AdvoKC, a civic-tech organisation in Nigeria, has developed ‘promise meters’ to track and articulate election promises.
Many elected officeholders, according to the nonprofit, fail to deliver on their promises and get away with it.
The organisation aims to deepen the participation of citizens in governance and public accountability through the meters.
‘Through our infographics on social media, we demystify campaign promises for people. By making this information readily available, citizens who [do not] have access to candidates’ policy documents and manifesto now have it on their finger tips’, Cofounder of the organisation, Abiola Durodola, told Development Diaries.
‘In building AdvoKC, our team identified a wide gap between public officials and accountability in Nigeria. Politicians use poverty and illiteracy during election by telling the people what they want to hear.
‘Most times they promise to move mountains without any plan to achieve such. When they win, nobody holds them accountable to it, so they continue with the strategy.
‘As such, we decided to build a technology for participatory politics in Nigeria where citizens can track the progress made by the elected officials and make informed decisions with it’.
AdvoKC uses the PolitiFact style of rating on its platform. The promise meters, it is understood, have six ratings. While the first three provide a broad picture of whether elected officeholders are making progress, the final three indicate whether they kept their promise.
So far, AdvoKC has in its pilot phase the Buhari Promise Meter, which collates the top 100 promises of President Mohammadu Buhari by analysing his ‘Next Level’ agenda and other available and relevant data.
Also in its pilot phase is the Legislative Agenda Meter, which tracks the short, immediate and long-term actions of the National Assembly as a tool to hold parliamentarians accountable.
Durodola also said that AdvoKC recorded promises made by politicians who contested the 2021 Anambra State governorship election with the Anambra Decides Promise Tracker.
‘You know politicians, especially in Nigeria, renegade on things they say immediately the elections end’, he said.
‘The Anambra Governor Meter will show Ndi Anambra which promises were made that have been broken, kept or compromised’.
Durodola also noted that the organisation will be providing a quarterly report of the political promises it has tracked.
He encouraged citizens to hold officeholders accountable to deliver on their promises.
Photo source: Commonwealth Secretariat
