THE CHALLENGE. Nigeria shifted to a democratic model in 1999, but corruption, disproportion distribution of wealth, and a lack of transparency still linger from the former military regime. Despite being one of Africa’s richest economies, with a GDP of $404 billion as of 2016, the country was ranked just 148 out of 180 countries in the Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index, signifying the persistence of widespread corruption. Opaque transparency and misinformation of government spending is one of the leading barriers to correcting this corruption. With data literacy varying to large degrees across the populace and the fractured dissemination of public information by the government, Nigerian citizens faced incredible challenges in both accessing and understanding public data, public finances, and government spending. These barriers prevent public participation in important aspects of government policy and budgeting, allowing instances of corruption to persist.

THE PROCESS. As a journalist and social entrepreneur, Oluseun Onigbinde had long valued the importance of public data and information. These values, combined with his career and experience in finance, alerted him to the need to publicize government spending in a way that would be accessible to all Nigerians. He soon found the inspiration to make his idea a reality. While he was working at First Bank, Onigbinde formed a team with Joseph Agunbiade during a hackathon held at the Co-Creation Hub, and formulated a plan for a new startup called BudgIT. His vision was to utilize technology and other tools that were in common use by the public — mobile phones, interactive applications, Internet, and even town hall forums — to create accessibility to public finance information. By connecting with a pool of civil society nationwide and by transforming data into easily understood forms such as infographics, BudgIT would help citizens understand public projects and enable Nigerians to hold the government accountable for budget spending. With public finance data more widely available, and with the population more engaged, elements of corruption could be curbed.

THE RESULT. As a social entrepreneur, when BudgIT launched in 2011, Onigbinde had the high goal of engaging 2 million Nigerians through the BudgIT website and platforms. BudgIT met this goal in 2017, when their analysis of the 2017 federal budget reached over 2.5 million Nigerians and saw 25,000 citizens participate in the review process. As a direct result of this campaign, action was taken on “fake” projects and inefficient budgetary items, such as exposing a 41 million Naira investment for funding a youth center that was non-existent. BudgIT’s initiatives have grown to extend beyond its website. For example, the company’s Twitter feed serves as an online public forum for commentary on the budget and public projects. BudgIT also expanded its services, introducing Tracka, which functions as a project tracking tool and monitors public projects in over 600 Nigerian communities. Through its participation in international organizations such as CIVICUS, Open Government Partnership, and the OPEN Alliance, BudgIT is also on track with Onigbinde’s goal of partnering with organizations and ventures in neighboring African countries.

“Onigbinde is no doubt a thorn in the side of some of Nigeria’s elite. To me, he is an example of what one person can do to make a difference.” – Bill Gates

Onigbinde has received numerous awards for his work as a social entrepreneur, including the Ashoka Fellowship, Quartz Africa 30 Innovators Award, and Future Africa Awards, among others. The success of BudgIT’s platforms and campaigns demonstrate that improvements can be made in public institutions and reducing corruption when citizens have access to open data in a way that encourages engagement and data literacy.