Category: Nigeria

Adedeji Olowe shies from politics but has tons of opinions about Nigeria. He’s passionate and stakes his future here.

How do I accept payments on my website? Part 2

In my last post, I mused about finding a simple way to accept payments on a website. That is a nebulous statement, and it is as fuzzy as any nebulous cloud could be. Coincidentally one of my friends (not sure if this merchant is actually a friend. Let’s say that’s it) came up to run along on this experiment.

So last Saturday, I locked myself up to decide on what I really want to do. I came up with this chicken list:

  1. This is a fashion website. To sell some pieces of pretty rags to anyone willing to part with cash before seeing the merchandize (merchandize are things merchants sell)
  2. The website must be able to accept all payment cards irrespective of country of issue. If this is not possible, at least we must accept Nigerian plastics.
  3. No additional registration would be required upfront. Just select goods, fish out card, input details, and bingo, goods show up at the door.
  4. The whole shebang shouldn’t cost ten arms and 5 legs.
  5. Must be easy to set up (No Ph.D. in hair-pulling) and to support

Upfront, I have decided to use Magento. Magento is an open-source (read free!) shopping engine that can be easily deployed. Well, that is what another friend who’s used it said. In this business, it is important to ask around sometimes. You can learn shiploads against trial by error.

Magento can be easily hosted, or I can use Magento Go, a simple hosted solution that I can pay per month. I haven’t decided on which to use. While Magento Go is tempting about the ease of deployment, what I need to confirm is if I would be able to muck around the codes for the integration I want to do.

That is another thought for next weekend.

How do I accept payments on my website? Part 1

I have had the misfortune of having to explain to a few of my friends over the last few weeks that selling cards (or urging customers to part with their cash using plastics) are not the same as accepting payments on websites.

Nigeria is going through a financial transformation where the CBN itself is at the forefront of electronic payment. That really sucks. I mean, CBN? What about all the fancy banks who blow their hollow trumpets about being the first in this or that.

Back to my rants.

The big question is if I were to have a website today, how do I get my customers, or visitors, or maybe church members to pay for something online? Those were actually the questions my friends wanted answers for. Nobody really asked me to go into a sugar-fueled ranting about nothingness.

So, in my next post, we would walk that journey together hoping to find where it leads us.

Another Weekend Crash

After getting a 5+ year respite from plane crashes, Nigeria was again thrown into turmoil last weekend. First a Nigerian cargo plane went down in Ghana, then a suicide bomber and worst of it all, a Dana Air (Flight 992) plane fell out of the sky on a building minutes to landing.

Sad indeed.

One curious thing about this though, the last major air disasters in Nigeria all happened on a weekend. Check this out.

Could it be that everyone involved with air safety just tunes off during the weekend, thinking only of the “miliki” ahead?

Driven by faith, Government hikes electricity tariff

Electricity prices will take a leap, not necessarily of faith, on June 1, 2012 as government is saying we need that to attract investors.

Now that is faith which is an evidence of things not seen as I haven’t seen anything this government, and the ones before, have done even when they tell us to just believe. Would you call our government faith healers who dispense anguish to cure the malaise called irregular power supply?

But then what can I do? Maybe load up on electricity and see how long I can ride the cheap prices until realities catch up with me.

Cement versus Asphalt: The next bout could be in Lagos

The Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (considering their acrimonious relationship, I wonder how they managed to form a group) and Business Day Newspaper are stumping for a conference to promote concrete as an alternative to road paving.

In Nigeria, even unborn babies know that our major issues are beyond electricity or lack of it (babies get cooked in the tummy from the heat) but also bad leaders, insecurity, bad roads and mosquitoes. At least if the roads are good, one can always make a speedy escape from aspiring Boko Harams.

When I say the roads are terrible, believe me, I’m wrong. We don’t even have roads. What we have is a spaghetti network of butchery stretching across the nation. Millions (I didn’t count) have lost their lives from unwarranted accidents.

While the nation points accusing fingers at the government for non-repairs, the few that manage to catch the rare fix get damaged pretty fast because the asphalt paving don’t last. This is where concrete comes in. Concrete last longer than bitumen, and have some additional qualities such as:

  • Concrete lasts longer with less need for maintenance and repair. In fact, studies show that concrete Interstate highways around the U.S. last about 2.5 times longer on average than asphalt Interstate highways.
  • Lower cost for vehicles. Heavy trucks get up to 20% better mileage on concrete.
  • Concrete is quiet.
  • Concrete is safer from better skid control, better visibility at night, etc.
  • Concrete is environmentally friendly as it doesn’t release foul chemicals.
  • Concrete can be made to be pretty snazzy with different colors and designs..

Concrete roads are common in North America (and some parts of UNILAG):  frat boys have been skidding on these roads without repairs since 1962. Can you beat that? The new asphalt overlay, funded by a World Bank loan on Ikorodu road didn’t even last 4 hours.

Typical road reconstruction for 2 lane 7 meter per lane road is about $450K per kilometer (if a dual carriage, multiply by 2 and if 3 lane dual carriage, by 3). Asphalt overlay will set a governor back by $133K per kilometer. A brand-new construction is a different kettle of fish, it cost about $1.5M per kilometer. By the way, should the Western Avenue reconstruction for 2 kilometers of Lagos Bahn cost N7B?

The interesting thing is if governments can adopt concrete, then there is going to be a real boon for cement makers. Will that drive up the price or down? That depends on capacity. But if prices inch up too much, you can be sure that road makers and others will soon hit the import market.

Either way, concrete road should give us longer lasting and better roads.