Indigene Of Ogbe Community
Tracka Project Officers, Ilevbaoje Uadamen and Moses Ohiozoje visited the Ogbe community on November 20, 2016, to sensitise the residents of the community on the new provisions in the 2016 Edo state budget, they include the N7 million electricity supply to Onumu/Ogbe/Akpama communities.
Our primary focus at Tracka is to promote transparency and accountability in the public sector through citizen engagement. The platform provides access to budgetary provisions to enable citizens to monitor and track project implementation in their area.
The Tracka team held a community meeting at the village heads palace to create awareness about the budgetary provisions as well as enlighten the indigenes with relevant information to ensure service delivery.
Members of Ogbe Community were unaware of this line item in the 2016 Edo state budget and from our observation the entire community lacked power supply.
Tracka’s intervention in the community was well accepted, and the indigenes were enthusiastic about the provision. Mr Uadamen implied the importance of citizen’s engagement with the government, especially their representatives in the State Assembly, he analysed that the people must demand accountability from the government and ensure transparency ultimately result in the implementation of projects in their communities.
The community secretary, Mr Philip Ojeh took notes at the meeting, requesting for a detailed analysis of the engagement process. A curious resident, Mr Oye Okoilu asked: “How can the community be of help in the implementation of this project?” Uadamen revealed that government does not have its own money and they only generate money off natural resources and from taxes and levies paid by the people. Emphasising that government must be held accountable to ensure the judicious use of public resources.
The meeting ended with a letter writing guiding session with the people to engage the responsible pubic officials on project implementation. The Ogbe Community is underdeveloped, and the power supply project will tremendously improve living conditions.
