OST PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 2009

THE ORDERLY SOCIETY TRUST HOSTS PHOTO EXHIBITION – MAKING LOCAL GOVERNANCE WORK FOR THE POOR
In February 2009, the Orderly Society Trust began a nationwide survey on local governance in the six geo political zones in Nigeria. The purpose of the research is to examine the existing framework of local governments in Nigeria, identify challenges at the local level and capture examples of good local government practice.
Not only did OST capture data, they also captured the most riveting images of life in local governments in Nigeria. In tow with the research team were three ground breaking photographers: Jide Alakija, Edore Onomakpome and Seun Otolorin who brought back frozen moments of time from pockets of local governments across the country.
OST presents a body of photographs in a photo exhibition called Making Local Governance Work for the Poor. The collection of photos will showcase images of local communities throughout Nigeria in which the survey and civic education was conducted. It will provide an insight into the state of local governance and life in local communities throughout the country
The show begins at 3pm on 29 November 2009 in partnership with Terra Kulture and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.
OST’s photo exhibition will continue at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos on 30 November.
For further enquiries on the exhibition and OSTs’ projects, please contact: Lanre Shasore or Nkeiru Aduba at The Orderly Society Trust, 4a, Ademola Street, Ikoyi; Tel: 07034170400, 01-2793453; e-mail: info@orderlysocietytrust.org

-OST

A Big Push...............

Like every other bureaucratic system in Nigeria, local governments have become so complacent with their ineffectiveness, while the citizens are accustomed to expecting nothing more than the inadequate services being offered. We could blame the decay of the system on a million and one things but the underlying reason local governments continue to churn out boreholes and implement unsustainable projects is clear - the citizens’ lack of action to back their enthusiasm for change. The citizens have not shown themselves to be capable of communicating or engaging effectively with local government officials, and most often than not they are denied access. For the privileged few that have access, they pursue their own personal agenda and not that of the community as a whole.
As major stakeholders in local governance, civil society has a responsibility to speak as collective unit to mobilize citizens to demand good governance and access to social goods. Rural communities that have recorded impressive economic growth have had civil society work as the ‘big push’ for good governance. Coalitions of civil society organisations and community based organisations pushing for greater involvement in local governance, especially in decision making processes is a key strategy to stimulating local development.

- Hadiza.

Scrambling for crumbs

In the past weeks, OST has conducted town hall meetings in Agura community Ikorodu, Lagos state, Oredo Local government area in Edo state and Okigwe in Imo state. The town hall meetings are aimed at sensitizing the people on the role of local governments and encouraging genuine civic participation. The town halls have been quite successful as most attendees showed interest in the subject matter but are either unaware of how to demand accountability from those who govern them or are simply not ready to participate actively in local governance.
A common factor of all these town hall meetings with the exception of Oredo was the mad scramble for souvenirs – t-shirts, jotters, pens after the meeting, which makes one wonder why we are so caught up with instant gratification and not the long term benefits to be gained from a functioning local government. It is fair to say that we, the governed have not woken up to our responsibilities.

- Nkeiru