Draft:Muazu Alhaji Modu

Muazu Alhaji Modu (born 19 May 1990) is a Nigerian activist and social  entrepreneur, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative (ST&A), a civic   tech organization primarily  focus on social accountability, civic engagement, strengthening subnational parliament and climate action. Muazu is also Country Director Nigeria Follow The Money

Early life
Modu was born in Babbangida Community in Tarmuwa, Yobe State on 19 May 1990 and grew up between Babbangida, Yobe State and attended must of his early schools in Damaturu. Muazu is 4th in a family of 24 children.

Education Background
Muazu had his primary in Central Primary School Babbangida and secondary school in Government Secondary School (GSS) Damaturu where he graduated from Art class. Muazu attended the Federal Polytechnic Damaturu, where he obtained a National Diploma (ND) in Computer Science in 2009 and Higher National Diploma (HND) in Computer Science in 2014 where graduted as best graduating student in his HND class, later Muazu obtained Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Computer Science in 2016 from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University and Hold Masters Degree in Information Technology from National Open University of Nigeria

Career


Muazu started his career in civil society as community for the Follow The Money Movement in 2015 after attending Connected Development (CODE)'s Open Data Party in Benin, Edo State in 2015. Muazu selected to lead joint campaign CODE and ONE Campaign Nigeria #MakeNaijaStronger Campaign in Yobe State in 2016. After the campaign in 2017 CODE piloted Follow The Money chapter across Kano, Adamawa, Benue and Yobe States and selected Muazu to lead the Yobe State Chapter and later in the last quarter of 2017 extended chapter to Borno, Plateau and Kaduna States. Muazu promoted to regional lead Northeast in 2018 and currently serving as Country Director Nigeria, Follow The Money

Muazu work with Follow The Money got selected into Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders initiative (YALI) in 2018, a US Department of States initiative that brings young leaders to the United States for academic coursework and leadership training and creates unique opportunities for Fellows and Americans to collaborate and as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across Africa and the United State. Muazu placed at The Presidential Precinct as host institute for the fellowship, a four-member consortium, consisting of two premier universities—The University of Virginia and William & Mary—and two historic sites—James Madison’s Montpelier and James Monroe’s Highland. Muazu was selected to participated in a YALI Podcast in the cohort of 25 fellows placed at The Presidential Precinct. Also,

In 2019, Muazu founded Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability (ST&A) to bridge a huge gap in social accountability and transparency at subnational in Nigeria, a non-governmental organization based in Yobe State whose mission is to empower and work with communities to demand accountability and enhance transparency government spending on Education, Healthcare and WASH leveraging on digital technology. ST&A has two major components: Citizen-led Tracking and Youth Civic Engagement Academy.

Citizen-led Tracking
Citizen-led tracking is a social accountability initiative that uses data and leverages on digital technology to empower and work with grassroots communities to demand for accountability and enhance transparency on government spending on healthcare, education, and water in rural communities in Nigeria. Citizen-led with the span of three and half years, despite COVID-19 pandemic almost put everything on halt in 2020 directly impacted over 891,000 rural lives in 91 marginalized communities facilitated access to improve basic education infrastructure and primary healthcare services. In the process they built capacity of over 500 community stakeholders and young people.

Youth Civic Engagement Academy
Youth Civic Engagement Academy (YCEA) is an initiative ST&A that empower and resource young people in the Northeastern Nigeria to drive civic engagement in their communities. YCEA uses multidimensional approach to build capacity of young between age 18 to 25, provide mentorship and leadership training and seed funding to implement civic action projects in their communities. The first and second cohort’s civic action has provided justifiable and verifiable impacts in their communities which directly impacted over 20,000 lives across the Nigeria improving access to information, strengthening access to education, improving access to m water sanitation and hygiene, strengthening reproductive health and climate action.

Awards and Recognitions

 * 2018 Mandela Washigton Fellowship for Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI), The Presidential Precinct, Charlotteville, Virginia.


 * 2020 30 Most Inspiring Digital Innovation by The Spindle, Hague, Netherlands
 * 2020 Top 20 Winners of the Youth Innovation Challenge on Democracy and Governance in Africa by African Union
 * 2021 AfricTivistes African Civic Action Prize, Abidjan, Cote Dvoire
 * 2021 African Civic Engagement Academy, university of Georgia
 * 2021 Ashoka Changemakers everywhere Academy
 * 2022 BudgIT Active Citizen Award; Award for Civic Activism, Lagos, Nigeria
 * 2022 Young Global Changers Recoupling Award, Berlin, Germany.
 * 2022 Young Global Changers, Global Solution Initiative.