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.
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