PROMAD Foundation, a civic tech nonprofit organisation championing accountability, participatory governance and development, has sought a partnership with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) to bridge the gap between policymakers and the citizenry in Nigeria.
Daisi Omokungbe, founder and executive director of PROMAD said during an advocacy visit to the Director General of the institute on Tuesday in Abuja.
“We are here to identify with NILDS on the great work the institute is doing in legislative research and engagement, to ensure Nigeria’s legislature and democracy are sustained.
“PROMAD as a non-profit organisation combines evidence-based strategies and civic technology to bridge the gaps that exist between citizens at grassroots communities and the government to strengthen accountability, and participatory governance for efficient implementation of projects, programs and policies for sustainable development”, he said.
Mr Omokungbe said the organisation has identified one common problem across different communities which is the practice of making annual budgets for the government without sufficient and quality inputs from citizens.
According to him, the practice has created a gap that contributes to the waste of public resources typified by the award and execution of failed projects that do not meet citizens’ needs at the grassroots and many more abandoned, including constituency projects nominated by federal lawmakers.
“The DG sir, haven recognised the works of NILDS, we are here today to seek partnership with your institute to work together on accountability, community needs assessment for budget making and legislative engagement”.
He said PROMAD has developed a civic tech solution, https://grap.org.ng for a participatory budgeting initiative.
He added that the platform uses technology to conduct a community needs assessments for adoption into the annual government budget to shape and influence project allocations based on citizen needs annually.
Responding, the DG of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman said the visit came at the right time the country is looking for ways to reduce the waste of public resources.
He commended PROMAD for its initiative on social accountability and community needs assessment to decide what goes into the country’s annual budget.
“I want to commend PROMAD on this beautiful initiative. This is coming at the right time. We need to begin to embrace needs assessment to be able to ascertain that what goes into our budget is what the people really want.
“We are going to work with your organisation to serve as your launchpad to access the National Assembly and the lawmakers”, the DG said.
