Congratulations are in order to all Nigerians. We the people have spoken loudly through our votes demanding for change. With our votes we have set the foundation for change to happen at the Presidency and at the legislature. I have a concern though, that most of us are not aware that change will not happen in an instant. We must not stop at voting for change, we must hold our newly elected leaders accountable to deliver the good governance we yearn for. This will not happen by us just folding our arms and waiting for them to deliver on the promises of democracy. As we've been advised many times by the same politicians during the election period to not only vote but wait for the votes to be counted to forestall any attempt to falsify the results, we must take the same attitude and position during their term in government to look out for cases where elected officials are not delivering on expectations.

The expectation in a democratic government is that elected officials are accountable to the governed. We cannot send representatives into government and not monitor their performance. It would be highly irresponsible of us to do that. One of the things we must learn in this new dispensation characterized by the moniker "New Dawn" is that we the people have the responsibility to make change happen. We have started well and must see it through by using Transparency and Accountability (T&A) initiatives which empower us to do so. I'm speaking of the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) which was passed since 2011. There are provisions of the Act that are yet to be implemented. It is also sad that many Nigerians are not aware of this Act which empowers them to demand good governance. Through implementation of the provisions of this Act we not only have the power to demand good governance we can drive it by ensuring accountability from elected officials at all levels of our government and from every public institution.

We must also be strategic in our demands for good governance by targeting those indices that help bring about development and growth. We look forward to using this social media platform to educate ourselves on the provisions of the FoI Act and provide additional information to help us understand the factors that bring about growth and development in any nation.