A computer expert based in Lagos, Mr. Apeh Jonathan Apeh has advanced reasons why the TownhallNaija was recently launched.
Mr. Apeh noted that, with the deficit of quality representation and the attendant apathy on the side of the represented, the platform was necessary to change the narrative as it enables Nigerians to engage with their representatives especially those at the National Assembly.
He explained that, “in this age and time, leveraging technology, Nigerians should be able to discuss developmental and social issues that affect them in their constituencies; they should be able to have healthy discussions about choice projects within their constituencies, pieces of legislation, government policies, etc and be able to provide feedbacks to their representatives on how they want him/her to vote- whether in favour of or against; they should be able to reach a consensus without a face-to-face meeting and yet have compelling resolutions that are reflective of the wishes and aspirations of the constituency members. TownhallNaija is here to enable this experience.”
According to him, “the TownhallNaija is a non-partisan interactive digital platform for citizens-representatives’ engagements. He said, it was inspired to deepen quality representation (of constituents) and to re-engineer social change. “
To achieve the goal, in part, the TownhallNaija has kicked-off a campaign tagged #KnowYourReps. This campaign comes in form of a challenge-you’re asked two questions; in each, you are expected to choose the name of either your senator or the federal representative from a set of four options in each question. The #KnowYourReps campaign/challenge is consistent with our goal as it promotes citizen’s interest in their representatives and their activities.
He further noted, “We have a dire situation at hand- most Nigerians don’t know their representatives! Worst still, majority don’t care.
“To prove otherwise, you are welcome to take the #KnowYourReps challenge on townhallnaija.com/challenge,” he said.
