Proactive Vigilance: How Citizens can hold their government accountable
Oludotun Babayemi
July 18, 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
By Oleg Vukmanovic LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters)
– Asian spot LNG prices fell this week as reluctant buyers
submitted lower bids, more supply emerged and Egypt’s call for 12 shipments in Q1 2018 undershot expectations by traders. Spot prices <
LNG-AS> for December delivery fell to $8.70 per million British
thermal units (mmBtu), 20 cents below last week levels.
However, at least two traders pegged December
prices at around the $8.50-8.60 per mmBtu level, arguing
that buyers were unlikely to pay up. Bid-offer spreads remained
somewhat wide with bids submitted at around the mid-$8/mmBtu and offers in the high-$8/mmBtu range, two traders said. Egypt’s tender for deliveries between January
and March – including three shipments which are to be imported via Jordan – was seen as a bearish signal for global gas markets as traders had expected
Egypt to seek five cargoes per month, not four. Petroleum Minister Terek El Molla said in September the country
was on track to cease importing LNG by the end of 2018, a goal seen as unrealistic by
some analysts. Egypt’s mega purchase tenders of the past several years turned the country into
one of the world’s fastest-growing LNG importers, absorbing
hundreds of shipments and propping up global prices for the
fuel. Weaker spot Asian prices come after weeks of gains
which saw the contract rally more than 40 percent since the end of
August. “The market has really overshot, driven by a variety of factors from the extent of Chinese demand, which was completely unexpected, to rising NBP [British gas] prices and other factors such as Hurricane Harvey,” one trade source said. Another source added that prices are set for
a further correction. “There is downside risk for December prices and upside risk for the first quarter.” Given rapidly growing imports by Chinese companies
this year, traders believe stocks there to be healthy and demand covered for November and December so
long as temperatures stay within normal bounds. But Chinese
and other buyers are expected to seek more supply for delivery
from January onwards.
Weather will be a driving factor for demand and traders
are waiting for a clearer sense of temperature forecasts for the period. Russia’s Sakhalin II LNG export plant on Friday launched a tender offering a late-December
loading cargo, traders said. Nigeria’s NLNG export plant put a Nov.
5-7 loading cargo up for tender, with bids due by Oct.
24. The first cargo from Chevron’s latest LNG export facility Wheatstone,
in Australia, is due to be shipped using the Asia Venture tankers which is currently moored just outside the facility,
according to ship-tracking data. On the demand side, Gail India is
seeking three cargoes for delivery between mid-November and January, with bids
due by Oct.
24. A trader said Gail had tacked on an extra fourth cargo for the tender for delivery in October, but this
was expected to be a formality for a already
pre-agreed purchase. Bharat Petroleum also seeks a December
delivery via spot market tender. Gujarat State Petroleum
Company was also said to be seeking volumes but it was not possible to confirm
details. Bids for a tender by Indonesia’s Tangguh plant to sell up to 22
cargoes in 2018 are due next week. A tender by
Pakistan LNG seeking four shipments for delivery in January
closed this week. With wide spreads between European gas markets and Asia, British utility Centrica is expected
to export a cargo from the Isle of Grain terminal using the Cool Voyager tanker.
One source said the cargo may be headed to India. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; Editing by David Evans)
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