Transparency is an essential tool of governance as it enables the government to interact openly with the people and creates room for accountability. The Federal Government sought to deepen institutional and policy reforms, which led to Nigeria joining the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in July 2016 as the 70th country, to combat corrupt practices, and make data more accessible to her citizens.
Flowing the commendable commitments of various initiatives such as the Future Project initiative- YMonitor through the Freedom of Information Project, youths have been part of the change process. The FOI project designed to further increase awareness & interest in the Act. It served as a benchmark towards sustaining the increasing culture of demanding transparency in governance. To be equipped with social accountability tools, during a rigorous capacity building workshop on the Freedom of Information Act, 2011. I began to recognize the critical importance of peace and justice, following the complexities the country face in respect to corrupt practices and mismanagement of public funds.
Serving as an impact contributor, tagged an FOI Ambassador, I began engaging young people in my immediate community in Kano. Along my leadership journey, I had learned to approach challenges using compassion, collaboration and commitment. Tasked to amplifying the awareness of the FOI Act to at least 300 young people using the request guide, I engaged change makers from Enactus and Rotaract Club of Bayero University- Patience Obande, Abdullahi Agbem Abdulrahaman and Faruq Ahmed.
As impact contributors, primarily engaging at risk youths in tertiary institutions about their rights to open access of public financial information, 188 copies of the FOI guide were distributed to Rotarians of Dala-Sunrise Kano, District 9125, and students are the Federal college of Education, Kano. 73 copies were distributed to members of the National Youth Service Corps during their Community Development Service session, with further copies donated to the Kano State library.
During this processes, I discovered a deeper understanding of an injustice such as corruption is not enough, but taking action to reflect, inspire others to join you in tackling the injustice is fundamental to one’s journey to meaningfully contribute towards better outcomes, for peace.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 have set a course for all active global citizens, one that ensures inclusiveness of young people not as a matter of mere justice and rights but as well as of necessity. This has continued to strengthen the commitment to uphold accountability, transparency and ultimately the fight to not ‘leave anyone behind’.
Presented by
Olumide Areo who is a changemaker committed to contributing positively to the challenges of poverty and inequality in Africa and beyond. As a Project Pakati changemaker; he contributed to the development of a proposed mandate of political structure for global best practices on advisory councils of young leaders in Africa. The results convened recommendations for the African Union’s Office of the Youth Envoy ‘Greater Inclusion of African Youths in Public Service and Governance Report’ August 2020. He is a Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award recipient, recognized with the highest accolade a young person can achieve for humanitarian efforts. He is from Nigeria.
Following the recent efforts of The Future Project to curb out bad governance and instir trust between Nigerian citizens and their leaders. A motion by Y_Monitor to select 30 Ambassadors across six geographical location was adopted and here are the Ambassadors who will be the changemaker in bring to fruition Freedom of Act 2011 from grass root. Meet the Ambassador using this link https://monitor.yafri.ca/foi-ambassadors
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