianne Ihekweazu, said; “The foundation of healthcare delivery should be through our primary health centres and this project will focus on monitoring the effective delivery of basic healthcare services, with a view to driving positive change in the quality of healthcare Nigerians have access to”.

According to CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, “this partnership comes at a time when sustainable measures must be put in place to strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare system. He added that access to healthcare is one of the basic human rights and providing basic health services to people, especially at the grassroots, through standard primary healthcare system is key to stabilizing the Nation’s medical care challenges.

Strengthening healthcare service delivery is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3; to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages, including the delivery of interventions to reduce child mortality, maternal mortality and the burden of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

About Nigeria Health Watch

Nigeria Health Watch is a not-for-profit organization that aims to advocate for the health of Nigerians, strengthen the capacity of health sector organisations, enlighten Nigerians on good health habits and practices and engage and support government and other partners to formulate and implement positive and effective health policies. Its dual strengths in health and communication enables it to provide solutions for communications and advocacy in the health sector.

About Connected Development

Connected Development [CODE] is a non-governmental organization, whose mission is to improve access to information and empower local communities in Africa. Its initiative, Follow The Money, advocates and tracks government/international aid spending in health, WASH, and education across grassroots and communities to promote and ensure open government and service delivery.

Muazu Alhaji Modu

North East in 2018 ranked highest number of out of school children in Nigeria. This is mainly caused by the devastation of the region by Boko Haram insurgency, impeding academic activities and causing the increase of the number of children that are not in school.

Another contributing factor to the accelerating number of out of school children is the deficiencies in the basic education sector— lack of  basic infrastructures, inadequate teaching material and poor qualification of teachers—are making education in the NorthEast a challenge that needs urgent intervention.

In 2016, the Nigerian Government budgeted NGN 20million, for the construction and furnishing of 2 blocks of 3 Classrooms at Tongo II Primary School in Tongo village, Gombe State under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

Follow The Money, known for its mission to track government spending and ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of government or international aid projects in grassroots communities, began a campaign, #FurnishTongo, to track and oversee the completing of the Education project in Tongo II Primary School.

Follow The Money is working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 –improving access to quality basic education and ensuring effective service delivery at grassroots. As the Follow The Money Chapter Lead in Gombo State, I led a team on a preliminary visit to Tongo community. There, we learned that the school had only 4 classrooms  while 2 of these  classrooms were dilapidated but still, they served as learning rooms to over 700 registered Pupils (414 Boys and 286 Girls).

Follow The Money sensitized the people of Tongo and intensively engaged local leaders, women groups, youth groups, religious heads—in the tracking  process so they could ask their elected representatives the right questions and monitor the contractors assigned the project till it is completed. One of the challenges we experienced was harrassment from political persons acusing us of working with opponents to incite rural dwellers against the government. Our lives were threatened and we were told if we did not end our campaigns, we would be locked in cells. We, however, presented documents (page of the budget where project started, tender advertisement, FOI request letters to various MDAs, reports of community outreaches etc.) to them showing FTM’s independence of any group. We told them Follow The Money is a legitimate transparency and accountability movement

We intensified our advocacy on both traditional and social media. Few days later the construction commenced and was completed  within a very short period of time. After the implementation, the ratio of students per classroom drastically reduced at the school and more children were enrolled at Tongo II Primary School. Our advocacy brought about the building of 6 additional classrooms and also created opportunity for hundreds of children to access basic education.

The world is debating local solutions to global problems using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda2063 as a benchmark in accelerating inclusive development that foster economic growth – Hamzat

A modern state must be capable of providing socio-economic services; driving structural reforms and economic transformations; and mobilizing citizens for social change. Conversely, an underdeveloped state is characterized by (at least) the following dysfunctions: a hyper-centralization of authority and administrative decision-making; an over-dependent citizenry, powerless and incapable of serious engagements with political executives. Inevitably, these dysfunctions produce corruption, clientelism and rent-seeking; neo-patrimonial redistribution of public resources; and opaque administration of coffers by officials which they consider a normal extension of their personal wealth. Indeed, great challenges present great opportunities!

In Nigeria, this is the picture of the Federal (central) government in general, and Local (grassroots) governments in particular. Public infrastructure in disarray; widespread and extreme poverty; and deep social inequality. Specifically, health care, basic education, economic opportunities, social protection, etc. are poorly delivered and/or broken. Critically, the situation is dire but neither hopeless nor incurable.

Since politics is local; solutions to broken politics are not unfamiliar principles. As far back as 1914, the British colonial masters had fully recognized the need for a local government system to serve as the foundation for a democratic political system at the centre. The system was to be efficient enough to run the services required by the people; representative so as to endure and local – close to the people, in order to be beneficial and meaningful. Therefore, local government system as we know it today in Nigeria can be traced back to the system of indirect rule instituted by the Lugard’s government in 1914. By simple logic, this was for convenience – to effectively govern the vast territory created by the amalgamation policy.

Consequently, in July 1975, as part of its political programme preparatory to the transition to civilian rule, the military government of General Murtala Mohammed announced a commitment to a systematic and deliberate re-organization of the local government system. Accordingly, General Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over from General Murtala reinforced the policy that “the local government reforms are based on the need to stabilize and rationalize government at the local level which entails the decentralization of some functions of the state government to the local levels in order to harness local resources for rapid development and ensure grassroots participation in our developmental process”. For the first time, the local government was officially recognized as the Third Tier of government in Nigeria. Such was the spirit of Local Government Reforms of 1976.

The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) recognizes 774 Local Government Areas (henceforth LGAs). Financially, the LGAs are supposed to generate internal revenue through property, capitation and general rating. However, statutory allocation from the Federal and State governments form the main support of the LGAs. Under the current sharing formula, the Federal Government takes the lion’s share – 52.68% from the Federation Account. The 36 states take 26.72% while the 774 LGAs make do with the remaining 20.60%.

Howbeit, because the 36 state governments operate a State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA) with the LGAs, state governors control the cumulative 48% of federation revenues that are allocated to the states and LGAs.  Although the 1999 constitution of the FRN recognizes LGAs as the Third Tier of government, it is not treated as an autonomous body in a great number of respects. First, the functions performed by the LGAs in most states are those “permitted” by the state government rather than those specifically listed in the constitution. Second, the Federal government’s channeling of local government budgetary allocations through the SJLGA (instead of sending it directly to the LGAs) is a tacit subscription to the notion of non-autonomy. This provision – fiscal non-autonomy, became the bane of local government administration in Nigeria, up till today.

It is in efforts to debottleneck administration of LGAs and ensure financial independence that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) Guidelines of May 2019 was pronounced by the central government. Prominent Nigerians and legal luminaries have expressed informed views – both in morality and constitutionality, on the new guidelines. Under the current revenue sharing (Federal Allocation) arrangement, and obvious constitutional technicalities, state governors possess tremendous fiscal power and freedom but little accountability in the use of the monies under their control. There are few checks and balances because state legislatures are typically weak. State governors exercise undue influence and most legislators serve, regrettably, as political pawns.

Surprisingly, the constitution provides for immunity for governors while in office, making it difficult (almost impossible) to hold them answerable and/or accountable. In the 20 years of democratic government (fourth republic) in Nigeria, only a very few governors behave in a fiscally responsible manner as required of them by Nigerian statutes. They run their cabinet meetings and conduct official matters (budgets, strategic policy documents, audit reports, etc.,) like occultism or esoteric organizations. As active citizens, if you insist on a few hard questions on fiscal transparency through legal instruments e.g. Freedom of Information Act 2011, some governors do not mind sending armed personnel against you – for intimidation and suppression.

Generally, because of rabid politics, the legality of the new NFIU guidelines remains largely argumentative. In the meantime, permit that we defer the constitutionality of the policy to the courts since lawsuits have been appropriately instituted. Whatever the outcome of the judicial challenges, the moral foundation of the policy must not be hastily sacrificed. What is democracy without dividends? What is development without inclusion? Grassroots populations remain the most marginalized segments of the Nigerian society, abandoned and neglected in most instances. Propositions for fiscal autonomy of LGAs are not for semantics. From the history of national development, they are genuine and compelling. While they are not one-size-fits-all, it does possess potential as a game-changer.

For the second time, after 1976 Local Government Reforms, a government and/or regime appears passionate and committed to rapid and inclusive rural development seen by her policy interventions, notably by the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) and Fiscal Autonomy for LGAs. The point is simple: the spirited intentionality of Fiscal Autonomy for LGAs to strategically cause a disruption in the administration of the financially-starved third tiers of government will surely accelerate grassroots revitalization and rapid rural development. Another laudable policy option that needs widespread public support and reinvigorated political will is Financial Autonomy of State Legislature and State Judiciary.

At this very point in our national life, one of the obligations we – patriotic citizens, owe those we have entrusted with political powers is constructive engagements. At one time, we rebuke bad public policies, at the other time we provide popular support for transformative reforms and public choices. Such is the spirit and the very essence of  civic participation and democratic governance. For it is often said: precepts upon precepts, a house is built. God bless Nigeria!

Co-written by Ani, Nwachukwu Agwu and Hamzat Lawal. Nwachukwu is a rural development specialist and a Phd candidate at the University of Nigeria, Enugu while Hamzat Lawal is an international development campaigner; activist and founder of Connected Development, Abuja. For correspondence, please contact: nwachukwu@connecteddevelopment.org

Press Release:

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) is to partner a Non-Governmental Organisation, Connected Development (CODE), to ensure that funds channeled towards constituency projects are appropriately utilized.

ICPC Chairman, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, who received CODE delegates, led by Hamzat Lawal, in his Office in Abuja, stated that his administration was determined to track constituency projects especially in the Local Government Areas (LGAs) to combat corruption in the country. “Implementation of constituency projects is one of the ways by which we can ensure that what the Presidency desires to do connects with the people. Every year, funds are budgeted for constituency projects, yet, people at the grassroots especially, are not beneficiaries,” he added.

CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal says the purpose of the visit was to establish collaboration with the Commission in advocating for transparency, accountability and good governance. Lawal added that constituency tracking ensures funds are properly utilized and meet the needs and aspiration of the Nigerian people, although these funds are usually syphoned, marginalizing the Nigerian people and denying them access to their rights. Exploring collaboration with the ICPC is a strategic move to collectively combat corruption, illicit financial flows and track to completion, development projects in rural areas so people can have access to portable drinking water, standard healthcare and even primary education.

ICPC is also partnering with CODE on mobilizing the youth, through CODE’s Follow The Money University Campus Tour, on an anti-corruption movement where young people are sensitized on good governance and the movement to end corruption in Nigeria.

The ICPC Chairman, commended CODE on winning the UN SDG 2019 Mobilizer Award and for its passion in fighting corruption and holding government representatives and authorities accountable. The Commission pledged support to CODE’s FTM initiative.

The Great Green Wall (GGW) is one of the most audacious efforts in human history, because the GGW countries are faced with conflict, migration, poverty and hunger at the same time, and at an unprecedented level.

Now that a new Director General has taken over at the helm of affairs at the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW), it is time for a general reappraisal of the essence of the agency in order to properly situate it in the blueprint of building a new and robust Nigeria where the youth shall find a pride of place.

Recently, the Federal Government appointed Dr Bukar Hassan as the new DG of the NAGGW, replacing Mr Ahmed Goni who had been the Director General since the inception of the agency until his recent disengagement after his four years of tenure elapsed. It is interesting to note that the new DG will easily fit into these shoes because he has always been part of the green family.

Hassan was once the Head of Project Implementation Unit of the Great Green Wall, and Director, Drought and Desertification Amelioration at the Federal Ministry of Environment. He rose to become the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment in 2015, and was redeployed to Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2017 until his retirement in September 2018.

Meanwhile, one must not fail to recognize the laudable milestones achieved by the outgoing Director-General, Goni. In a country where budgets are apportioned to other projects without question and when it concerns green issues eyebrows are raised, one needs to appreciate the efforts of the outgoing Great Green Wall agency boss as a trail blazer in the issue of national building and environmental rejuvenation.

Goni and the former Minister of Environment who is now the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, had worked tirelessly for the mainstreaming of the Great Green Wall project in the Nigerian developmental administration. Shortly before Ms Mohammed left Nigeria to resume her new duties at the UN, she had spoken passionately about the merits of the project and affirmed that there was light at the end of the tunnel because GGW was an initiative of solidarity among a family of countries across the Sahel and the Sahara that were taking collective responsibility.

The Nigerian Great Green Wall Programme commenced because Nigeria is a signatory to the GGW Convention. Later in 2015, in committing to the implementation of the Initiative, Nigeria established the National Agency for the Great Green Wall to coordinate the implementation. Also, a Strategic Action Plan was developed to serve as the programme implementation framework.

The Strategic Action Plan is a five-year plan with the goal of improving the wellbeing of the affected people and reducing their vulnerability to the impact of desertification orchestrated by climate change through improved use of land and other natural resources for sustainable development and support to climate infrastructure. The development objective is to combat land degradation and desertification in Nigeria in order to protect and restore ecosystems and essential ecosystem services that are key to reducing poverty, enhancing food security, and promoting sustainable livelihoods.

The Great Green Wall for Sahel and Sahara Initiative (GGWSSI) is more than creating a wall of trees stretching from Senegal in West Africa to Djibouti in East Africa. It is a metaphor to depict a mosaic of integrated interventions tackling the multiple challenges affecting the lives of people in the Sahel and Sahara areas. It is an African Union programme bringing together 20 countries from the Sahel-Saharan region including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, The Gambia and Tunisia.

The implementation of the Initiative in Nigeria encompasses the eleven frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. Desertification is one of the major environmental challenges in Nigeria threatening the livelihoods of over 50 million people in these States. It involves the establishment of a greenbelt covering 1500km from Dandi Arewa Local Government Area of Kebbi State to Marte in Borno State.

So, on a wider scale, The Great Green Wall Initiative holds the key to the future of African drylands. It is a daring initiative that has the potential to bring back to the continent food and water security, create jobs and new economic opportunities, help in fighting climate change and allow people not to only survive but to thrive sustainably.

In Nigeria to be specific, the initiative remains the major mechanism that can be used to ensure the sustainable development of the drylands, combat rural poverty and create hope for the affected people. Within the framework of the GGW programme, it has been envisaged that about 22,500sqkm of degraded land in the dry region of the country will be rehabilitated for agricultural production and the livelihoods of over 25 million people will be improved by the year 2030.

It will also help immensely in the rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced People (IDPS) by creating job opportunities, managing income generation activities and systematically reclaiming degraded farm lands. In addition, it will reduce farmers – herders conflicts by creating grazing reserves and fodder farms in the Northern dry land areas. This way, the rate of South-ward migration of herders shall significantly reduce.

Nevertheless, there are vital points to note as Nigeria enters another phase in the Great Green Wall implementation. The first is finance. The project cannot go far if the government does not fund it properly. As it stands today, the agency is still living from hand to mouth, because it is not well-funded. It is supposed to receive 15% of the Ecological Fund but all evidence points to the fact that it is not doing so.

Secondly, the agency is actually an inter-sectoral agency that has a crosscutting job across many aspects of our nationhood, hence its importance, yet it is not ingrained in the consciousness of many Nigerians. The success of the agency is Nigeria’s success, as many other countries in the Great Green Wall belt are actually looking up to us.

To be candid, youth participation should be an integral part of the agency’s activities because they are the future of the Nigeria and the GGW holds the key to a sustainable future. There has to be a strategic resuscitation of the entire sustainability value chain – livestock, horticulture, etc – in the Great Green Wall. This way, young people can be empowered not only in the North but in other parts of the country where services are provided and raw materials processed; effectively taking 60 million youths out of poverty in the near future.

Finally, the incoming DG has before him a great opportunity to make history. He needs to build the capacity of the staff of the agency, while ensuring that modern technologies are employed to create a synergy between his various teams and the critical stakeholders scattered all over the nation.

Dr Bukar Hassan needs to also rejig the platforms that will enhance accountability and transparency so that the international community shall find the justification to scale up its support of Nigeria and the agency in the efforts they are set to achieve. In this way also, the wider grassroots citizens of our ever-increasing Follow The Money community shall find ample leverage to engage the agency and hold them to account.

Hamzat Lawal is an activist and currently the Founder/Chief Executive of Connected Development [CODE]. He is working to build the largest social accountability grassroots movement of citizen-led actions through Follow The Money for better service delivery in rural hard-to-reach communities in Africa.

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Hamzat Lawal is an activist and currently the Founder/Chief Executive of Connected Development [CODE]. He is working to build the largest social accountability grassroots movement of citizen-led actions through Follow The Money for better service delivery in rural hard-to-reach communities in Africa.

Chambers Umezulike

On 30 April 2019, two of my colleagues and I began our trip to Bonn, Germany for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Global Festival of Action (GFoA) 2019. Our social accountability initiative, Follow The Money, had been nominated for the 2019 UN SDG Mobilizer Award. The Award recognizes individuals, organizations, government institutions, foundations etc. who are advancing the global movement for the SDGs in the most transformative, impactful and innovative way. Representatives of nominated initiatives in each category were expected to be at Bonn for the Announcement of the winners.

The GFoA is an annual event organized by the United Nations (UN) SDG Action Campaign, an initiative of the UN Secretary-General. The festival celebrates, empowers and connects the global community driving Action for the SDGs. It provides a space to showcase the latest innovations, and approaches to SDG implementation, while linking organizations and individuals from different sectors and regions to build partnerships. The SDGs Action Campaign aims to advocate and engage the public on the SDG implementation, while empowering and inspiring the world to achieve the SDGs. To operationalize this mandate, the SDG GFoA came to life. This year’s GFoA was slated from 2 – 4 May.

As we waited to board our flight to Bonn, I had mixed feelings. I was excited about the festival and at the same time, my mind was racing – We had been shortlisted as a finalist for the UN SDG Action Award  from over  2,000 applications from 142 countries of the world. It still feels a little surreal.

Personally, I knew we deserved the  recognition and had to bring it home. Such an award is a commendation of our team’s back-breaking efforts in mobilizing communities to hold the government to account and facilitate the implementation of SDGs 3, 4 and 6 in their communities. As the one leading the programmatic wheel since 2017, I was sure the recognition would inspire the team  to keep reaching communities and impacting lives. And if we did not bring it home – haha, this part kept my mind racing until the winners were announced on day 1 of the festival.

We touched down at Bonn in the afternoon of May 1, checked into our hotel rooms, had a quick shower and hurried to the World Conference Centre Bonn, venue of the festival. We registered for the big event and attended a 2-hour on-boarding session for the award finalists.I barely slept that night. I was so anxious to hear the announcement of winners of the SDG Awards, the next day.

On the first day of the festival, the grand opening plenary caved way for showcasing excellent initiatives from across the globe delivering solutions for the SDGs. The day was full of sessions on intellectual discourse around global issues and solutions that seek to eradicate poverty, through sustainable and inclusive human development (many of which Follow The Money team was on the stage to speak about). Later that evening,  the UN SDG Action Awards Ceremony started.

The winners for each of the 7 categories were announced. I could not contain my excitement when Follow The Money was announced the winner of the Mobilizer category. Follow The Money emerged winner of the 2019 UN SDG Mobilizer of the Year! I was so overjoyed, that I would not stop screaming for a long time. Our team Lead, Hamzat Lawal received the award and gave an acceptance speech. On that same platform, he launched the Follow The Money 2018 Report to the world. It was indeed a remarkable evening. We received so many accolades on many media platforms both home and abroad. Our twitter account was bursting with notifications of congratulatory messages. At Bonn, we were celebrated- people shook our hands, hugged us, asked to take pictures with Follow The Money team, asked if they could know more about our cause, expressed interest in tracking government spendings in their localities, the accolades were endless. We were overwhelmed and interestingly so. We exchanged business contacts with many other outstanding initiatives, had meaningful chats with SDG Global Fest delegates, and  received a warm DJ reception at the cash bar.

The second day of the festival was also splendid. We had several sessions, networked and met with potential partners that could drive the Follow The Money Movement in other parts of the world. The day also featured a festival walk to the Rhine river. On the third day, we had an hour session where we shared, in details, the methodology of our Follow The Money work, we also rubbed minds with other finalists in our category, answered questions about Follow The Money movement and were receptive to comments.

Everything about the Global fest was mind blowing–from the impressive brand messages, aesthetics, calibre of panelists and discussants, quality of intellectual conversations, presentations, and most importantly, learning about other outstanding initiatives across the globe.

The festival afforded us a great opportunity to explore collaborations, learn, establish synergy and foster cooperation with several organizations. We built strategic alliances and  are currently discussing with colleagues from Canada, South Sudan, Catalonia, Malawi and Philippines who are interested in starting Follow The Money in their countries.

Bonn was so beautiful and had a green landscape. It was inspiring to see that Germany is taking the lead on environmental sustainability and sustainable growth. We also touched down Cologne to visit some awesome tourist sites. Thanks to the Chinese restaurants in Bonn – hahahahaha 🙂 if you know, you know.

This was a remarkable experience and I believe with this UN SDG Award, Follow The Money can do more to ensure people hold their elected representatives and governments accountable for development projects and this will ultimately bring more people, especially at the grassroots, out of poverty, making it possible to achieve the United Nations SDGs before 2030.

Follow The Money movement is growing, with citizens signing up to hold their governments to account, ensure judicious spending of government and international funds to improve service delivery and eradicate poverty.

Sign up here, DO NOT BE LEFT OUT.

By Saater Ikpaahindi

The growing number of Out-of-School children (OOSC) in Nigeria is alarming. To better understand how two organisations are working to tackle this problem, I tagged along on CODE’s first field visit in its partnership with FlexiSAF foundation. FlexiSAF foundation is piloting an initiative on accelerated learning with OOSC in Rugga, a grassroots community in Wuye, Abuja.

FlexiSAF’s Accelerated Learning Programme aims to create a safe learning space where the most vulnerable Out-of-School children in grassroots communities are identified and provided with basic quality education within their communities. Connected Development will support FlexiSAF through its far-reaching influence in hard to reach grassroots communities by identifying children who will benefit from this programme.

My first thought as we drove through the community was that it seemed like a community the Government had ‘forgotten’. There were no standard structures in sight only sprawls of makeshift structures made from aluminium roofing sheets and plastic cement sacks. I wondered if the community had access to basic amenities like a school, a health centre and clean drinking water. iAlighting from the vehicle and walking down the dusty earth road towards a forest green three-room structure, I heard the voices of children singing a popular rhyme I learnt as a child. ‘My head, my shoulders, my knees my toes, my head, my shoulders, my knees my toes, my head, my shoulders, my knees, my toes they all belong together’. Peeking into one of the rooms, I saw children seated on mats as they learned in English, about the different parts of the body and their functions. Situated in front of the children was an enthusiastic Teacher whom I later learned was Miss Abigail and the class, Miss Abigail’s Space.

Speaking to Miss Abigail and Mr Nelson, FleixiSAF’sCommunity Liaison, they told me that classes were divided into three two-hour sessions in a day with different groups of children attending each session and a different Teacher leading each session. Each class (Safe Space) was named after the Teacher leading the session. I further gathered that they teach the children using the Montessori method and children are not only taught numeracy and literacy skills but life skills, etiquette, interpersonal relationship skills and hygiene. Both noted that there was a noticeable impact on the children, their parents and the community. Miss Abigail said that prior to attending the programme several of the children had very poor hygiene habits and could not speak a word of English. However, from learning about hygiene, t, many children took a bath and brushed their teeth before coming to class and now they understand  the importance of washing their hands. She said it gave her joy to see these transformations within two months since the programme started.

Mr Nelson commented that because of the changes other parents had noticed in the children who attended the programme, several of them have approached him to enrol their children. 

At some point,  I sat with the children and asked one of them, Amina, what she had been learning and she began making /‘t’/ sounds and pronounced team, tick, tin. Surprised, I glanced at Miss Abigail and she explained that one thing they teach the children is phonetics and how to pronounce words using sounds. Following an exhilarating session of singing and dancing with the children, I asked them what they enjoyed most about coming to Miss Abigail’s Space and they all resounded that “they loved coming to learn”.

In a community with no school, the provision of a transition centre where children can learn and are supported to enrol in a regular school through accelerated learning is a step towards positive change. Many of the children in Rugga community do not go to school. This was clear from the number of children I saw roaming the streets, sitting around or playing. However, even without speaking to them, I could feel the enthusiasm and willingness of the children to learn as some perched by the windows and doors of the study centre listening in.

Collaborating this was my discussion with Mr Suleiman, a farmer and petty trader whose child is a beneficiary of the accelerated learning programme. He said that “many children are eager to learn but constrained because of the absence of a School in the community and household finances.” Mr Suleiman spoke of the initiative as a welcome development and called on the Government to assist the community with basic facilities like a school, a healthcare centre and water.

As the children bid us goodbye, one thing I take away is their eagerness to learn and that little rays of hope can make a difference.  This makes it pertinent for the government to begin to think up sustainable measures to educate its young ones as a way to curtail the growing number of out of school children.

Connected Development (CODE) has launched its 2018 Annual Report that highlights the impact of its social accountability initiative, Follow The Money, in tracking an estimate of NGN 1,289,579,737 (USD 3.6 million) budgeted for projects in  69 grassroots communities across water, sanitation and hygiene [WASH], primary healthcare and education sectors, in the year 2018.

In the report, CODE emphasised its effort to spur stronger and inclusive growth for grassroots communities in Africa by providing them with the resources to amplify their voices; creating platforms for dialogue, enabling informed debate, and building the capacity of citizens on how to hold their elected representatives accountable through the Follow The Money initiative.

“It was a year of resilience and remarkable achievement,” said CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, in his introduction speech at the launch of the 2018 Annual Report themed Amplifying Voices from the Grassroots. Lawal stated that “our priority in 2018 was to track subnational budgets and ensure that Federal allocations to States and Local Governments reached grassroots communities for socio-economic development.

“CODE activated Follow The Money for 9 Local Government projects and 41 State Government projects championing 5 advocacy campaigns for improved first-mile health infrastructure and services, 60 advocacy campaigns for improved education infrastructures for children to learn in schools, and 6 advocacy campaigns for communities to access safe, clean water and we impacted 1,292,848 grassroots people in 21 States of Nigeria, Lawal added.

The report also featured CODE’s tracking of spending in the extractive sector through its Conflict and Fragility Campaign, aimed at mitigating human rights and conflicts issues  to improve the livelihoods of grassroots communities in the Niger-Delta region. CODE engaged policy makers, stakeholders and beneficiaries, on the effects of artisanal mining activities in Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. It also features Follow The Money’s expansion to other African Countries in Kenya, Liberia, Cameroon and The Gambia.

During the year, CODE faced key challenges including threats for exposing misappropriation of funds, poor access to data to enable tracking of government funds, security issues in NorthEast of Nigeria, and limited funds in reaching more grassroots communities, according to CODE’s Chief Operating Officer, Ojonwa Miachi.

CODE’s 2018 Report was launched alongside the presentation of Follow The Money’s award as the 2019 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Mobilizer of the year. The presentation was supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, OSIWA, Oxfam Nigeria, Luminate and Indigo Trust.

Chief Activist, Hamzat Lawal, dedicated the award to rural grassroots communities across Africa, the CODE team for their resilience in promoting the Follow The Money mission even in the face of insurmountable pressure; and to the donor agencies who believed CODE’s vision and contributed to actualising its mission.

Background:

The 2018 Annual Report outlines CODE’s work in tracking government and international funding in 3 thematic areas; WASH, Health and Education. It also describes its FTM sustainability model of building capacities of rural dwellers on how to hold their elected representatives accountable without CODE’s influence; and the inauguration of new local and international Follow The Money chapters.

The report highlights key activities in different regions including Kano, Lagos, Yobe, Kaduna, Bauchi, Ondo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Zamfara and Borno.

Copies of the Annual Report are available at CODE’s HQ in Abuja Nigeria or downloadable via http://followthemoneyng.org/2019/05/10/2018-annual-report/

For Media Enquiries, contact Kevwe Oghide, Communications Lead, Connected Development via kevwe@connecteddevelopment.org

Connected Development’s home-grown initiative, Follow The Money, has emerged winner of the 2019 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Mobilizer Award!

This announcement was made at the SDG Global Festival of Action currently holding in Bonn, Germany. The SDG Action Awards Global Project Leader, Laura Hildebrandt, said that the award showcased some of the greatest innovators, mobilizers, connectors, storytellers, communicators, visualizers and includers from across the Globe.

Expressing delight about the recognition, Follow The Money Founder and Chief Activist, Hamzat Lawal, dedicated the award to rural grassroots communities across Africa and to the CODE team for their resilience in promoting the Follow The Money mission even in the face of insurmountable pressure. Hamzat added that “this recognition shows that our little efforts to promote social accountability and advocate for better service delivery in marginalized communities are not in vain.

We are honoured by the show of love and we thank everyone for their immeasurable support. This win is for Nigeria. We are elated that our work and impact stood out from among thousands of brilliant applications from all over the world,” Lawal added.

The Follow The Money Founder further stated that “young people in Nigeria are carrying out remarkable projects that are geared towards nation building, yet communicating the impact of their works to the global community seems to be a challenge. With this UN SDG award, I am committed to helping passionate and driven youth get the needed recognition for their works. We all have a role to play in showcasing unique innovative talents in Nigeria to the global community.”

According to Mitchell Toomey, Global Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign, “The 2019 winners are the most impactful, transformative and creative SDG Action drivers. They dared to believe and act for change. They are perfect examples of the wonderful humanitarian work that is happening around the world led by thousands, if not millions, of people.”

Follow The Money which started in Nigeria over seven years ago, has chapters in Kenya, The Gambia, Cameroon and Liberia. As the largest social mobilization & accountability movement in Africa, it has advocated, visualized and tracked USD 10 million meant for social development across African grassroots communities, directly impacting over 2,000,000 rural lives.