By: Femi Mustapha
As part of its commitment to reinforce and foster the digital transformation of the procurement, execution, and monitoring processes in the 23 Local Government Areas of Kaduna State, the Local Government Accountability Mechanism (LGAM), has developed mobile application platforms to unified tracking processes.
Mr. Yusuf Goje of LGAM disclosed this at a one-day technical session with stakeholders to adopt the tool in Kaduna on 16th June 2022.
He said the platforms developed with support from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), governance programme, Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL) will help partners to develop a work plan for tracking procurement and share findings.
Goje added that the meeting was also to brainstorm strategies and the next step for effective deployment of the App for tracking compliance in the procurement processes.
He pointed out that 70 percent of corruption in the country happens at the procurement level, stressing that citizens do not have to wait until the public fund was stolen before they raise an alarm.

According to him, citizens need to commence tracking public funds at the procurement stage up to the implementation level.
“This will ensure quality delivery according to specification and timeline, with a view to get value for money and improve quality of life of the citizens.
To achieve this, we need to monitor the implementation of development plans, participate in budgetary preparation and implementation, and assess the delivery and performance of government projects.”
In his remarks, PERL’s State Partnership Facilitator, Mr. Istifanus Akau, explained that the Application was an innovative way for citizens to effectively engage the local government procurement process, and track and monitor implementation.
He said that the mobile application, if well utilized will entrench the needed transparency and accountability in the delivery of projects in local government areas and ensure value for money.
He said that PERL would continue to support citizens to actively participate in the governance process at all levels for ownership and sustainability.
Mr. Moses Jeremiah, Digital Product Designer, Ihifix Technologies, who took the participant through the platform, explained that the platform would automate the Community Development Charter (CDC) and monitoring of procurement processes.
Jeremiah explained that the tool has different access to different users based on specific roles and needs – uploading of data, download, and data analysis to serve the interest of both government and citizens.