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Tag: Hamzat Lawal

  • Nigerian activist Hamzat Lawal joins jury for global Mandela–Machel awards

    Nigerian activist Hamzat Lawal joins jury for global Mandela–Machel awards

    Renowned Nigerian anti-corruption activist and grassroots mobilizer, Hamzat Lawal, has been appointed as a jury member for the 2024/25 edition of the Nelson Mandela–Graça Machel Innovation Awards, coordinated by global civil society alliance, CIVICUS.

    The Innovation Awards, now in their 20th year, celebrate individuals and organizations whose groundbreaking initiatives drive social justice, bridge divides, and uplift humanity across the globe. 

    Lawal joins a diverse panel of distinguished jurors including Abhishek Thakore (India), Rajae Boujnah (Morocco), Tenywa John Grace (Uganda), and Rhaea Russell-Cartwright (United Kingdom).

    In her announcement to the jury panel, Safia Khan, Innovation & Quality Management Officer at CIVICUS, made reference to the scale of the awards this year.

    “We’ve received just over 800 applications from 76 countries, in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, and Arabic,” she said.

    The selection process, which begins in earnest in March 2025, will involve reviewing a shortlist of standout applications from five thematic categories. 

    Lawal and his fellow jurors will help determine the winners based on innovation, community impact, and potential for scale.

    Lawal, Chief Executive of Connected Development (CODE), is well-known for his homegrown citizen-led initiative, Follow The Money, which tracks government expenditure in rural communities and international aid funds. 

    His track record of mobilizing communities for transparency and accountability earned him a nomination from a CIVICUS alliance member.

    In a message to Lawal, CIVICUS expressed confidence in his expertise, saying: “Having researched your anti-corruption work, we believe we would really benefit from your expertise to help us recognize and celebrate the most innovative minds and projects of the year.”

    Speaking on the appointment, Lawal said: “It is an honour to serve as a juror for such a powerful initiative that shines a light on the courageous innovators working to make the world more just. This is not just about awards—it’s about fueling hope and accelerating grassroots change.”

    Read Also: Johnvents acquires Nigeria’s oldest cocoa plant

    CIVICUS described the role of jurors as vital to upholding the integrity and vision of the awards. In return, they help spotlight initiatives that could benefit from mentorship, seed funding, and the CIVICUS global platform.

    In a social media announcement, Connected Development (@connected_dev) praised Lawal’s appointment:

    “As a grassroots campaigner, mobilizer, and innovator of several social impact projects like @4lowthemoney, Hamzat Lawal’s (@HamzyCODE) appointment as a jury is a perfect fit to help spotlight innovations that uplift humanity,” the organization stated.

    The Nelson Mandela–Graça Machel Innovation Awards were launched in 2004, drawing inspiration from the legacy of Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel. 

    Past awardees include over 40 change-makers from 24 countries.

    Further details on the awards ceremony, including the announcement of winners and streaming information, will be shared by CIVICUS in the coming weeks.

    In 2021, Lawal was appointed to the advisory council of the Global Citizen Fellowship Program, an initiative of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s charity, BeyGOOD. 

    The fellowship, which is also supported by filmmaker Tyler Perry, discovered and nurtured talented African youth driving social change.

    In 2022, Lawal was appointed a judge by the United Nations Action Campaign for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Action Awards. 

    He joined Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator; and 29 other global leaders in selecting transformative initiatives that advanced the SDGs.

  • Corruption fight requires courage, defiance — Hamzat Lawal

    Corruption fight requires courage, defiance — Hamzat Lawal

    Activist Hamzat Lawal has emphasised that the fight against corruption in Nigeria demands unwavering courage and the willingness to confront powerful interests.

    In a recent commentary, Lawal reflected on the experiences of Hadiza Bala Usman, the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), as detailed in her book, Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority.

    Lawal praised Bala Usman for her reforms during her 60-month tenure at the NPA, describing her as a trailblazer who challenged the status quo.

    “Hadiza Bala Usman’s story is a clarion call to young Nigerians striving for change: remain steadfast in your beliefs, even when powerful interests try to steer you off course,” Lawal stated.

    Bala Usman, the first female Managing Director of the NPA in its 61-year history, detailed her journey through the challenges of leading a major national institution in her book.

    Read Also: Hamzat shares insights on building resilient non-profit organisations in Africa

    According to Lawal, the book is not just a memoir but “a declaration of defiance against forces intent on derailing a zealous reformer.”

    The activist referred to several key reforms initiated by Bala Usman, including the implementation of a Revenue Invoice Management System aimed at reducing fraud and revenue leakage, and the deployment of the Electronic Truck Call-Up System, known as Eto, which tackled the notorious Apapa traffic congestion and reduced opportunities for corruption.

    “Bala Usman’s story is a testament to the importance of integrity and courage in leadership,” Lawal said, adding that her efforts were met with resistance from those benefiting from corrupt practices.

    He noted that despite her successes, Bala Usman faced opposition from within the government, particularly from her boss, former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

    In one of the more striking examples from the book, Lawal recounted how Bala Usman saved Nigeria from paying $22 million to a company falsely claiming to have carried out dredging activities.

    “Her vigilance prevented this significant financial loss to the nation,” Lawal remarked.

    Lawal’s commentary also touched on Bala Usman’s removal from office, which he described as a result of her refusal to compromise on her principles.

    “Even before an investigative panel cleared her of charges, the court of public opinion had already exonerated her,” he noted.

    Reflecting on his work with Connected Development (CODE) and its flagship project, Follow The Money, Lawal drew parallels between Bala Usman’s efforts and his experiences in fighting corruption.

    “Like Bala Usman, we will continue to fight for transparency and accountability, one community at a time,” he concluded.

  • Next President will be a youth

    Hamzat Lawal is the Chief Executive of Follow the money, an organisation dedicated to tracking corruption in governance and ensuring that rural dwellers enjoy dividends of democracy. A resource person at the just-concluded Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) workshop held at the Facebook Hub, Yaba, Lagos, which drew participants from 16 African countries, Lawal, 32 is co-convener of Not-Too-Young-to-Run. In this interview with ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, he speaks on the workshop, his organisation and the role of youths in nation building.

    What inspired your organisation Follow the money?

    Everything! Politics, control of resources, and acquisition of power is about money. I believe if we can follow the money, we will put corrupt people in the limelight, so they will not be able to steal public resources. The name was an inspiration from God and probably the first-ever in the world.

    Why are you at this training?

    I was invited by the United States’ Department. I’m here to inculcate knowledge and share experiences with young people across 16 countries. I recall when this platform gave me similar opportunity to train some delegates in Ghana two years ago, we created an association called Gambian Participate, which is doing well in Gambia. Now, they are about to start the Senegal Participate. These are young people showing great interest in the governance of their various countries.

    You are a co-sponsor of Not-Too-Young-To-Run bill, but oftentimes, the older politicians complain of immaturity of youths to man public offices.

    (Interjects) Ask them (older politicians) how much they have invested in youths before being given political positions.

    Now that the general elections are over, we want to bring together young people that vied for public offices but lost and we want to also bring young people that are mostly used for political hooliganism. We want to have a conversation with them.  We are hoping to use our limited resources to do this and tell the old politicians to stop complaining about the incapability of the youth because they are not investing in their education, skills and intellect. Rather they want the old traits of corruption and looting of public treasuries to continue. But I can assure you that by 2023, young people will provide presidential candidate that will be duly elected into office.

    Are you considering an independent candidate?

    Yes!

    Remember, we are seeking two amendments in the Age Reduction Bill.

    One, reducing the age for running for public offices. Two, giving space for independent candidate. We believe independent candidate will cripple party supremacy. That means as long as you are popular and represent the interest of your community, people will vote for you. The irony is people vote for candidates and not political parties, but it is the political parties that will allow you run on the platform. Aside that, we are ensuring that we put a lid on money politics. It is unfair when you want to represent the interest of your people and community but people won’t vote for you because you don’t have money to spend.

    So, how far has Follow the money gone?

    When we started in 2012, our aim then was advocating and tracking $5.3 million in government coffers. The government and some people in power made a laughing stock of us then. Today, the government invites us anytime they see our letter.

    The media too have always been very supportive of amplifying our efforts. We also do ‘naming and shaming’. For instance, if the government refuses to appear in our meetings, we approach the media to name and shame them.

    Read also: In search of the ‘strong’ president (II)

    Do you do this by street protest?

    Follow the money don’t go on the street. We only use media and social media to make our noise. When we attend international meetings, we also use that platform to highlights issues at the home front.

    What are your challenges?

    One of the major challenges is accessing communities.

    It will surprise you that to travel from here (Lagos) to Abuja, where our head office is to some communities take about 25 hours by road. Worse still, some communities don’t even have roads, yet there are appropriations from government for these communities.

    Don’t you suffer any risk?

    Plenty. The work that we do is life-threatening.

    I have been harassed and intimidated, but I’ve never been arrested because everything I do is transparent.

    Where do you derive the inspiration?

    When I was an undergraduate at the University of Abuja, I was a very strong voice in the Students’ Union. Though I did not contest for any office, I was more like the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) chairman in my department.   Besides, as a younger person, I’d always complained about the poor governance and other things. But then, the thoughts came to me that ‘instead of complaints, why can’t I think of solutions that will mobilise young people to hold public office holders to account?’. I’m driven by the passion for sustainable change and bringing ideas and solutions to the front burners.

    What has been the impact of your campaigns?

    Lives have been saved. Communities now have better schools and healthcare centres. For me, that is the dividends of democracy and that keeps me going.

    What is your relationship with people in power?

    We do invite them for dialogue. I call it ‘safe space’ –  bring people from public office and private sector to dialogue about finance, public expenditure, feedbacks from the public and all that.

    What is your modus operandi?

    I am a civil society leader. I don’t to antagonise the government. Rather, I join forces with them to work. Governments are political leaders, so we must join forces. Remember, people pay tax, that’s why we always engage the government to get information.

    What are your sources of funding?

    We get grants from international organisations

  • Not too young movement decry high cost of nomination forms

    Political stakeholders led by the “Not Too Young To Run Movement” in Gombe state on Monday decried the high cost of forms for expression of interest and nomination for the 2019 general elections being sold by political parties in the country.

    Hamzat Lawal, a national leader of the movement told newsmen in a press conference in Gombe the state capital that the high costs of the forms would make youths and qualified politicians to shelve their ambitions.

    He said, “the whole idea of paying exorbitant rate for nomination form smacks of a grand conspiracy to keep the system only for the moneybags and shut out those with less financial muscle.

    “The movement notes with concern the announcement on the cost of nomination forms by various parties which presents a major impediment to youth participation in politics.”

    Hamzat also decried the manner at which some state governors hijacked the process of the sales of nomination forms to thwart the aspirations of young aspirants and perceived political enemies.

    The group recommends that the cost for nomination forms by various parties should not exceed, N2 million for presidential aspirant, N1 million for governorship, N600 thousand for senatorial, N400 thousand for house of representatives and N200 thousand for state assembly.

    Read Also: 47 APC aspirants kick against indirect primaries in Katsina

    They further appreciated the leadership of the various political parties that have reserved party tickets for young men and women with character, capacity and competence as well as parties that have adopted open, transparent and direct party primaries in the candidate selection process.

    The group also urged political parties and their candidates to engaged in issues-based campaign and shun comments that could incite their followers during campaigns.

    They called on the people to use the period of the campaign to assess the candidates and also shun any form of financial inducement from the candidates or their agents.

    He assured that”, the movement will host a public dialogue series with political parties to address some concerns relating to candidate selection process in all the political parties”

  • NGO wants FG to sanction states refusing to access UBEC funds

    The Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), an NGO, has called on the Federal Government to sanction states that are refusing to access the Universal Basic Education funds.

    The organisation made the call during a rally to commemorate the global action week on Thursday in Abuja.

    The theme of this year’s event is “Ensuring Accountability for SDG4’’.

    Mr Kabir Alihu, National Moderator, CSACEFA, said there was need for necessary reforms in the education sector, adding that these reforms required full utilisation of the UBEC funds for the development of the sector.

    Alihu noted that the education budget in 2017 had received tremendous increase and as such should be channelled to appropriate quarters for speedy utilisation.

    “From the document made available to us by UBEC, we find out that there are states that have not access the funds from 2011 and 2013.

    “With this we believe there is a problem somewhere, so we feel there should be a disciplinary mechanism and we should make education budget more transparent, more inclusive of the Civil Society Organisations and NGOs.

    “By so doing, it will make the government accountable on what whatever they are meant to do,’’ he said.

    The national moderator urged the Ministry of Education to review the Act on compulsory free education so as to accommodate all secondary school students, especially those in the Senior Secondary School 3 (SS3).

    Alihu highlighted gray areas that the ministry should draw more attention with a view to develop the education system of the country.

    He listed some of the areas to include adequate incentive of teachers, accessibility of schools to children, especially the girl child and the less privileged, increase in the education budgetary and planning process among others.

    “The essence of this rally is to commemorate with the global action week. We want the review of the nine year compulsory free education to 12 years to accommodate the senior secondary students.

    “We think that Act should be reviewed to be in line with the SDG 4 to have a quality 12 years education and leaving no one behind.

    “There should also be increase funding of education at all level both at the national and state levels,’’ he said.

    Also, Mrs Chioma Osuji, Policy Adviser, CSACEFA noted that the N60 million lying fallow with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should be accessed for the development of the education sector.

    Osuji added that not accessing these funds would reduce the quality of education and denied many Nigerian children access to quality education.

    “As at last month the boss of the UBEC stated that about N60billion is lying fallow in CBN that states have refused to access.

    “So, if states are not accessing the funds, how do we deliver and ensure quality education in Nigeria.

    “Millions of children are not accessing education; the schools are in poor state. Money is there just lying fallow as states have refused to access these funds.

    “Take for instance, Ebonyi state since 2011 has refused to access these funds and we have issues of education in that state. Kogi state for over 12 to 15 months has refused to pay the teacher’s salary.

    Mr Hamzat Lawal, the Chief Executive, Connected Development (CODE), said that holding public officers accountable in the utilisation of funds would greatly help in the execution of projects.

    Lawal said that the organisation would continue to track funds that were meant for the development of education system in the country.

    Responding, Malam Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, assured the group that their grievance would be looked into with apt attention.

    Adamu, who was represented by Dr Mohammed Umar, Director, Human Resource Management in the ministry, said the issues had coincided with what the ministry was doing at present.

    “ I assure you that these certain key points will be presented to the ministry. This has also coincided with what we are currently doing and with your support we will achieve all this.

    “All that is required is your patience because change is a gradual process; all these key points on review of curriculum, increase in the budget and the rest are what we doing,’’ he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group took their procession from the eagle square to the National Assembly and finally down to the Federal Ministry of Education.

    The inscription on their placards read: Increase Education Budget, UBEC money should be in a fixed deposit account; use it wisely, Make Education Prerogative of the Girl Child and Recruit Quality Teachers.

    Others include: Sanction states that refuse to access the UBEC funds, Oyo State, Constitute SUBEB; utilise the UBEC funds and increase citizen participation in education budgetary and planning process, among others.

     

  • N9.2bn clean stoves project not transparent – CSO

    N9.2bn clean stoves project not transparent – CSO

    A Civil Society Organization, Connected Development (CODE), has accused the Federal Government of lack of transparency in the handling of the N9.2 billion clean cook stoves contract.
    The group queried why the conditions and contents of the contract awarded to Messrs Integral Renewable Energy Services Limited have been kept secret from public consumption by the government.
    The Chief Executive, CODE, Hamzat Lawal, also kicked against plans to terminate the N9.2 billion clean cook stoves contract on the account that the contractor could not meet up with the conditions.
    According to him, the contract needs to continue because of the high rate of death encountered by women in the rural area due to constant exposure to smoke from the use of firewood for cooking.
    The clean cook stoves is a federal government initiative which is aimed at reducing the level at which trees are fallen for firewood in the rural area by procuring clean cook stoves for the rural women.
    The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Environment, Mrs. Nana Mede had announced that the N9.2 billion contract may be canceled due to the inability of the contractor to meet up with the terms of contract.
    But Lawal wondered what will become of the N1.3 billion which was paid to the contractor, if the government will retrieve the money from the contractor.
    He also queried if the Permanent Secretary has the power to terminate a contract awarded by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
    Lawal called on the government to embark on massive public awareness in the grassroots in order to teach the rural women how to use the stoves.