West Africa

In the Headlines

15 April 2011

Promoting Transparency and Accountability in Nigeria's Elections

A group of Nigerian grassroots organizations—led by Community Life Project (CLP), a Ford grantee of the Promoting Transparent, Effective And Accountable Government initiative—has created a powerful online platform, ReclaimNaija.net, in response to a lack of public confidence in Nigeria's electoral process. ReclaimNaija enables Nigeria's electorate to monitor and report on the elections in real time, using text messages to document voter experiences. The crowdsourcing platform developed by Ushahidi simultaneously creates an interactive map of the reports received. Launched in 1992 in Lagos, Nigeria, CLP promotes the use of mobile technology to amplify the voices of the country's citizens.

Published in National Geographic's News Watch

Nigerians Mobilize for Free and Fair Elections

April 12, 2011 By Florence Scialom

Amidst the confusion of date changes surrounding the Nigerian elections one thing remains clear; the people of Nigeria are ready to vote. The 2011 Nigerian elections got off to an uncertain start; with the National Assembly elections due on April 2nd 2011 having to be pushed back as a result of many problems, leading to the rescheduling of the whole two week election process. Amongst the commotion of date changes it is more important than ever for the Nigerian public to feel they have a way to speak out about any election problems they experience, and know they are being heard.

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