Social Media in Fighting Corruption

U.S Speaker on anti-corruption, Mr. Peter Ainsworth, spent a few hours at the American Corner in Abuja yesterday with a small group of civil society members active in social media to discuss how it can be used to fight corruption. There was a live tweet component of the program that allowed the outside audience to join in the conversation and ask questions.

Mr. Ainsworth began by asking the civil society members present about the perception among Nigerians about corruption.  Joseph Amenaghawon of the Open Society Initiative West Africa, OSIWA, cited the instance of the former PDP chieftain who was received with pomp and ceremony by his people when released from prison, as an example of the general sense of apathy in dealing with issues of corruption.

There was a general consensus that if the government does not have the willpower to tackle corruption, it will continue to thrive. Omojuwa, a blogger, recalled when the seat belt use was enforced in Lagos State. Prior to that, he said “car seat belts didn’t exist even though the cars had seat belts”. But wearing seat belts became the norm because the Lagos State government “created a disincentive for not wearing it.”

The role of citizens, civil society and religious groups in fighting corruption and holding the government accountable was also discussed. The participants highlighted the need to especially use the pulpit to condemn corruption and social vices, especially because Nigeria is a religious country. The representative from Enough is Enough (EIE), a youth advocacy group for good governance, tasked the youths to re-strategize by engaging the public office holders who can implement laws.

One tweet during the program said it was important for citizens to question the source of funds acquired by public office holders.

The civil society representatives shared how their organizations were building the capacity of citizens in the fight against corruption. According to Joseph Amenaghawon, OSIWA is currently supporting a few online platforms to use online technology, infotech and social media more actively to check corruption.