Abayomi Akinbo, the Community Administrator, says Sabi will
provide politically conscious citizens with a powerful citizen advocacy tool
with verified information about elected officials and governance issues. Sabi
seeks to bridge the governance gap between the citizens and their elected
officials, improve the engagement dynamics and ensure the improvement
engagement serves the purpose of the constituents.
Akinbo said that Sabi, when up, will offer immense benefits
both to the legislators and their constituents. “On one hand, Sabi will enable
the citizens connect with their legislators on real-time basis, react to bills,
request to meet with their legislators, and propose solutions to policy issues;
while on the other hand, it will help legislators keep in touch with their
constituents thus making lawmaking and governance easy for them.”
Sabi will also provide a comprehensive database of all
legislators in the National Assembly and information on their activities on the
floor of the House which will offer the citizens the opportunity to reach out
to their legislators via phone and email.
Abayomi regretted that, since Nigeria began its democratic
journey in 1999, the country is yet to fully reap the dividends of democracy
which include improved governance including increased democratic legitimacy for
institutions, greater social cohesion and improved quality of services,
projects and programmes, a situation he attributed to poor citizen engagement.
In his remark about the goal of NG Voices as a community,
Akinbo stated that the overall aim is to increase citizen engagement and
political participation in Nigeria, so we have included on the platform all the
vital information – election dates, voter registration dates, nearest voter’s
registration unit, polling unit among others – the citizens may require to
effectively participate in the electoral and governance matters.
Sabi is currently in
Beta Testing mode and will be available for download to the public on June 1,
2021. When available, users will have the option of using Sabi in English or
any Nigerian language of their choice.
Akinbo is optimistic that the newly developed app will not
only improve citizen engagement, but also bring about increased dividends of
democracy for all Nigerians. He thanked the Ventures Platform, a leading source
of capital, capacity building, support and advocacy for under-served
entrepreneurs, communities and institutions, enabling them to enhance the
creation of wealth and development in Africa, for its support towards the
realization of the project.