For over 15 years, I have studied and engaged with public institutions across policy, governance, and service delivery. My PhD research further deepened my conviction that many governments want to serve well but are often constrained by fragmented processes and systems. That journey gave birth to AccessGov, a solution focused on helping governments become more accessible, responsive, and operationally efficient. We are focused on strengthening access to technology for government and using technology to make government services more accessible for citizens.
I came into the CivicHive Fellowship with momentum. AccessGov had warm conversations with multiple LGAs, proposals in four state ministries, and growing interest from government stakeholders. I was moving fast, reaching out to more governments, expanding into more states, and growing the pipeline. I thought that was what the building looked like.
Then I had a one-on-one lab session with Joseph. Joseph told me something that sounded simple but landed deeply: “Take note of all the things you are learning. Document what is actually happening on the ground. Turn your early observations into a white paper, something honest and digestible, grounded in what you are seeing in the field.” He advised me not to focus on expanding engagements with more ministries and LGAs, but on doing one pilot exceptionally well.
Then came the second lab session with Seun Onigbinde. He reminded me that at this stage, three things matter above everything else: people, traction, and scale of opportunity.
That conversation forced me to honestly examine where I was putting my energy. I had been focused on getting more LGAs interested rather than starting implementation with the ones already in conversation. I soon learnt that more meetings would not validate AccessGov, one real, well-documented deployment would.
My pilot is focused on five LGAs in Ogun State. In conversations with Chairmen and local government stakeholders, we learned that some revenue collection agents retained as much as 30% of collections before remitting funds to the government. Citizens were paying, governments were not fully receiving, and in many cases, there were no reliable records of mapped businesses across the LGAs. Joseph’s advice made me realize that this story, specific, documented, and real, is more powerful than any expanded pipeline. A white paper that says: here is what we found, here is what it costs citizens and government, here is what we built to address it, and here is what happened when we deployed, is the kind of evidence that builds credibility in the rooms that matter.
The fellowship also sharpened something I had underestimated: the importance of mid-level staff buy-in within government institutions. Getting a Chairman excited is only the beginning. The Finance Director, the IT Officer, and the administrative staff who use the system daily are the people who determine whether adoption actually happens. Building for leadership without building with the people doing the work risks signing contracts that never go live.
Engaging with other civic leaders across West Africa during the fellowship gave me something I did not expect: validation. Builders working on accountability, service delivery, and citizen participation across the region immediately recognized the problem AccessGov is solving. They had seen the same broken systems, the same information gaps, and the same citizens left without recourse. That peer recognition, from people doing this work on the ground, affirmed that the need is real, the timing is right, and the solution we are building matters beyond Nigeria.
The fellowship has made me a more deliberate builder. Seun Onigbinde’s point about people, traction, and scale of opportunity gave me a clearer lens for what to focus on and what to set aside. Joseph’s challenge to document everything gave me a discipline I intend to keep. At this stage, the most important thing I can do is go deep on one pilot, measure key indicators, and tell the story.
Author: Shona Oluwatola | CivicTech Fellow