Two frontline advocates of digital government in Nigeria, the BudgIT Co-founder, Seun Onigbinde and the founder of Follow The Money, Hamzat Lawal, have been listed by a global policy platform among the 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government 2019, alongside Amanda Smith of the UK Ministry of Justice and Audrey Tang, Taiwan Minister for Digital.
The policy platform, which is apolitical, showcases a global spread of innovative work by celebrating pioneering activists, politicians, civil servants, and academics who are making valuable contributions towards using digital technology to promote good governance globally.
Hamzat Lawal, who is also the CEO of Connected Development (CODE) and an anti-corruption activist, has been listed two years consecutively.
He said, “I am honoured to appear again on Apolitical’s Global List of Influential people, along with other global icons. This recognition indicates the need to do more to drive good governance and eliminate bottlenecks and opacity in government, using technology.”
Lawal’s Follow The Money is using mobile and web technology to close the information gap between citizens and government, especially in marginalized grassroots communities.
Follow The Money and BudgIT are advocating for more states in Nigeria to sign on to the Open Government Partnerships (OGP) as a way of advancing anti-corruption reforms.
Onigbinde said, “This is another challenge for us to intensify our efforts to promote fiscal transparency and public-sector accountability, as we use creative technology to simplify public information, stimulating a community of active citizens and enabling their right to demand accountability, institutional reforms, efficient service delivery and equitable society.”
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