Oluseun Onigbinde is an advocate in the realm of fiscal transparency and open data. He is most known as the co-founder and CEO of BudgIT, a civic organisation that workers to foster social change through technology, citizen engagement and institutional improvement.
“Most citizens believe the budget is an arcane subject that can’t translate into common understanding,” he told The Guardian. “We are just looking for the best ways everyone in the society can connect to public data.”
Through the BudgIT platform, Oluseun and his team use tweets, infographics and interactives in an effort to simplify the information and figures contained in Nigerian government documents, helping his countrymen to better understand how public funds are being spent.
“Opening up information throws up more debate within a society, revealing the patches of corruption,” he explained. “If no one knows what goes on in government and citizens are handed a fuzzy narrative, the incentive to steal funds is high. When no one has the privilege to withhold information about the flow of public funds, we would strengthen the social contract and deepen the trust between the electorate and the leader.”
On 13 September 2019, he was appointed as a technical adviser in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. Given his previous criticism of the government, some Nigerians reacted badly to the news. Three days later, Oluseun resigned from the position.
The open data advocate has received several awards, honours and fellowships for his work, including The Future Awards, World Summit Youth Award, Knight International Journalism Fellow, Harambe Fellowship, Aspen New Voices Fellowship, Draper Hills Summer Fellowship at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of the Law, Melvin Jones Fellow, Obama Foundation Scholar, Quartz Africa Innovators Award and Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow.
Oluseun earned a bachelor’s in engineering at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and attended the executive programme in social entrepreneurship at Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Tags: Africa, finance, fintech, Government and Politics, Nigeria
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