A Nigerian Civil Society Organisation (CSO) FollowTheMoney (FTM) Movement, has emerged winner of the World Summit Award (WSA) 2021, for digital solutions on accountability in governance.
Mr Hamzat Lawal, the Founder FTM, a globally recognised social accountability tool made this known in a statement on Tuesday, in Abuja .
Lawal said that the group emerged winner in the category of government and citizens’ engagement, affirming its position as one of Africa’s leading accountability home-grown initiatives shaping the world.
“ Out of 290 nominees from 182 countries, FTM alongside 39 other initiatives from 29 countries, were awarded and recognised by an international jury.
“This is as digital solutions that are contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
“ The global pandemic specifically demonstrated the importance of digital solutions.
“The 2021 WSA winners are an excellent example of how digital solutions and applications can help protect the environment, support healthcare, provide inclusive and high-quality education, connect people and share relevant information.
“known for fostering accountability and transparency in governance way back in 2019, FTM, won the United Nations mobiliser of the year award at the SDG Global Fest,” he said.
Lawal said that at the heat of the COVID- 19 pandemic, FTM deployed digital tools; social media, google form and sheets to gather data on COVID-19 donations, interventions and spendings in Africa.
He added that FTM used the data to advocate for transparency and accountability in its expenditures.
He said that as a result, more state governors in Nigeria who were not willing to release information on COVID-19 spendings, were forced to publish the expenditures.
Lawal said that due to this, some countries like Malawi fired principal public officers.
He said that other WSA winners in the same category as FTM (Nigeria) were: My Parliament (Lithuania), IRMA (Netherlands), Urban Platform (Portugal) and TASMU (Qatar).
NAN