Agora Policy on Thursday graduated the second cohort of its Policy Writing Fellowship and launched two digital platforms, the Local Governance Accountability (LGA) Portal and the Policy Registry.
The event, which was held in Abuja, and also served as a close-out ceremony for the fellowship programme, brought together policymakers, civic actors, researchers and guests to mark the completion of an intensive four-month training that produced policy papers across a wide range of national issues.
The over twenty graduating fellows produced individual policy papers covering topics including Artificial Intelligence, disease containment, air quality, food security, job creation, gender equality and industrial policy.
The fellowship, now in its second year, is Agora Policy’s flagship intervention designed to build the capacity of competitively selected mind-career professionals to conceive, research and write compelling policy papers.
It is implemented under the Policy Support, Deepening and Engagement (PSDE) project, with support from John D. and Catherine T. MacAuthor Foundation.
The LGA Portal was designed to improve public access to governance data across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas. It provides historical and current data on Federation Account Allocation and Fiscal Committee (FAAC) disbursements to local councils from 1999 to date, profiles of LGAs, information on elected officials, and data virtualisation tools for research and citizen engagement.
The portal was developed in partnership with The Cable, the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity (CFTPI), and The Punch Media Foundation, with the aim of empowering citizens and civic groups with accessible, user-friendly governance data.
The Policy Registry, the second platform launched at the event, is a digital repository that consolidates policy documents, reports, frameworks, strategies and governance resources into a searchable, publicly accessible format. It also incorporates AI-enabled search tools to improve the discovery and use of policy resources.
Delivering a goodwill message at the event, the Executive Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Dr. Abdullahi Bello, commended the initiative and used the occasion to announce key developments within his agency.
He disclosed that the bureau has completed verification of asset declaration for high-risk public servants, covering 19 ministries, 37 permanent secretaries, 20 heads of agencies and 32 other senior officials.
Dr. Bello also announced that the bureau’s Online Asset and Liabilities Declaration System is now fully developed and ready for deployment and testing, describing it as a platform that will hold asset declaration records for all public servants in Nigeria.
He described the LGA Portal as particularly significant to the Bureau’s mandate, noting that the fight against corruption must begin with strong, accountable local governance.
“The Portal will empower citizens, researchers, journalists, and civic actors to monitor public resources and demand better service delivery,” he said.
Addressing the graduating fellows, he urged them to deploy the knowledge, skills and networks gained through the programme to address national challenges and strengthen governance at every level.
