Connected Development (CODE), also known as ‘Follow The Money’ has organized a training seminar for youth on how to hold government accountable at all levels.
The training which took place on Monday 27th May, 2019 in Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, had participants trained on ‘Follow the Money’ campaign that deals with budget tracking and project monitoring from implementation to completion stages.
‘Follow The Money’ is a non-governmental organization that track government spending, ensuring effective implementation and delivery of all projects and budget allocated to local community.
The campaign’s main objective was to empower public with information as a weapon to fight corrupt government officials.
Busayo Morakinyo, program manager of CODE laments on the need for community youths and elderly to know the process of following the money meant for their benefit.
He said “the elders and stakeholders can organize town hall meetings and initiate discussions at the grassroot levels.”
“You can write an FOI request to the government agency to enquire on a project amount, contractor details, implementation details and bill of quantities etc. report the implementation deficiency to the government agency responsible and monitor the process”. He added.
Mukhtar Halilu Modibbo emphasized that Follow the Money is not aimed at antagonizing the government officials nor it is out to embrass them.
“All we need to do is to bring development to our communities and we should make the government know that we are helping them deliver their mandates and do their jobs.” He added.
Most of the beneficiaries expressed their grievances regarding to many projects being abandoned in their communities. The participants also expressed their appreciation while assuring the CODE management that this training will not go in vain and henceforth they will be actively engage in community projects with the newly found knowledge.
