New report reveals how open data is improving citizen engagement in Nigeria |

"– A white paper from the Open Data Institute, exploring how world leaders can use and promote open data to tackle global challenges post-2015, has been launched: ‘Supporting sustainable development with open data’. The report draws on 12 examples from around the world. One of these looks at how open data has enabled improved citizen engagement in Nigeria. In 2011, the Edo state government began implementing an open data initiative with the support of the World Bank, exploring new approaches to addressing budget transparency, teacher absenteeism and urban upgrading through a citizen engagement platform. An open data portal, data.edustate.gov, was launched in September 2013, the first in Nigeria, and first sub-national portal in Africa. For the first time, the state budget, including historical data, was published and made available online for citizens to access. One year on, the portal is being reused by the tech community, media and civil society, providing citizens with access to about 90 government datasets, including census, fiscal and geospatial data. With the support of the World Bank, the next phase of implementation will focus on releasing new datasets and data visualisations to draw value from existing datasets. Edo state’s experience is now being used to inform future initiatives elsewhere in Nigeria. This report is being launched at a critical time – later this year the United Nations will decide on international development priorities for the next 15 years. These Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will address major global issues including human rights, social inclusion and the environment ..."