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Citizen participation has been identified as crucial for the speedy passage of the National Start-up Bill (NSB) which is currently before the National Assembly.
The bill, which seeks to promote the country’s local content, provide regulatory certainty, establish a National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, among others, was sent to the National Assembly from the Presidency on February 21st.
Citizens have been called upon to get involved in the legislative processes that will ensure the bill is passed into law. With their active participation, citizens will be able to contribute to making decisions that will affect their lives.
The passage of the bill will also “position Nigeria’s start-up ecosystem as the leading digital technology centre in Africa, having excellent innovators with cutting edge skills and exportable capacity.”
Citizen participation in legislative processes is, therefore, important because it will allow them to have a say in the formulation and passage of the laws that are meant to preside over them.
Citizens are therefore enjoined to ensure that the NSB is passed into law as it is in their best interest as stakeholders in the tech-ecosystem.
Citizen participation can take the form of stakeholders attending legislative readings of the bill at both the Senate and House of Representatives during legislative deliberations as well as sending documented observations to the National Assembly.
Citizens can also participate in the process of getting the bill signed into law by reaching out to their representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives and seeking their support for the passage of the bill.
They can also facilitate the signing of the bill into law through concerted follow up on the progress of the bill on the NSB and National Assembly websites as well as other civil society organisations.
Citizen participation in the NSB passage process can also be achieved through use of social media outlets to express support for the bill by sharing posts and articles related to it.
Educating others on the importance of their participation in the process of passage of the NSB is equally an aspect of citizen participation.
The NSB is an important bill not only because it shows great promise for the growth and development of the tech-ecosystem but because it boasts of having an all-inclusive”big tent” approach where all stakeholders in the tech-ecosystem are collaborating to make it happen.
The spirit of collaboration should therefore be carried into the legislative processes where active citizen participation in order to effect lasting change is shown.
