‘Follow The Money’ empowers 1, 000 students

Over 1, 000 Nigerian students across the nation’s universities have been empowered and sensitized on good governance and the demand for improved public service delivery from their elected government representatives, through the campaign, “Follow The Money Campus Tour.”

According to the founder of Follow The Money initiative, Hamzat Lawal, the strategy for the campus tour is to advocate for a youth-inclusive governance where, from the academic space, young people can be involved in governance across different areas, including basic education, standard healthcare advocacy, anti-corruption, improved public service delivery and the promotion of the Sustainable Development Goal 16—peace, justice and strong institutions.

Hamzat made the disclosure during a courtesy call on one of its donor-partners, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

According to Lawal, the Follow The Money Campus Tour piloted at the University of Jos, has also held at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where over 1, 300 students pledged to join the movement.

He stated that following the success of the tours in these two campuses, more Nigerian universities have requested for the Follow The Money team to tour their schools, “a request that we are working towards answering, subject to availability of resources,” he added.

The Programme Coordinator, OSIWA, Joseph Amenaghawon, who received the delegates from CODE, commended the organisation for its move to mobilise young academics for good governance.

Amenaghawon noted that young people can become powerful agents of change and can participate as active citizens in national and local governance processes.

“From building the skills of these students at the university, they can be empowered to begin participating in governance during their one-year national youth service,” he added.

OSIWA’s Head of Office, Jude Ilo, commended CODE on winning the United Nations SDG 2019 mobilizer award and for its passion in advocating good governance and tracking efficient use of government funds.

OSIWA has been a donor-partner of Connected Development, through CODE’s Follow The Money initiative in tracking government projects in six northern states of Bornu, Plateau, Yobe, Kano, Adamawa and Kaduna.