Our History

Our exciting journey started in 2011 at CcHUB’s first Tech-In Governance competition when an open call was made for Nigerians to submit creative ideas that had the potential to transform citizen participation in governance. At the time, Oluseun Onigbinde, co-founder of BudgIT, made a last-minute decision to enter the competition with an idea to transform public sector data, especially the budget, into a more engaging format.

Oluseun met and was paired with Joseph Agunbiade, his co-founder, at the competition. After a brief pause following the Tech-In Governance competition, Oluseun and Joseph set to work on the first iteration of the platform to showcase at CcHUB’s launch in September 2011.

Oluseun recalls that “It was a funny black website with just three circles and a bit shameful, but we were encouraged by the CcHUB team that it was good enough to start”. BudgIT joined CcHUB’s pre-incubation programme and officially launched in September 2011, with a press launch set up by CcHUB.

Our exciting journey started in 2011 at CcHUB’s first Tech-In Governance competition when an open call was made for Nigerians to submit creative ideas that had the potential to transform citizen participation in governance. At the time, Oluseun Onigbinde, co-founder of BudgIT, made a last-minute decision to enter the competition with an idea to transform public sector data, especially the budget, into a more engaging format.

Oluseun met and was paired with Joseph Agunbiade, his co-founder, at the competition. After a brief pause following the Tech-In Governance competition, Oluseun and Joseph set to work on the first iteration of the platform to showcase at CcHUB’s launch in September 2011.

Oluseun recalls that “It was a funny black website with just three circles and a bit shameful, but we were encouraged by the CcHUB team that it was good enough to start”. BudgIT joined CcHUB’s pre-incubation programme and officially launched in September 2011, with a press launch set up by CcHUB.

In 2012, our growth skyrocketed during the Occupy Nigeria movement in January 2012. It was a time that saw Nigerians interested in government spending.

It was a key opportunity that BudgIT seized by creating the “Budget cut” app. According to Oluseun, “We leveraged on the CcHub community because we did not have a tech team to build the app”. The app attracted 4,000 users in 60 hrs, and our followership grew in large numbers within a short time. The app became the fact-checker of Nigeria’s budget on social media, and its success remains one of our key achievements.

In 2012, our growth skyrocketed during the Occupy Nigeria movement in January 2012. It was a time that saw Nigerians interested in government spending.

It was a key opportunity that BudgIT seized by creating the “Budget cut” app. According to Oluseun, “We leveraged on the CcHub community because we did not have a tech team to build the app”. The app attracted 4,000 users in 60 hrs, and our followership grew in large numbers within a short time. The app became the fact-checker of Nigeria’s budget on social media, and its success remains one of our key achievements.

In 2013, we published our first research work on budget analysis. The research work, which included issues with the Budget and our recommendations, was presented to the National Assembly for critical review. BudgIT has become a thought leader across Africa on fiscal transparency and public budgeting. We have made rigorous fiscal analysis simpler and more accessible to citizens. BudgIT has released over 68 publications as of 2021.

In 2013, we published our first research work on budget analysis. The research work, which included issues with the Budget and our recommendations, was presented to the National Assembly for critical review. BudgIT has become a thought leader across Africa on fiscal transparency and public budgeting. We have made rigorous fiscal analysis simpler and more accessible to citizens. BudgIT has released over 68 publications as of 2021.

On September 30, 2014, Omidyar Network awarded BudgIT and PPDC a $400,000 grant, a huge funding milestone. The two-year grant was given to us to expand the bandwidth of budget and procurement information available to the public, stimulate its use in participatory governance and promote media awareness of open-source tools available to the public.

In 2014, we created Tracka to track the implementation of government projects in various communities to ensure service delivery. Now functional in 32 States in Nigeria, Tracka allows Nigerians to report developmental projects in their communities, engage their elected representatives and demand the completion of government projects in their respective constituents. So far, Tracka has reached over 20 million citizens both online and offline, with over 1,150 community champions and over 1,587 letters written to improve project implementation and execution at the grassroots.

On September 30, 2014, Omidyar Network awarded BudgIT and PPDC a $400,000 grant, a huge funding milestone. The two-year grant was given to us to expand the bandwidth of budget and procurement information available to the public, stimulate its use in participatory governance and promote media awareness of open-source tools available to the public.

In 2014, we created Tracka to track the implementation of government projects in various communities to ensure service delivery. Now functional in 32 States in Nigeria, Tracka allows Nigerians to report developmental projects in their communities, engage their elected representatives and demand the completion of government projects in their respective constituents. So far, Tracka has reached over 20 million citizens both online and offline, with over 1,150 community champions and over 1,587 letters written to improve project implementation and execution at the grassroots.

In 2015, we kickstarted the OpenNASS campaign with EIE Nigeria. The goal was to push the advocacy for the National Assembly to open its budget to the public and prioritise critical sectors. Several engagements followed between BudgIT and the Senate. In 2018, the OpenNass campaign finally paid off under Senator Bukola Saraki, as the National Assembly opened its Budget to the public for the first time.

In 2015, we kickstarted the OpenNASS campaign with EIE Nigeria. The goal was to push the advocacy for the National Assembly to open its budget to the public and prioritise critical sectors. Several engagements followed between BudgIT and the Senate. In 2018, the OpenNass campaign finally paid off under Senator Bukola Saraki, as the National Assembly opened its Budget to the public for the first time.

In 2016, we raised an additional $3 million grant from Omidyar Network and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to augment our work. We also launched the first complete edition of State of States, an annual publication of the state’s fiscal performance. In addition, we expanded our work on Tracka to 25 states in Nigeria. Still, within the year, we concluded our work in Sierra Leone under the Access NG/SL project.

In 2016, we raised an additional $3 million grant from Omidyar Network and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to augment our work. We also launched the first complete edition of State of States, an annual publication of the state’s fiscal performance. In addition, we expanded our work on Tracka to 25 states in Nigeria. Still, within the year, we concluded our work in Sierra Leone under the Access NG/SL project.

In 2017, we raised the alarm about the discrepancies found in the 2017 budget through our budget padding advocacy. Over N500bn worth of items were inserted into the budget as means to aid corruption. We were able to ensure the removal of these items. We also launched Civic Hive as a civic tech hub to support and nurture civic ideas that mirror social innovation solutions to civic-tech issues, including human rights, digital rights, citizen participation, governance, and equality.

Civic Hive runs an annual fellowship program featuring six fellows, selected through a rigorous screening process, whose civic solutions are given the necessary platforms and support to scale through training and stakeholder engagements. Some of the notable social innovations from the fellowship include Citizens’ Gavel, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), Amplify.ng, The Flemer Project and others.

In 2017, we raised the alarm about the discrepancies found in the 2017 budget through our budget padding advocacy. Over N500bn worth of items were inserted into the budget as means to aid corruption. We were able to ensure the removal of these items. We also launched Civic Hive as a civic tech hub to support and nurture civic ideas that mirror social innovation solutions to civic-tech issues, including human rights, digital rights, citizen participation, governance, and equality.

Civic Hive runs an annual fellowship program featuring six fellows, selected through a rigorous screening process, whose civic solutions are given the necessary platforms and support to scale through training and stakeholder engagements. Some of the notable social innovations from the fellowship include Citizens’ Gavel, Paradigm Leadership Support Initiative (PLSI), Amplify.ng, The Flemer Project and others.

Our work is linked to deepening conversations with policymakers on issues that impact the public treasury. Nigeria’s state oil company has a notorious corruption record, and it has worked to change its monthly reports, which disclosed its finance and operation figures. In 2018, we worked with the NNPC on their annual report. During the interactive session, we also provided feedback on specific contentious issues in their report. Also, our simplified versions of the NNPC monthly reports have made at least 2.6m impressions.

BudgIT held an “Investing in People” program in partnership with the Gates Foundation. In the same year, BudgIT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ebonyi State Government on Open Budgeting. The year also saw Oluseun Onigbinde embark on a 9-month operational break.

Our work is linked to deepening conversations with policymakers on issues that impact the public treasury. Nigeria’s state oil company has a notorious corruption record, and it has worked to change its monthly reports, which disclosed its finance and operation figures. In 2018, we worked with the NNPC on their annual report. During the interactive session, we also provided feedback on specific contentious issues in their report. Also, our simplified versions of the NNPC monthly reports have made at least 2.6m impressions.

BudgIT held an “Investing in People” program in partnership with the Gates Foundation. In the same year, BudgIT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ebonyi State Government on Open Budgeting. The year also saw Oluseun Onigbinde embark on a 9-month operational break.

BudgIT partnered with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) to provide technical support to its communication department, especially on data visualisation. The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) also partnered with BudgIT to investigate abuse in the use of public funds for constituency projects. Through our work, we have delivered constituency projects to three communities, thereby producing credible information to anti-corruption agencies.

BudgIT partnered with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) to provide technical support to its communication department, especially on data visualisation. The Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) also partnered with BudgIT to investigate abuse in the use of public funds for constituency projects. Through our work, we have delivered constituency projects to three communities, thereby producing credible information to anti-corruption agencies.

We published a research paper titled “Fiscal Policy Options in COVID-19 Environment” to shed light on the present state of Nigeria’s fiscal environment with the crash in oil prices and the effects it has on the economy. In the research document, we explored 10 Policy Options in the COVID-19 environment, including unbundling the NNPC and the permanent removal of subsidies.

We also held a Budget Reform stakeholder engagement on March 16, 2020, which drew attendees which included the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Clement Agba, with other leaders from the ministry, the representatives of the Budget Office of the Federation led by the Technical Adviser to the Director of the Budget Office, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, OGP secretariat, International Budget Partnership (IBP) and 20 other budgets technical Civil Society Organizations.

We published a research paper titled “Fiscal Policy Options in COVID-19 Environment” to shed light on the present state of Nigeria’s fiscal environment with the crash in oil prices and the effects it has on the economy. In the research document, we explored 10 Policy Options in the COVID-19 environment, including unbundling the NNPC and the permanent removal of subsidies.

We also held a Budget Reform stakeholder engagement on March 16, 2020, which drew attendees which included the Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr Clement Agba, with other leaders from the ministry, the representatives of the Budget Office of the Federation led by the Technical Adviser to the Director of the Budget Office, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, OGP secretariat, International Budget Partnership (IBP) and 20 other budgets technical Civil Society Organizations.

In a week-long affair in Lagos and Abuja, BudgIT celebrated ten years of impact and civic innovation.

In a week-long affair in Lagos and Abuja, BudgIT celebrated ten years of impact and civic innovation.