A new platform to address community issues and provide feedback called ‘Polongo Application’ has been launched at the 2022 International students’ Day in Ibadan by the Polongo Humanitarian Initiative, with the support of the Oyo State Government.
The application is aimed at empowering Nigerians to effect change through valuable feedback.
According to Wonderful Osalor, the Product Manager, a 400-level student of Computer Science, at the University of Ibadan, the application will enable members of the community to channel complaints and bring up issues for the attention of relevant authorities.
She said: “It can be used to create petitions. So, people can leverage the power of the community to implement solutions for the people, by the people.
“Also, it engenders community discussions, such that it discusses strategies, tracks progress and together creates the change we want to see.
“It also liaises with change-makers, bridge the gap between community leaders and their grassroots members.
“And Influence sustainable change, build resilient communities by motivating change that lasts.
“www.polongo.net can be accessed to get started”.
In a virtual address, the co-founder of the Polongo application, Oluwanifemi Adeyemo, 23, a Nigerian living in the Diaspora, and a Computer Science graduate from Florida State University, said that he was motivated to start Polongo as a means of engendering sustainable change using participatory community approach as against just ranting and complaining on the Social media, which is currently the norm.
He stated: “I believe change is possible when we affirm great initiatives within our community and brainstorm to proffer solutions to identified challenges. Polongo has been birthed to facilitate this.
“Polongo, a social enterprise was launched to coincide with International Student Day with the support of the Oyo State Government, Special Adviser on Students, to start the deployment of the Polongo platform within Tertiary Institutions.
“However, Polongo will be beneficial in any service-providing organization for internal quality control and progressive improvement, including Government, Hospitals, Hospitality, Banks and so on.
Adeyemo said the unique advantages were that while anonymity is assured, spurious allegations and claims would also not be permitted because the evidence is required, and Community members can also upvote or downvote claims.
