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
At this moment I am ready to do my breakfast, after having my breakfast coming yet again to read
more news.
Filme ilk puanı sen ver. Facebook; Twitter; WhatsApp Seslendirme.
Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Eva Longoria.
%%
Here is my web site private consultant psychiatrist
– working with additional than 1 account per individual, per household
or per IP address.
Look into my web page – baccarat Game
You actually make it seem really easy with your presentation however I to find this matter to be really something
that I think I’d by no means understand. It kind of feels
too complex and very extensive for me. I’m having a look forward in your subsequent publish, I will attempt to get the
cling of it!
Also visit my webpage – PG888TH
Hi there colleagues, its fantastic post on the topic of
educationand completely defined, keep it up all the time.
My homepage – Construction security
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it,
you will be a great author. I will always bookmark your blog and may come back in the future.
I want to encourage yourself to continue your great job, have a nice day!
Not to mention the variety of different THC gummies montreal items.
Some genuinely nice stuff on this site, I it.
Feel free to visit my website philadelphia restaurants
It’s appropriate time to make some plans for the future
and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions.
Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article.
I wish to read more things about it!
Very clear web site, regards for this post.
Also visit my website: oil health benefits
This excellent website certainly has all the info I wanted concerning this subject
and didn?t know who to ask.
Check out my web blog :: item467672451
I didn’t know that.
Good day! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok.
I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look
forward to new updates.
A normal dosage is 30 mg of THC gummies france in one
bag of item.
Thanks meant for supplying many of these superior write-up.
link
In addition to the variety of different THC gummies france items.
THC isolate is pure THC, without any other cannabinoids.
Also visit my web site :: Bookmarks
As well as the series of different THC gummies for anxiety items.
In pay-per-click on (PPC) mode (Edelman et al., 2007; Varian, 2007), the platform allocates slots and calculates cost based on both the
clicking bid provided by the advertiser and the user’s click
on by way of rate (CTR) on each advert. Payment plans range among
the many totally different companies. The Hopper is a multi-tuner, satellite tv for pc receiver delivering excessive-definition programming and DVR companies.
However, in the course of the ’60s, most other children’s
programming died when animated sequence appeared. For example, when “30 Rock” received an Emmy for outstanding comedy collection on its first attempt in 2007, NBC
started to see its lengthy-term prospects. They just did not necessarily see them on the scheduled
date. See more footage of automotive gadgets.
Memory is inexpensive nowadays, and more RAM is almost at all
times better. Rather, they have slower processors, much less
RAM and storage capacity that befits budget-priced machines.
Back then, ATM machines had been nonetheless a comparatively new luxury in many
countries and the overseas transaction charges for ATM withdrawals and credit card purchases have
been by way of the roof.
Here is my webpage ฝากถอนไม่มีขั้นต่ำ
whoah this blog is great i love reading your posts.
Keep up the good work! You recognize, lots of
persons are searching around for this info, you could aid them greatly.
Check out my webpage – item467645686
استریت
استریت یا سر راست به چیزهایی میگویند که کج و فریبنده نباشند.
برای درک بهتر معنی کلمه استریت یک خط مستقیم میکشیم
و به مردی میرسیم که تحت تأثیر مواد مخدر نیست با جنس مخالف رابطه جنسی دارد .در واقع، این کلمه امروزه به نمایندگی از افرادی در جامعه ما آمده است که دگرجنس
گرا هستند، هرچند که در اوایل قرن
بیستم به عنوان زبان عامیانه LGBT سرچشمه گرفته است.
استریت به عنوان یک کلمه در مکالمات غیر رسمی برای اشاره به گرایش جنسی
فرد رایج شد. عبارت to go straight به معنای داشتن رابطه جنسی با جنس مخالف،
برخلاف همجنس گرایان و لزبین ها بود.
THC isolate: THC isolate is the pure form of THC.
My web site – item463747994
THC isolate is pure THC, without any various other cannabinoids.
My site … Item467576685
This web site definitely has all of the information I wanted concerning this subject and didn?t know who to ask.
Also visit my blog post mussel oil health
I used to be able tto find good information frdom your blog
posts.
site
1. Do some research on various THC items.
Here is my website item463759812
THC isolate is pure THC gummies kaya, without various other cannabinoids.
Have you ever considered creating an ebook or guest
authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based on the same
subjects you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my audience would
value your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.
My web site :: True Boost Keto
My coder is trying to convince me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.
But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on a number of websites for about a year and am worried about switching to another platform.
I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net. Is there
a way I can transfer all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be really appreciated!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you
relied on the video to make your point. You obviously
know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence
on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something
enlightening to read?
Also visit my web-site :: Item467701871
Hi! I just want to offer you a big thumbs up for the great info you have
here on this post. I will be returning to your site
for more soon.
Appreciation to my father who shared with me on the
topic of this blog, this website is truly awesome.
This is a topic that’s close to my heart…
Cheers! Where are your contact details though?
Also visit my web blog Bookmarks
Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was super
long) so I guess I’ll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything.
Do you have any suggestions for first-time blog writers?
I’d certainly appreciate it.
THC isolate: THC gummies quebec isolate is the pure form of THC.
1. Do some research on numerous THC gummies white label europe items.
I couldn’t refrain from commenting. Very well written!
Excellent post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed!
Extremely useful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such information much.
I was looking for this certain information for
a long time. Thank you and best of luck.
THC gummies white label europe (Mariana) isolate:
THC isolate is the pure kind of THC.
You’ve one of the greatest websites.
link
%%
My website … Psychiatrist assessment Uk
I conceive this web site contains very excellent composed content material articles.
Look into my web blog – omega 3
Coitus and copulation are each technical terms
for sexual intercourse.
Thank you so much pertaining to giving me an update on this matter
on your website. Please be aware that if a brand new post appears or if perhaps any
alterations occur about the current submission, I would consider reading more and knowing how
to make good using of those techniques you reveal.
Thanks for your time and consideration of other men and
women by making this blog available.
Visit my site – cbd flower essential
Rattling good info can be found on website.
My blog – marjoram essential oil
In addition to the series of different THC items.
Visit my webpage; Bookmarks
As well as the variety of various THC gummies for anxiety items.
The employer already has permission to employ a foreign worker
to fill a job temporarily.
Also visit my web page – Kit
1. Do some study on various THC gummies kaya items.