President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, declared that government edged forward in promoting sustainable development by creating a digital application, Eyemark.

The application enables citizens to monitor and evaluate capital projects in real-time, with access to information on stakeholders, including contract terms and contractors.

Buhari, who launched the application at the Council Chamber of the State House, said the innovation would help to forestall abandonment of projects, as all stakeholders, like communities, civil society organisations, contractors, ministries, departments, and agencies, and citizens would continually interact on one platform.

The President said Eyemark will provide regular update on the status of capital projects across the country, through bottom-up interactive processes, including knowing the cost, structure, benefit, and framework for maintenance after completion.

He said: “The Eyemark application tackles the two major constraints we have faced as a country in our monitoring and evaluation efforts. Eyemark introduces a digital approach to monitoring and evaluation and gives ministries, departments and agencies the ability to harness geospatial and project implementation data on a continuous basis.”

In his remarks, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, said the Eyemark project was inspired by monitoring and evaluation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the “homegrown and nationally coordinated” application had transited government from the era of “earmarking” projects, with little or no monitoring tools, to “eye marking”, where all stakeholders will be fully involved at every stage.