AdvoKC launches digital platform for Nigerians to track campaign promises

AdvoKC, a youth-led civic-tech organization has launched a digital platform that allows citizens to hold its elected public officials in Nigeria accountable.

Misappropriation, lack of accountability and overall corruption has plague the Nigerian governance system. Sub-Saharan Africa is the lowest performing region on the CPI, underscoring a need for urgent action.

The Corruption Perception Index said that Nigeria ranks 149 out of 180 countries globally. AdvoKC will join other players like Budgit, Connected Development, UDEME, to enforce accountability.

We rate campaign promises based on verifiable outcomes, not on intentions or effort. To create our promise meters, such as the Buharimeter, we pore through speech transcripts, TV appearances, position papers and campaign websites looking for promises. We define a promise as a prospective statement of an action or outcome that is verifiable - AdvoKC

Abiola Durodola, AdvoKC’s Co-Founder and Team Lead stated that "as politicians use promises as a political strategy to garner vote during campaigns, one of our core mandates is to address the issue of political elites in Nigeria exploiting poverty and illiteracy to mobilize voters with food items and money without delivering on their promises every election cycle"

"We will be working with local actors, journalists and grassroot mobilizers to strengthen our work in the grassroot. Our team uses a non-partisan process to track
and publish promises", Durodola added.

With different ratings such as "In the Works", "Compromise", "Stalled", "Promise Kept" and "Promise Broken", the AdvoKC promise meter will enable citizens to make informed decision during every election cycle.

This launch is coming ahead of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. To ensure civic engagement the platform allows citizens to submit political promises on the platform.

In September, AdvoKC raised a 300,000 Naira pre-seed fund through BudgIT anniversary hackathon. As at that time, the civic-tech was beta testing via Medium.

As part of it launch, the organization has also announced the appointment of Serah Makka-Ugbabe, ONE Campaign Executive Director on Mobilisation as the Chairman of its Advisory Board. Other appointees are, Dayo Ibitoye, Communication and Knowledge Management Specialist at World Bank; Olumide Abimbola, the Executive Director, Africa Policy Research Institute; Ms. Faith Nwadishi, Executive Director, CTA, and Dr. Aliyu Nuhu, a doctoral student at LSE into its Advisory Board.

Seedstars defines civic technology as the "next big thing in Africa" due to its capability to answer many of the continent’s challenges. This is partly due to the fact that the usage of the internet and social media in Africa has increased significantly over the past years, which could contribute to citizen engagement with civic tech platforms.

In addition, a growing number of donors, organisations and investors are seeking opportunities to support technology and innovation in Africa that contribute to the different areas of civic technology.