Activists seek awareness on open data to stimulate growth

Information and evaluation experts have called for more openness in the availability and sharing of data to ensure transparency and enhance development across Nigeria.

The professionals who made the call during the 2014 Open Data Day celebration organised by Connected Development (CODE) with support from The Indigo Trust in Abuja, blamed the thriving of corruption and other irregularities on the inability of citizens to access information on the issues in contention which bedevils their potentials to form vibrant public decision.

The event which assembled stakeholders from the civil society organisations (CSOs), media and government at all levels equipped the participants with  knowledge on how to write applications, liberate data, create visualisations and publish analyses using open public data to show support for and encourage the adoption open data policies by the world’s local, regional and national governments.

Given his remarks at the occasion, chief executive of CODE, Hamzat Lawal said that Nigeria has a large community of innovators who use data to develop business ideas, social and economic changes but acknowledged that individual struggle for livelihood coupled with lack of systemic structures continue to bedevil the objective of open data in the country.