BudgIT, Africa’s leading civic-tech organisation, has developed a comprehensive suite of products designed to revolutionise fiscal transparency and promote inclusive governance across Africa. These products are meticulously created to empower citizens, enhance government accountability, and ensure efficient public sector spending.
These tools include the Tracka Mobile App, available on the iOS and Android Play Store, enables users to report and monitor projects in their community, ensuring project execution accountability. Whether your community needs a road, school, water supply, or primary health centre, you can submit these needs on the Tracka Mobile App and urge your elected leaders to take action. Also, Tracka’s website—www.tracka.ng—shows all the projects allocated to states and Nigeria’s 774 local government area (LGA) for the year. With www.tracka.ng, citizens can report, follow, and track projects planned, ongoing, or abandoned in their community.
BudgIT also built the Govspend platform, which allows individuals to monitor the Federal Government’s actual releases to its ministries, departments, and agencies, track recipients of government funds and contracts, and report contractors who have received allocations but failed to deliver on their projects. The tool also tracks the outflow of money from the Treasury Single Account (TSA). You can access the platform here: http://www.govspend.ng
In response to poor data on PHC performance, BudgIT built PHCTracka, which allows community members to assess the services and conditions at their local Primary Healthcare Centres. By asking questions like “Are you happy with the services and conditions at your community’s primary healthcare centre?” citizens can reflect on their experiences and provide feedback, facilitating targeted interventions and resource allocation. Link: http://www.phctracka.org
Open States provides access to state budgetary data and documents, enabling citizens to scrutinise government expenditures and advocate for priorities. The platform includes the citizen’s budget, approved budget, proposed budget, state policy statement, budget implementation report, and state financial audit report. Link: http://www.openstates.ng
In addition, BudgIT’s personalised dashboard provides access to allocations for states and local governments with www.me.budgit.org. This platform allows citizens to see how much their state and local governments receive and ensure funds are well spent, and projects are properly executed. Link: http://www.me.budgit.org
The State of States dashboard keeps citizens and stakeholders informed with accurate and up-to-date information on the sub-national governance reform decisions of Nigeria’s 36 states. It empowers citizens to engage in informed discourse and advocacy by providing data on the fiscal performance of the states. Link: http://www.stateofstates.budgit.org
The FG Budget Dashboard simplifies federal budgets, demystifies complex financial documents, and fosters greater understanding among citizens. It allows users to scrutinise the budget, spot unnecessary expenses, and access quick analyses with infographics.
Link: https://budgit.org/fg-budget-dashboard/
Commenting, Oluwaseun Afolabi, the Product Manager and Civic Technology Consultant, emphasised the critical role of technology in advancing citizens’ participation in governance. “Our mission is to make government data accessible and actionable for every citizen. By leveraging advanced civic tech tools, we empower individuals to take an active role in democracy, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met. It is not just about transparency; it is about using technology to give power back to the people.”
