By Kennedy Nyavaya
Local creativity and digital media hub Magamba Network has partnered Nigerian civic organisation Connected Development (CODE) to launch a Nigerian chapter of their innovative news platform Open Parly, in a bid to promote transparency and accountability of state governments there.
Open Parly, founded in 2015, is a project that enables youthful content creators to share Parliament-related news and break down complex bills as well as engage young people on issues of governance.
The newly established Abuja office intends to close the information gap between state governments and citizens in the West African country according to their statement.
“Open Parly Nigeria is focused on building the capacity of a network of young content creators and accountability champions in four states: Kwara, Oyo, Kano and Kaduna,” it read in part.
“The aim is to provide coverage of state houses of assembly sessions and produce content aimed at promoting accountability at regional level. If the pilot is successful the idea is to spread Open Parly Nigeria to all 36 states of Nigeria.”
According to CODE’s community engagement director Busayo Morakinyo, the initiative will facilitate the participation and inclusion of the youth in pertinent national processes.
“Young people will no longer be sidelined in the pursuit of good governance. Open Parly Nigeria will galvanise collective youth action to drive transparency,” said Morakinyo.
Magamba Network’s creative director Samm Farai Monro, popularly known as Comrade Fatso, said the initiative was a display of how Pan-African collaboration could be used to achieve better governance in the continent.
Open Parly Zimbabwe has grown massively over the years, becoming one of the main sources of parliamentary information for young people in the country.
It now boasts of over 180 000 Twitter followers, reaching millions of impressions per month and is fast-spreading across the continent having already been launched as Kalfadhi.com in Somalia, Open Parly ZED in Zambia and now Open Parly Nigeria.