On Monday, Better Angels, an initiative formed by a group of tech entrepreneurs, announced the decision to suspend its crowdsourcing of relief funds launched to support Nigerians during the COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown in the country.
The suspension of wearetogether.ng, its website, was announced via its twitter handle and came on the same night that the Federal Government declared a gradual easing of the lockdown.
This is not the last time you will hear from us but with heartfelt gratitude & for the opportunity to serve, we are suspending this campaign. Read this! https://t.co/O9oCJ6iXIZ – please take care of yourselves. A toast to health, to trust, to transparency & to a healthy planet
— We are Together (@wearetogetherhq) April 27, 2020
In an official statement on its website, titled ‘A sense of a beginning,’ the group appreciated the Nigerian tech community for buying into the idea and rallying to provide the needed support for giving succour to Nigerians.
“From ideation to going live took us about 3 days and while our amazing developers did their thing, We reached out to the wider tech community and without fail almost all came in,” it said in appreciation.
(READ MORE: Tech Roundup S02E16)
Why the suspension?
It was noted that the suspension of the relief programme, which had been expected to run till December 2020, was necessitated by the inability to raise more funds.
“We are not an NGO (this hurt our ability to raise more money), we are not even a company… It felt foreign, but let us all take solace in the fact that in the not-too-distant future this will be the norm.
“We suspend wearetogether.ng with a debt of gratitude to all, but most importantly to the recipients – we will continue this work. We will sunset it, but get it into the hands of academics, researchers and think tanks” it said.
The tech experts who came together to launch the crowdsourced relief funds were simply identified by their first names in the statement:
“Ebun, Chidozie, Iby, Favour, Wale, Koye, Albert, Maria, Theo, Mark. Iyin, Oo, and all the donors and everyone who played a part.”
(READ MORE: COVID-19 relief: Group of Techpreneurs use BVN to disburse funds to Nigerians)
11 days of achievement
The fund was launched on April 17, 2020 with a message on its social media handles.
We are tech entrepreneurs who are using the technology we developed for our companies and leveraging the power of networks to crowdsource a fiscal stimulus for Nigeria. Get involved, donate now! https://t.co/MxCn0rEOaE #wearetogetherng #stimulusforNigeria #crowdsourcestimulus pic.twitter.com/b3yTlZlJKm
— We are Together (@wearetogetherhq) April 17, 2020
Need a little help? Apply to access funds from the "We Are Together" initiative with these easy steps https://t.co/sNZ22UK5I4#wearetogetherng #getinvolved #stimulusforNigeria #crowdsourcestimulus pic.twitter.com/AVJud42iea
— We are Together (@wearetogetherhq) April 17, 2020
While it lasted, the disbursement which was done on a daily basis, required applicants to enter their account numbers and Bank Verification Numbers to apply, after which qualified applicants were credited the sum of N10,000 each.
The narrow window for applying barely lasted more than few minutes and some applicants had complained about not being qualified despite repeated applications. According to the group, the windows were closed as soon as all received monies were disbursed.
we are so sorry about this and trust us if we had all the money in the world, we would just give it out (with some sense of course) but we are working with limited funds, not enough to go around. https://t.co/WCNF2PTeyp
— We are Together (@wearetogetherhq) April 23, 2020
According to the audit report on the site, https://wearetogether.ng/audit, the group received a total of ₦17,701,318.62 from 189 donations, and gave out ₦17,390,000 (N10000 to 1739 recipients) for the 7 days which disbursements was done.
Also, a total of N409,500 was spent on BVN validation charges, according to a post on their Instagram handle. BVN validation was a prerequisite before any payment was approved.
Although it lasted 11 days, disbursements were only done on working days of the week.
Parting words
In its farewell statement, the group said, “We do not buy into the “government vs private sector” narrative – both sides must work together.” It also promised that the tech community would continue to “build solutions that create jobs, build a wider umbrella, and reduce needless suffering.”
