Energy Subsidy Programme: Designing Trust at Scale
A comprehensive digital platform serving millions of Nigerians with government energy subsidies
- Government Services
- Offline-First
- Multi-Stakeholder
Overview
Millions of individuals rely on public platforms for services, but managing these services can be complex and inefficient. Before the platform launch, applying for assistance was slow, confusing, and opaque, with beneficiaries struggling to track their status and agents overwhelmed by manual ticket handling. Administrators lacked effective tools to monitor platform activities and manage users efficiently.
As the Lead Product Designer, my task was to create a platform that provided admins with an overview of activities, easy beneficiary and user management, and a streamlined support ticket system. The platform needed to automate qualification criteria, manage role-based access, and ensure beneficiaries had clear visibility of their progress, including a simplified recharge flow. The goal was to design a seamless experience for all users—admins, agents, and beneficiaries.
Problem Statement
The Energy Subsidy Programme faced critical challenges across multiple user groups, each with distinct needs and pain points that required a comprehensive digital solution.
Key challenges included:
- Beneficiaries: Confusing application process, long wait times, and lack of status transparency
- Field Agents: Poor network coverage leading to duplicate data entry and inefficient workflows
- Call Center Staff: Overwhelmed with repetitive status inquiries and lack of unified information access
- Data Analysts: Manual data processing with huge CSV files and lack of real-time insights
- Policymakers: Outdated, incomplete data preventing timely decision-making
- System Integration: Multiple disconnected systems causing data inconsistencies and workflow inefficiencies
Immersive Research & Discovery
From the start, I knew this project could not be solved by sitting at my desk. I went where the work was happening to understand the real challenges faced by every role in the system.
- Field Agent Shadowing – Rode along with field agents visiting rural households, observing them balancing clipboards, pens, and mobile phones in areas with weak or no internet. When connections dropped, they reverted to paper forms—doubling their workload.
- Call Center Observation – Listened in on call centre staff answering endless variations of the same question: “What‘s my status?“ Most callers didn‘t understand the difference between “application received“ and “approved.“
- Data Analyst Interviews – Observed data analysts struggling with huge CSV files that contained far more data than they needed. They spent hours filtering and re-filtering the same fields each week.
- Policy Maker Sessions – Sat with federal policymakers trying to compare state performance using incomplete, outdated charts. They wanted answers quickly, but the tools forced them to export data to Excel, clean it manually, and build their own comparisons.
Key Insights & Design Strategy
Each research session revealed a frustration—and a design opportunity. I translated these insights into specific design moves that would address the core challenges while building trust across all user groups.
- Offline-First Forms: Agents wasted hours re-entering data after network outages → Forms that sync automatically once back online
- Status as a Story: Beneficiaries felt stuck in “pending limbo“ with vague updates → Plain-language updates that explain the stage and next steps
- Multi-Panel Comparisons: Analysts couldn‘t compare regions quickly without manual work → Dashboard comparisons right in the interface
- One-Click Replacement Flow: Lost card replacement process was unclear → Streamlined flow with visible delivery estimates
- Saved Filter Sets: Analysts repeatedly filtered massive datasets → Saved filter sets and column picker for efficient data export
Design Process
I followed a comprehensive design process that prioritized understanding the unique needs of each user group while ensuring the platform could scale nationwide. The process involved creating role-specific journeys, designing tailored dashboards, and building a scalable design system.
- Role-Specific Journey Mapping: Created detailed user journeys for each stakeholder group to understand their unique workflows and pain points
- Offline-First Architecture: Designed forms and interfaces that work seamlessly in low-connectivity environments
- Tailored Dashboard Design: Built specialized interfaces for beneficiaries, field agents, call center staff, and policymakers
- Scalable Design System: Developed a comprehensive component library for nationwide rollout
- Technical Feasibility Collaboration: Worked closely with engineers to ensure the design could be implemented in challenging conditions
Solutions
I designed a comprehensive digital platform that addresses the unique needs of every stakeholder while building trust and ensuring reliability in challenging environments. The solution focuses on creating intuitive, accessible interfaces that work for everyone from rural grandmothers to federal policymakers.
Most government systems show a cold, one-word status: “Pending.“ We replaced that with plain, friendly updates that explain the stage and next steps. The beneficiary dashboard provides clear, human-readable status messages that build trust and reduce anxiety, leading to fewer support calls.
Agents manage tickets with a unified view of conversations, quick access to features, and the knowledge base for efficient resolution. Beneficiaries enjoy a seamless recharge process and are guided through registration with a progress indicator.
Admins and support agents can track beneficiary and agent activities through a comprehensive table with detailed profiles, while also using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to create incentive distribution mechanics, run simulations, and assess impact rates, streamlining workflows and optimizing decision-making.
Outcome & Impact
The Energy Subsidy Programme platform successfully transformed how millions of Nigerians access government support. By designing for trust and reliability, we created a system that works for everyone—from rural grandmothers to federal policymakers—while significantly improving efficiency and user satisfaction.
This project taught me that designing for government services isn‘t just about meeting requirements—it‘s about building trust. Every microcopy line, every form question, every dashboard chart is an opportunity to reassure the user: “We see you. We‘ve got you. You‘re in control.“ The best UX isn‘t just functional—it‘s reassuring.
