Why I started a data company —Aboh

Blaise Aboh, founder of Orodata Science Nigeria (OSN)  and RUTH OLUROUNBI had a conversation on entrepreneurs’ efforts at imporving governance in most effective and efficient ways in Nigeria. Aboh tells of his efforts at bringing these efforts into fruition, in this interview.

Let’s start with your organisation. What is it about?

Nigerians for long have had a tortuous relationship with government — policies are made without the input of the citizens, processes are either not communicated at all or not efficiently, promises are made but not fulfilled or completed, service deliveries are poor or inexistent, tax payers money are spent yearly without proper accountability or transparency, public systems are failing. All these have exacerbated to grave tension, regional conflicts and outright citizen-government disconnect. The bulk of the aforementioned issues stems from a monopolistic way of governance where citizens have to go through torment in order to gain access to data or information on government services, activities, policies and expenditures.

To tackle the above issues, my organization known as Orodata Science Nigeria (OSN) was birthed. The oro is taken from the Yoruba word meaning ‘talk’, ‘word’ or ‘speech’. Orodata Science was initially known as Election Data Analytics and Visualization (EDAV), which was the name of our first data project in 2014 in order provide answers to key questions citizens had on electoral activities and processes using real time social media data analysis and historical election data. Between December 2014 and April 2015, EDAV reached about 926,000 people online using simple and easy to understand infographics to engage and educate electorates. Afterwards it became Orodata Science.

Today Orodata has evolved into a Civic Technology organization simplifying and democratizing public information and data using Open Data and Data Visualization methodologies for public good. We leverage infographics storytelling and visual analysis to creatively communicate key policies and issues in Nigeria in order to foster ease of access to information, drive accountability, transparency and most significantly citizen inclusion.

If we are not educating the citizens on how to actively participate in democratic processes, or to hold their government accountable, we are informing them on how public money is spent. Most recently, we began focusing on providing in-depth data analysis on various crisis, disaster, conflicts, and the usage of intervention funds and governance of resources related to them to help inform public decisions. We believe in empowering citizen with government information in order to hold government accountable, drain the swamp and effect change.

I understand you also have a sort of Yellow Pages for humanitarian advocates and specialist?

Well, we call it ‘IDPs Tracker’, a Humanitarian Data Exchange Platform we built last year 2016 to cater for data related to humanitarian intervention in Boko Haram ravaged North East around the time there were frequent news of diversion of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) food, funds and other relief materials. As a repository of data, it allows the public easy access to IDPs data from many humanitarian actors in the North East through a simple searchable interface. Our approach is to curate data owned by the major humanitarian actors in the North East while using the Freedom of Information Act to request for that which belongs to the government, because theirs is always not readily available. Whenever there was an outcry about IDPs, outraged citizens had too many questions but do not know where to get answers. The platform was an attempt to address this and also to aid research. The IDPs Tracker platform was created in the spirit of transparency and accountability to show specific inputs and activities on several humanitarian indicators with their impact.

It enables the public to easily track, analyse, monitor and measure humanitarian input of known key players and poses a great opportunity for individuals and groups who want to use or share data, conduct research, create visualizations or understand the gaps in humanitarian efforts, evaluate impact of intervention, and make informed decisions that will bring further positive change. IDPsTracker aggregates data and information that already exists.

What prompted you into this sector?

Worldwide, governments are waking up to begin to satisfy the need of their citizens in terms of efficient service delivery and infrastructural development. Citizen’s access to information has become the bedrock of democracy and good governance. We are in the 21st century where it’s no longer ok to leave government information in legacy infrastructures that make such information inaccessible to citizens who need them to make decisions. There is this wide claim that ‘Nigeria lacks data’, but I say this is not true. We have data, go to many government offices in Nigeria today, paper reports and documents, lots and lots of data still sleep in dusty folders and cabinets and to access these, citizens are made to go through torment. While some Nigerians are increasingly demanding transparency from their elected officials and are clamouring to know how public funds are spent, there are many others just complain without knowing how to engage government efficiently. Government on its part tarries in providing this information due to one bureaucratic bottleneck or the other.  For these reasons I and my colleagues started Orodata to begin to address the gaps.

Why is data important to Nigeria’s development and how can Nigeria embrace research for evidence-based policy making?

Data is important for development because it can show history, hidden trends, causes, effects, evidence of most, if not all of Nigeria’s multidimensional issues.

It can aid informed and actionable decisions which will birth solutions. In cases where an action has been taken to address some of the challenges, data also shows results, milestones, the rights and wrongs, what can be done better. When public data is easily accessible to citizens, they are able to hold government accountable, hence ensuring efficient public service delivery.

With government held accountable, citizens are able to actively engage government, weigh in on government spending and other democratic processes. Entrepreneurs and innovators on the other hand will use data to craft solutions that will address some of the country’s current challenges. Businesses will employ more, thrive. Economy will get a boost as the healthcare sector and others will be making use of data to provide efficient services.

Nigeria has embraced research alright; the problem is that most of that research data are either hidden or locked away in one legacy infrastructure or another. In many occasions, research data never see light of day because the evidence of inefficiency they present are so damning that they are supressed and locked away in some darkened storeroom. Recently I was made to know that almost every ministry in Nigeria has a Department of Planning, Research and Statistics whose responsibilities are to provide enhanced, effective and efficient research, coordinate planning, manage data banks and ensure effective information circulation network for the ministries they serve? Yet we hear that data is lacking in Nigeria. Times have changed, and institution wide, these data must be unleashed to enable leaders, policy makers and interested citizens understand the effect of refusing to deliver on promises or the failure to make important policy decisions.

As someone very interested in use of data, what frustrates you about policy making in Nigeria?

What I have an issue with most especially is the poor communication of those policies. Times have changed and thanks to technological advancement the people who these policies are made for, the citizens, are overtly engaged on so many platforms that do everything algorithmically possible to keep them there. Government has not realized this, and thus are not doing enough to break into that noise in order to actively engage the citizens hence the continuous existence of a huge information gap between the citizen and the government.

How is your organisation tackling these shortcomings?

For almost three years now we have been simplifying public data, policies and other national issues into easy to understand infographics in order to bridge that information gap between the citizen and the government leveraging most especially social media. We have also been engaging government through the use of FOI requests to access information why enlightening them on the need to have Open Data portals to further facilitate information flow. In February 2016, we were part of the facilitators of a European Union – Federal Government Reform program by Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) for over 80 Residential Information Communication Officers in government MDAs in Abuja on Improving Government Communication and Engaging Citizens. Last year we built the Humanitarian data portal to increase public access to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) data.

What are your plans for the year, business wise? Where are you shifting focus, people, and resources?

We are taking a jab at the private sector to see what it offers. Our previous years were focused on learning and understanding how data technology creates a way for good governance in Nigeria.  We did a lot of visualizations and projects which has informed our knowledge. Now we are looking at sustainability, if we must continue to what we do, we have to survive and thrive.

Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career as a business person?

My dad has been a big influence. My dad is a seasoned business man and importer; his company was the first to import the finest and superior A wclass quality “Step-down Converter” from Taiwan to Nigeria in 1989 which sold well in Alaba and Oshodi. The first sample was produced in 1988. Fast forward to after I graduated from secondary school, Federal Government Odogbolu in 2002; I went to work for him in one of his shops in Alaba.

I had a shop to myself where we sold VCDs, DVDs and Converters. I sold out a few 40ft container of items and accounted for the money, all in the bank at that time. When business is good, I sold over 1 million naira worth of items daily. But the selling was never easy in the beginning, I had to scour the whole of Alaba and Ojo, looking for prospective clients in the scorching sun, it was all worth it. After almost two years as a trader, he said I had to go to the University, which I did, but what I learnt at Alaba market guides me today; money management, time management, hustle, perseverance, humility, flexibility and much more.

Before you started your organization, what were you involved in?

I was partner at an online outdoor advertising start-up company called Vacantboards (VB). The start-up through its platform provided market information, available outdoor-board information, cost analysis, demography and location data for businesses and organizations to make better informed buying decisions and to sharpen their outdoor spending choices.  Before then, I was in the Creative Design and Information Management sectors.

What kind of future do you envisage for Nigeria?

A future where transparency and accountability is institutionalised, deliberate and visible, a future where government is open with its dealings and its information and activities are easily accessible to the citizens. A future where our leaders and those who make our laws themselves have clean hands and are void of duplicity. A future where data technology is employed to work for every government institution to eradicate poverty, provide jobs, good education, healthcare, provide efficient public service delivery, good governance and economic development.