IT WAS the children who were hit hardest. Some 400 died of lead poisoning, and thousands more became sick when gold mining operations ran amok near the village of Bagega in Nigeria in 2010. Two years later, the survivors were still waiting for life-saving treatment because government funds to clean up the area never materialised. Then local non-profit organisation Follow The Money swung into action. It launched a social media campaign featuring government data on the disaster that showed exactly where the money should have gone. A global media outcry ensued, and in January this year the government finally released $5.3 million dollars to alleviate the crisis. This is the open data movement in action – helping people to call their leaders to account.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 12:53:05 +0000
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