Projects tracking: CSO pledges partnership as FG launches app




The Connected Development (CODE), a civil society organisation, has pledged to partner with the federal government, on plans  to launch a project tracking app soon.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, had while presenting a keynote address during a workshop for legislators, both at the state and national level from Kaduna state, and their key aides on constituency projects implementation, organised by CODE, stated that the app would soon be unveiled.


He said: “To harvest more comments and feedback, the ministry is currently developing a web and mobile application called the EYEMARK. The application is aimed at enabling citizens’ participation and feedback system in the budget process, as well as monitoring and evaluation of federal government infrastructure projects.
“The application will incorporate the core geospatial data layers from the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) project on critical infrastructures at different administrative units for the citizens to locate and appraise the government projects by MDAs. The application will also bridge the trust gap and strengthen the citizens’ engagements to monitor the projects. This will enable us to ensure that we are not only getting value for the money, but that we are deploying these resources to immediate use by the citizens”.


The minister also noted that there has been significant improvement in citizen’s participation in the national budgeting process.

 “In the effort the government is making to ensure citizens participation in formulation and implementation, we have prioritised citizens participation in the budget process with the aim to improve on our budget transparency commitment in our Open Government Partnership National Action Plan”, he said.
Chief Executive Officer of CODE, Hamza Lawal, afterwards assured the minister that the organisation will through its #Follow The Money programme, ensure the use of the application.

 “For us in CODE, we will partner with you. We’re going to push for the use of the app when launched.
“As CSO with focus on social accountability, we represent the people. We will therefore request for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CODE and your ministry. If we get it right in Kaduna today, we will also get it right in the other 35 states and the FCT”, Lawal said.