FORCING GOVERNMENT RESPONSE THROUGH UNIFIED ACTION By Mercy DonIgwe
Nigeria is currently the poverty capital of the world and this is no news as we are reported to have 98 million Nigerians living with multidimensional poverty by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), (multidimensional poverty encompasses the various deprivations experienced by poor people in their daily lives — such as poor health, lack of education, inadequate living standards among others).
It is therefore not surprising to have over 46,000 NGOs registered in the country, focused on several issues to ease the condition of citizens such as tackling poverty, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG’s), fight against the growing rate of infant mortality, sensitization against rape and other social vices, public sector accountability, citizens participation, access to information, open contracting, amongst others.
The big question is, how have these interests affected policy making to improve governance that lifts citizens out of poverty?
For example, open contracting, access to information and attainment of the SDG goals have been a ‘thing’ on the lips of most development experts but these objectives cannot be attained if citizens do not lend their voices to the process and the government does not undertake reforms that respond to the issues pointed out by the advocates as well as provide the necessary financing.
It is important to note that at the end of the day, policymakers can gain the trust and collaboration of citizens when they drive reforms that respond to citizens’ complaints.
The development expert is like a real estate agent that scouts for available land (problems/Challenges) and finds an investor (Government) who now develops the land into a tangible building that the public(Citizens) can enjoy for a token.
The Public and Private Development Center (PPDC), a citizens’ sector organization embarked on a journey to Lanle community in Niger state to preach the gospel of participation in governance by holding their elected officials accountable to provide water which was identified as their primary need. They were so excited at this initiative that they proceeded to draft a letter to their representative seeking redress on the issue of water in the community but have not been able to get any substantial result.
The Lanle story is very peculiar because a community with over 10,000 dwellers has only one source of unclean water and a borehole that supplies water only twice a week plus a past record of cholera break-out. How many community members can have access to clean water within the time the borehole is functional? For those that got some water, how long will the water collected last? How many more cholera break-outs will Lanle have before clean water is provided?
The disconnect here is that most times, while results from development experts can be demonstrated in getting citizens to participate in demanding accountability and making informed demands on duty bearers, the needed response from the government to citizens’ demands is grossly lacking or generally inadequate. Action from the government is extremely necessary for the cycle of change to be attained.
To get the government to fill this Gap, citizens have to collectively raise their voices and not relent until there is action from the government. We must as citizens, exhaust all options and never give up the fight. We must coalesce on a common agenda and achieve results before we move on to another issue. Let some people from the same community not prioritize the rehabilitation of the health care center and go ahead to demand this while others opt for negotiating temporary ‘settlements’ to the detriment of the collective good of their community. When the government sees a united front, with one purpose, action will be forced!.
USE THE POWER OF YOUR VOICES!!! It can never outlive its strength.
Mercy DonIgwe is a Communications Expert that seeks to use every communication tool available to drive social change.
