Accountable Governance in Security and Justice (Access Nigeria and Sierra leone)

DONOR: US Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement through Partners for Democratic Change.

    Numbers:

  • 2 Countries - Nigeria and Sierra Leone
  • 6 project partners - P4DC, CLEEN, CGG Sierra Leone, IWPR, PPDC, CDD West Africa
  • 13 Government institutions engaged
  • 2 Hashtags #AccessNG #AccessSL
  • 3,000,000 Twitter impressions
  • 600, 000 people reached
  • 12 Tweet-meets
  • 1 “Cost of Corruption” video
  • 17 CSOs engaged at various stages of project
  • 22 Datasets collated and released to the public
  • 20 Infographics designed
  • 5 OpenGov Tools

THE PROJECT: The Access Nigeria-Sierra Leone Project aims to enhance - and where necessary kickstart - the effectiveness of government anti-corruption agencies, by improving their collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs) in the fight against corruption and fostering accountability in the expenditure and auditing of security funding. The Access Project explores a collaborative, bottom-up approach to increase access to data in the justice and security sectors. The guiding principle is that citizen access to reliable information from government institutions will allow the public (CSOs, government agencies, and businesses) to use data to monitor, and report on public services. As watchdogs, this will in turn tackle corruption and encourage greater communication between security and judicial authorities with citizens. It is expected that the cumulative effect will be a better understanding of which reforms are most effective in reaching each country’s development goals.

    OUTCOMES:

  • BudgIT hosted 2 Codeathons in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and 1 Datathon in Sierra Leone, starting with pre-codeathon/datathon meetings in Lagos, Abuja and Freetown to gather ideas from policymakers, stakeholders, tech developers, enthusiasts and the public. The ideas generated formed the basis for the Opengov tools subsequently developed. The teams continue to work collaboratively with relevant government agencies for adoption of these tools.
  • BudgIT has established a good collaborative working relationship with the leadership of the Nigeria Police Force, leading to implementation of two support projects - automating the Data Lab of the Intelligence Bureau and the mapping of police stations/posts in Lagos. The two projects are a testament of BudgIT’s collaborative approach to advocacy. The mapping of Lagos Police Stations can be found on findacop.com.ng
  • BudgIT hosted Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Commission to several chats on Twitter and Facebook, with rallies in 5 major capitals including Abuja. The aim to was to give people the information about the cost and process of acquiring driver’s license, thereby eliminating the petty corruption fueled by ignorance.
  • The Open Alliance Nigeria was convened by BudgIT to bring together several CSOs campaigning for various strands of the Open Government Partnership eligibility criteria, with a view to achieving a uniform lobbying of government to work towards membership of the OGP. The alliance developed a National Action Plan for Nigeria and continues to engage government constructively on the OGP process.
  • In Sierra Leone, BudgIT provided technical assistance to a coalition of CSOs in drafting Sierra Leone’s first National Action Plan and building a platform to facilitate the CSOs’ monitoring of OGP commitments made by the Sierra Leonean government.
  • In sum, this project has been anchored on collaborative engagements with government institutions, CSOs and media in both countries. The process involved meetings with seniors officials in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology; the EFCC; the Office of the National Security Adviser; the ICPC; NAPTIP; the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation; the Nigeria Police Force, the Anti-Corruption Commission of Sierra Leone; the Office of the National Security Adviser; the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone; the Sierra Leone Police; the Sierra Leone Correctional Service; the Sierra Leone Fire Force; the Ministry of Defence; the Ministry of Finance; the Ministry of Justice; the National Ebola Response Centre and the Bureau for Public Sector Reform in Sierra Leone.
  • Most recently in Nigeria, amid renewed efforts at stemming the insurgency in sections of the country, BudgIT designed a series of infographics dissecting the security sector budget, holding regular Twitter chats with details of the budget. This has enabled citizens intelligently raise enquiries over the adequacy of funds allocated to Nigeria’s security sector.