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The Co-Creation Hub
in Lagos was set up last year by 'Bosun Tijani and his friend Femi
Longe. They were friends from school in Nigeria, who'd gone on to work
in IT and social innovation projects, in Lagos and around the world.
They'd talked about the potential for a hub to bring together IT people with ideas in Lagos for a number of years, but finally, in 2011, with seed-funding support from the Indigo Trust and Omidyar Network, they turned their idea into reality.
A year on, a network of about 200 IT professionals regularly work out of the 6th floor workspace of an office block in downtown Lagos. There is a buzz of activity as individuals and small start-up software development companies use the hub as a base to cultivate ideas and develop projects.
"Good governance shouldn't just be about government", says 'Bosun.“It should also be about what individuals, non-state actors and even private companies do to improve the lives of people and the societies in which they live and work".
"Social media means it's now quite easy to reach a part of society that is actually interested in knowing about what is going on around them. And those people can then become the champions that help you get your message to the grass roots."
"It's not just about the internet, or mobile internet though. Text messaging or SMS is hugely important too. The majority of people still don't have smart phones. They have dumb phones, if you will. But they still have SMS. Getting more people involved in governance depends on mobile, not just access to the internet. SMS is still massive in terms of its potential."
They'd talked about the potential for a hub to bring together IT people with ideas in Lagos for a number of years, but finally, in 2011, with seed-funding support from the Indigo Trust and Omidyar Network, they turned their idea into reality.
A year on, a network of about 200 IT professionals regularly work out of the 6th floor workspace of an office block in downtown Lagos. There is a buzz of activity as individuals and small start-up software development companies use the hub as a base to cultivate ideas and develop projects.
"Good governance shouldn't just be about government", says 'Bosun.“It should also be about what individuals, non-state actors and even private companies do to improve the lives of people and the societies in which they live and work".
"Social media means it's now quite easy to reach a part of society that is actually interested in knowing about what is going on around them. And those people can then become the champions that help you get your message to the grass roots."
"It's not just about the internet, or mobile internet though. Text messaging or SMS is hugely important too. The majority of people still don't have smart phones. They have dumb phones, if you will. But they still have SMS. Getting more people involved in governance depends on mobile, not just access to the internet. SMS is still massive in terms of its potential."
"I
believe that transparency should be about each and everyone of us
thinking about what can we do to make governance better in our
countries."
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