OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Vision FM 92.1 Abuja, on engaging citizens in the tracking of public funded constituency projects through the ConsTrack mobile app.
The ConsTrack initiative was designed to trigger and promote increased and informed citizens’ participation as well as appropriate interfaces with elected representatives in parliament regarding the choice and implementation of constituency projects across the country.
Following the signing of the MOU, OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative and Vision FM will jointly produce and disseminate a special Constituency Projects Tracking ‘ConsTrack’ programme which will now form part of “Inside the National Assembly” a weekly programme on developments in the Federal Parliament which goes on air every Saturday at 11:30 am with a repeat at the same time Mondays.
Aside the weekly broadcast on Vision FM 92.1 Abuja, the programme will also be published on the OrderPaper Nigeria media platforms. The radio programme will be broadcast to listeners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and neighbouring states of the north central region of Nigeria.
Executive Director of OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative, Oke Epia, said the aim of the synergy between the two parties is to jointly get involved in nationwide government projects monitoring and reporting, as well as promote accountability and transparency in the implementation of the annual budget.
Mr. Epia further noted that the relationship between OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative and Vision FM will significantly empower citizens to demand for inclusiveness in the choice and execution of projects in Nigeria.
A statement quoted him thus: “We hope that through this partnership, we will be able to properly report and inform citizens on the status of both Constituency Projects carried out by lawmakers and capital projects as contained in the Federal Government budget. We will also reach out to some states and federal constituencies to understand, document, and publicise their development challenges, needs and expectations of interventions from the National Assembly and Federal Government.”
The statement further noted that the Station Manager of Vision FM, Mr. Austyn Agabi, expressed delight at the partnership, saying it would extend the frontiers of accountability and development journalism in the country. “We are happy with this step of signing the MoU as it marks the beginning of a mutually beneficial partnership that essentially promotes transparency and accountability in public life,” the statement quoted Mr. Agabi as saying.
ConsTrack is built around a mobile application and was conceptualised to address a lack of transparency and accountability in the design and execution of constituency projects. The mobile app which is already available for download on the Google Play and iOS Stores, provides a verified and holistically organized data base of these projects with regards to location, budgetary allocation, funding, implementing agencies, and status of implementation.
Already, ConsTrack has received global recognition in far-away United States of America as it won the inaugural Global Technology for Development (Tech4Dev) innovation contest organised by Chemonics Headquarters for innovation projects worldwide in 2017.
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