After obtaining a National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND), and Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Science from the Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Mu’azu Alhaji Modu, popularly known as Village Boy, turned down a job offer with Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank). Instead, he chose to dedicate himself to community service and accountability.
As a Mandela Washington Fellow, Mu’azu committed himself to building the next generation of civic leaders and redefining Nigeria’s future through the Youth Civic Engagement Academy. The academy, launched in 2023, empowers and supports young people across the country to become active drivers of civic change in their communities.
His passion for change also inspired the creation of Spotlight Transparency and Accountability Initiative (ST and A), a non-profit organisation focused on preventing corruption, ensuring effective resource allocation, and promoting trust in public institutions.
Mu’azu recalls that his journey into civic leadership began in 2016 while pursuing his Postgraduate Diploma at ATBU, Bauchi. He became involved with the FollowTheMoney movement founded by Hamzat B. Lawal. A few months later, he was offered a bank job but chose activism instead. ‘My journey of civic leadership and development began in 2016, while doing my post-graduate diploma (PGD) at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi State. I started my activism with ‘FollowTheMoney’ movement founded by Hamzat B. Lawal. A few months later, I got a job with GT Bank, with a salary of N76,000, but in ‘FollowTheMoney’ I was only earning N3,000. I asked myself if I actually wanted the job or the money. I realised that I didn’t want the money, I wanted to impact the lives of others, so I turned down the bank job and continued with the movement in 2016.’
He explained that the movement soon expanded, and he became one of the first three people selected to run a state chapter in 2017. The group gained recognition for asking critical questions about governance in Yobe, and eventually eight government agencies began collaborating with FollowTheMoney to promote transparency and accountability.
With a background in computer science, Mu’azu ensured all their activities were properly documented and published online. This commitment to transparency opened more opportunities, including his selection as a Mandela Washington Fellow in 2018.
At a workshop for community leaders
‘I applied for a Mandela Fellowship; luckily for me, I was selected in the second year of my career, in 2018. I participated in a six-week-long programme in the United State (US). Because of the proper and constant documentation of what we do, the impact and the human angle stories helped me a lot in terms of getting these kinds of opportunities.’
On his return, he was encouraged by mentors to establish his own organisation. He also rose to become North-East regional lead, and later Country Director of FollowTheMoney in Nigeria. In 2019, he incorporated Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative (ST and A) as an independent trustee.
The African Youth Charter defines youth as individuals between 15 and 35. Now at the edge of that age bracket, Mu’azu says his mission is to empower others.
‘At FollowTheMoney and Spotlight for Transparency and Accountability Initiative (ST and A), something always comes to my mind. We are aging; and as young people, we ought to do things right now, because it is impossible to continue like this forever. I’m 35 now, next year, I will be 36 and based on the United Nations definition of youth, I will no longer be a youth from next year.’
This concern inspired the Youth Civic Engagement Academy. Launched in 2023 with 12 members across Yobe State, the initiative provided boot camp training, mentorship from UK-based Leadership Platform, and technical support from experts across sectors. Participants also received small grants to implement community projects.
The programme expanded to 20 fellows in 2024, and is now being scaled across the North-East, with plans to extend nationwide.
Through the academy, fellows have tackled issues in education, public health, environmental sustainability, gender-based violence, and civic engagement. Mu’azu said the first cohort reached about 50,000 people, while the second directly reached 200,000, and indirectly impacted over 500,000.
‘We’ve a system in place that tracks their performance and progress through our monitoring and evaluation system. These young people are doing an amazing job beyond our expectations. The money we are giving them is just small but they manage to do massive projects which are directly touching the lives of young people in their communities.’
In 2019, Mu’azu also introduced citizen-led tracking, a project that has monitored over 200 government initiatives across North-East Nigeria, impacting more than two million lives in five years.
‘Under the citizen-led tracking project, we have tracked over 200 projects across North-eastern Nigeria. We directly reached over 200 communities and tracked over N6 billion earmarked for basic education, primary healthcare, as well as affordable and potable drinking water, which impacted over two million people.
Also, under our ‘Know Your Legislators’, I believe we are the first organization in Nigeria that published the names, pictures, gender, political party, disability status, and other information of all 993 elected members of the 36 States Houses of Assembly.
Under the Youth Civic Engagement Academy, we have trained over 33 people, and an additional set of 25 people will be joining in September. We have also trained more than 500 people through our citizen-led tracking across communities in the North East.’
Despite numerous awards and recognition, Mu’azu believes the real success will be measured by the next generation of leaders.
‘These kinds of recognitions that we received, beyond the impact that we are making, are really encouraging us to do more but no matter how well you think you are doing it, you cannot do it forever. So we are looking at building the next generation to take over from us because in the next two or three years, we might be doing other things. So, before we leave, we want to see that there are people who will continue or even do better than what we have done in communities across Nigeria.’
He added that his vision is to use technology, including artificial intelligence, to strengthen democratic governance.
‘The legacy that I want to leave is to bring in people that are better than I am to continue doing the work, and I’m confident that the vision is already here. A lot of young people that we trained are doing amazing work, they are even two steps ahead of what we are doing. Because we are in the era of AI, they are using AI to do amazing work.’
Graduates of the academy testify to its impact.
Abubakar Musa Waziri, a member of the first cohort, said:
‘The Academy has equipped me with knowledge that for years I have been looking for but I did not get. Now, I understand what local government is all about. I also learnt how to identify a problem in the community and strategically provide a solution to that challenge or problem.
After rigorous training, I was given a mini grant to implement a civic action project in my community, which is in Fune LGA. I selected two people per ward, and trained them on the roles of local government and how they can demand accountability and transparency from the local government councils.’
Similarly, Aisha Alhaji Abba, a sociology graduate with a passion for civic engagement and humanitarian work, described her experience as transformative.
‘After six months of training at the Youth Civic Engagement Academy, I was given a mini-grant to do a project. So, I engaged with stakeholders and developed a step-down training for more than 20 young people, where we talked about the process of demanding accountability within the Almajiri system of education.’