![]() So we were really pleased to see that as well. ![]() MACON PHILLIPS: Of course, you got a new president out of the whole deal, but in terms of the election, it was pretty boring, all told, in terms of violence and all of that. ![]() MACON PHILLIPS: They have the expression back in the States– no news is good news. So for that quiet and gentle moment from our electoral chairman really changed the course of the elections, yeah. So I think everybody was really grateful for that particular moment, because we saw that there was a lot riding on the elections, and tensions were high. Because if he had matched his anger with anger, then we probably wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now.įATU OGWUCHE: But here he was wise enough to quell the situation, and we had peaceful elections at the end. I didn’t know how it was going to go because most people who even watched when they were announcing the results, they could see that some guy from the political party that was leading at the time decided to cause a scuffle.īut our electoral chairman, I think he was pretty chill in that moment. Even I worked directly with the electoral commission over the time when results were actually announced. So they were a bit disappointed when they had to leave on seeing Nigeria had peaceful elections. We had many international news stations come into Nigeria because they thought they were going to cover a civil war shortly after elections. MACON PHILLIPS: And I have to say, no one really knew how that was going to turn out.įATU OGWUCHE: Yeah. MACON PHILLIPS: And when we first met, you were just coming out of the 2015 elections. When you’re out and about and people say, oh, nice to meet you, what do you do, how do you answer that question?įATU OGWUCHE: I say I am Fatu, an elections and technology consultant in Nigeria. MACON PHILLIPS: So let’s just kick things off. Now let’s jump right into this interview with Fatu Ogwuche.įATU OGWUCHE: Thank you. ![]() Having worked in both the private and public sectors, Fatu gives some great advice on how to implement new technologies within civil service. She now oversees project management, capacity development, and develop strategies for citizen engagement. In fact, her tools were so successful, that she was hired as a new media consultant to implement them at the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria. During the 2011 elections in Nigeria, she and her friend developed new media tools that monitored election irregularities and reported them in real time to the electoral commission. Recently, I sat down with Fatu Ogwuche, a Nigerian woman who has dedicated her professional career to support open, free, and fair elections across Africa. If you like what we’re doing here, please take a moment to recommend us to a friend. Before we get started, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit .com to stay up-to-date on all things YALI. I’m Macon Phillips, and I’m so glad you’ve joined us today. This is the YALI Voices podcast, your home for sharing the best stories from the Young African Leaders Initiative Network. MACON PHILLIPS: Greetings, young African leaders. Listen to the full podcast to find out how she is using her new media expertise to increase transparency in African elections.ĭon’t have access to Sound Cloud? Read a transcript of the podcast below: Ogwuche also talks about how she wrote her own job description and found herself on the Independent National Electoral Commission in Nigeria. With elections, “one thing we also realized was with more engagement comes more participation,” she says. She went on to work with an app designer to create an easy way for voters to find out where they should get their registration cards. Ogwuche reveals that after gaining a reputation as a troublesome student and great dancer, “I reinvented myself” ahead of the 2011 elections in Nigeria when she saw the need to document the way Nigerians were talking about the upcoming vote through social media. Ogwuche uses social media tools she has developed to monitor election irregularities and instantly report them in real time to electoral commissions. That is a modest self-description for the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellow from Nigeria who is dedicating her career to support open, free and fair elections across Africa. Fatu Ogwuche stands on a pier in Washington, DC.
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