A leading Non-governmental, Non-political and not for profit Organization in Osun state also known as Justice, Development and Peace Makers’ Centre, Osogbo (JDPMC) has launched another Web Portal initiative called ‘Osun Eye on our Money that would see to the tracking of Governments’ projects in order to ensure accountability, transparency and timely delivery.

The initiative came to the fore through one of the programmatic Departments known as Democracy and Good Governance (DGG) Department of the Justice, Development and Peace Makers’ Centre, Osogbo.

According to the Head of Programme of the Organization, Festus Ojewumi, the initiative is to empower citizens to drive transparency and accountability in the state through fact-checking monitoring, and verification mechanisms woven around citizens’ engagement.

Osun Eye on our money initiative will promote sustained citizen engagement, which will ultimately spur reforms in the implementation of the government projects scheme to allow for much-needed inclusiveness in government projects and their proper execution.

He said further “Osun money is a web app which aims to trigger and sustain citizens’ interest, engagement, and participation in constituency projects across the country by being a verifiable, viable, and versatile authentication platform. It will be used across the LGAs of the State. Information on the status of projects in communities will be uploaded on the platform by community volunteers within communities.

The information is verified independently by community members and shared with legislators and other stakeholders. It is an evidence- and data-gathering platform for all stakeholders to verify the status of projects beyond contractor or the awardee reports.”

Added that “the rationale behind the initiative is to tame the tide of corruption that thrives in secrecy by sharping the interest of the General public, more importantly, to increase the citizens’ participation in deciding what sort of projects they desire and in monitoring projects’ implementation in a transparent manner. In that light, such interactions will shine a spotlight on elected representatives, thereby mandating them to provide more transparent and accountable representation in project selection and execution.

In his remark, the General Coordinator of the JDPMC, Rev.Fr. Peter Akinkunmi noted that the overall aim of the Web Portal is to drive and raise the interest and commitment of the people at various communities towards public participation and civic engagement in good governance with the selfless spirit of ‘Charity Begins at Home.

“It is highly unheard of that the owners of the resources do not know what becomes of their resources in this modern age of democratic practice, this is why our team came up with this lofty idea and the whole essence of this web tracking portal is to ensure public participation and Civic engagement in different local communities by taking responsibility and acting well their part in community development. By so doing, they will have an understanding that they are not only the beneficiaries of the assets of the land but also the owners”, He concluded.