The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Bauchi State office on Thursday said it has introduced an application tilted “Office of the Citizens” as part of efforts and move to strengthening citizens participation in governance process.
Its Senior Programes Officer, Isah Garba at a press briefing held at NUJ Press Center, Bauchi, said the android application developed by CITAD with the support from United State Agency for International Development (USAID) through the state2sate project will go along way in ensuring active citizens participation in budget and public procurement processes in the state.
He stated that, the project was designed to improve service delivery through effective citizens participation in the budgetary and procurement processes as well focuses on building the capacity of legislators, public officers and civil society activists in the state to be able to work together to achieve the desired objectives.
“This project would be implemented in six local government areas of Alkaleri, Bauchi, Katagum, Misau, Ningi, and Toro with special focus on Basic Education, Procurement, Freedom of Information and Budgetary process. The objectives of the project are, to enhance the capacity of 40 CSOs to engage both government and citizens in the budget process as means of improving citizens participation in budget processes, enhance the skills of 40 government officials in the interface with citizens to collect and use citizens input in the budget process, facilitate the monitoring of procurement processes in the focal areas of education, health, and youth and womens development.
“Part of the initiative in this project is to help citizens monitor public projects in their communities and provide feedback to government on the status and nature of the project implementations as well as ensure that projects are executed based on the contract agreement between the government and the contractors. To make this happen easily, the project decided to leverage on technology to bridge the gap of time and locations as well as reduce cost implications in the course of reporting projects and also assist the government to get instant reports on projects from the communities, even if the government project monitoring team is not on ground.
“The application was developed using Java8 programming language, with PHP and MYSQL as a database management system that encrypts any user information in the server. The application has signing keys which were generated using Android Studio APK analyzer signed by Google, any user information or forms submitted in the application is stored on the Amazon web server (AWS), anyone can open an account from the app and can report, but no one can have access to the backend or source code until they are permitted on the GitHub server. The app can serve as an interface platform between the citizens, public officers and legislators in the state where citizens can effectively participate in decision making and improve transparency and accountability.”
Garba who noted that, governance is a collective responsibility of both the government and the citizens, said it is imperative for both to work together to ensure effective service delivery and inclusive governance and decision making process in the state.
“I wa have to use this medium to call on civil society organizations and community based organizations in Bauchi state who are the voice and eyes of the citizens in the state to download the App, utilize the App as well as sensitize their partners on reporting project implementations at community level so that the state government can get on the spot report on projects to enable the state track, monitor and ensure value for money and effective service to the citizens of the state.”
