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The Nigerian Internet Estate – The Myths, Facts and the Reality I (online FOREX Trading)

As a follow up to my previous posts on this blog, I’ll continue to assert the fact that Nigeria is a force to be reckoned with as regards every known endeavor on the face of this planet called Earth, and the internet is no exception, it is left for the rest of the world most especially the United States to fathom this cold hard fact out. Well I would have titled this piece ‘the online conspiracies of the west against Nigeria’ well that would sound cynic and inane. It will look as we are beggars at the rich man’s table waiting for crumbs that falls off his table; when we are kings in the making. However, it has become imperative that we will take on destiny instead of waiting lazily for it to come beckoning at us. But do you know one thing my friend? Your destiny cannot come to you except you shrug off the ashes of defeat, rise to your feet, and then take what rightly belongs to you. Sorry if I have digressed from the main topic of the day, well I was trying to crave your indulgence as is always the case with me. Like I said earlier on, Nigeria remains the biggest internet estate and can compete favorably with India on the third world country category and in the real sense can give the west a run for their money; and as a member of cyber world is not immune to the fistful of online fallacies that pervades the internet daily. But I’ll only deal with this ill wind the as it concerns we Nigerian.

One thing that has remained obvious to we Nigerians especially those who wants to make a decent living doing decent business online is that we are greatly disadvantaged because of some pre-conceived notion of the developed economies against Africa and Nigeria in particular, but I wont dwell much on the bad side as an optimist but will deal on the possible and well established side as a realist. What do I mean by this? The internet has become a real estate and as such many people world wide are reaping the benefits of this innovation and smiling to the bank every other day, so my main concern is to get you acquainted with the common myth that pervades the internet daily and the obvious.

Recently, online FOREX TRADING has become a niche that every person with little or no experience on money matters wants to get involved in within a short period of time (most attend one to two days seminar) and want to start reaping from it, stop! I’ll love to ask, why is it that we still have few people that are rich from trading FOREX with all the hype associated with it? Well have you stooped to think this over? But my friend like I titled this article I’ll love to list the myths, facts and the reality of online FOREX trading. Personally I don’t trade FOREX but I know of an array of people who do; and from the fillers I get daily, it is not as rosy as it sounds. You loose money and you gain money, however the tendency of losing far out weighs that of gaining if you don’t know the fundamentals of the trade. Knowing the fundamentals is not some thing you gain the knowledge in 1, 2, 3 or even 7 days as those who advertise it in dailies will tell you. What the organizers of various FOREX seminars are after is to gain back what they have loosed trading through levying outrageous seminar fees on the participants. At the seminar they don’t take the time to explain the technical and fundamentals of the market, terms like pips, bull traps, Fibonacci analysis etc are not well explained: leaving the participant more confused than ever. But like I said earlier on, trading with no fore knowledge of the aforementioned points makes trading an experience not worth the venture.

Still on online FOREX trading, it will be unfair if I don’t mention the benefits of this online money making venture even if I’m not trading this very lucrative market (yet). Basically FOREX trading exceeds about 1.3 trillion dollars daily, so it will be mediocre of a person to jump into a market as large as this with no formal knowledge of the happenings. However ,it becomes expedient of the person to get fully into the know of this liquid market before getting his hands burnt in the process of wanting to make 100 pips a day as most of the self acclaimed FOREX experts promise you when you trade on their systems. Like I always do when posting any article, I try to make detailed research (even if I know little or not) before coming to press, and when I do it is in the form of a personal experience. While this FOREX rave reached fever pitch, every person wanted to tap into this market to reap bountifully; I decided to make my own in road. Daily, I hit every search engine on the net for a detailed report, I subscribed to every ezine, news letter, and every available publication that deals with the subject. From my findings I observed that the requirements of this market is quite tasking, however if all these requirements are met, the market is worth the venture, what are the requirements I’m talking of: they include a laptop computer connected to the internet; as you need this to enhance the mobility of the market, a domiciliary account, and a form of identity which could come in form of an international passport or national identity card and a plat form to trade on.

One day I saw an advert on a daily on a FOREX seminar that’ll last for about two days, and within these two days you will be taught all the basics required to start making between 30 to 40 pips daily (note: a pip is worth about 10 dollars). I did not attend the seminar as the seminar fee was too much, not that I can’t afford it but because the money was too much for a seminar that will last a couple of days. So I took the address of the FOREX firm and decided to pay them a visit and perhaps make more inquiries. On getting there I met a lady who looked more like a cleaner than a FOREX expert, as I was expecting to see a person who looked like those who work in wall street or if I want to sound modest like some one who works for one of the banks, then how can such a person teach me the basics of the trade for me to start making 50 pips every day!. I thought may be if she really is an expert as she claims, I figure she should be making good money as a FOREX expert and at least look good for her troubles. Is not like I’m saying that there aren’t people here in Nigeria who are doing good trading FOREX, but what I’m saying is that they are very few, this is the fact and the sooner it downs on you the better. I don’t want to sound cynical but in this business is very good for you to be very truthful to your audience, telling them the reality of every situation, instead of leading them falsely by reporting fallacies and stuff.

On the contrary, FOREX trading is a niche and can not be ignored as it has enriched many Nigerians (the few who know the rudiments of the business) as I know of a guy who takes home close to 30 to 40 pips any time he trades, do you know his secret? He sells when others are buying, and sells when others are buying. He knows where to make his stop loss and quit when it really mattered, he understands the basic trends mostly the fundamental, since with it you have a clue as to how the currencies are performing in the market relative to how the various big economies are faring. One other fact in relation to a myth pervading the scenario is that FOREX is not a vocation as the ‘experts’ will tell you. It is not some thing you do on a part time basis; rather I will say it is more of a career, since most traders do it full time. Why this is so is that you can dwell on a chart a whole day waiting for a favorable signal to begin trading, while you are in your office waiting for the required signal, your boss will be telling the secretary to prepare your sack letter and pay-off. But if you learn the ropes you work smart as a FOREX trader, knowing the best times to trade; then you can jolly well make it a vocation, rather than a career as earlier speculated. The secret is that most FOREX traders don’t trade every day. This is another fact, you only trade when there are auspicious signs. Another secret is contentment (avoid being unnecessarily greedy), when you make a good move that gives you 20 to 30 pips, is usually advisable to quit at that juncture even if you see another favorable trend. Usually such trends end with you losing the money you already made. So be careful, as it could be very enticing as well as deceitful

The fact about this market is that you make money if you avoid bull traps and interpret the market trends both fundamental and technical, looking at the charts, knowing when to buy and when to sell, knowing the best currency pair (e.g. euro/dollar), knowing when to enter and when to quit and Fibonacci analysis. If you get your self acquainted with all these, then your venture into this market will be worth the while, on the contrary the myth is that you don’t, make 30-40 pips daily by just taking part in a 2 day seminar or workshop as most will call it, most self acclaimed experts introduce you to robots that trade on your behalf, well the truth about robots is that they only function according to how they are programmed. Most robots are programmed using technical analysis, but this market is very volatile and economic trends in most leading economies especially the US can affect the market negatively or positively, for example the recent recession so experienced in the US resulted into a weak dollar and like a virus it spread to other economy especially the Euro zone and Japan: so if your robot was programmed following the reverse you can figure out what happens. The reality here is that you can only make it in FOREX when you master the ropes of the market as it has been noted that about 90 percent of those who go into FOREX exit after a short period of venturing. The fact then is that FOREX trading can be lucrative as well unprofitable. Which ever side of the divide you belong the choice is yours. But I assure you that you can make a difference if you believe in your self, since many plat forms reject registration from Nigeria (another western conspiracy), for example FXSOL no longer accepts registration from Nigeria. So it is left to you to decide how to take this market by storm as I promise to give frequent updates as regards my online experiences since I’ve decided to join the trend of Nigerians making dollars form FOREX trading.

Feel free to post your comments and views on this topic, you can also get a free FOREX manual by one of the world’s best FOREX experts, contact me by email if you are in need of this manual, it is free of charge and will come as an email attachment sent free of charge to your box. You can also get e-books on how to build your internet empire for a token fee, more so many freebies are also included like the e-book ‘as a man thinketh’ by James Allen and another free e-book by Wallace D Wattles titled ‘the science of getting rich’. Just contact me via email for these rich books that will enrich your online money making experience.

Government Intervention and the Nigerian Economy: Present, Past and Future

For most of its existence since independence in 1960, economic development in Nigeria has been determined by state planning and direct government participation. Inclement policies pursued by successive military regimes amid the rough of tumble of Nigeria’s chaotic past resulted in massive macroeconomic imbalances that are still inherent to Nigeria. The country’s historically agrarian economy was transformed almost overnight with the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves, forcing a culpable overdependence on hydrocarbons that eventually blocked economic diversification. The oil boom of the 1970s brought further devastation to agriculture and traditional livelihoods and ushered in massive unemployment and food shortages across the country. Human development indices had plunged to among of the lowest in the world by the turn of the 20th Century, and the ‘Nigerian Paradox’ of extreme poverty despite substantial national wealth was born. Even today, 54% of Nigeria’s 148 million people live in extreme poverty on a daily income of less than $11.

Government intervention in the economy during military rule was mostly characterised by sporadic and often ill-informed policies that delivered meagre, if any, results. The IMF-funded Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of 1986 was one of the first attempts to relax decades of economic regulation. However, there was little domestic consensus on measures outlined in the programme and the tough market reforms that the state of the economy demanded never really came through. Bureaucratic incompetence and corruption were largely to blame for this bad experience in reforms which also strained Nigeria’s relations with international financial organisations including the World Bank. Some positive signs emerged in the mid 1990s, when trade liberalisation brought down tariff rates and import dependence while opening up the economy to foreign investors. Further, Abuja revoked laws allowing monopoly public sector enterprises in petroleum, telecommunications and power to encourage private participation in important areas. These measures together helped push GDP growth up to 2.5% between 1993 and 1997, reversing an average decline of 2% registered over earlier years2. However, the recovery came at the price of low growth in the non-oil economy, which continued to flounder amid falling demand and low liquidity.

The peaceful transition to civilian governance in 1999 brought with it relative political stability and paved the way for a more aggressive set of reforms. A resurgent Nigeria signed the UN Millennial Declaration for universal basic human rights by 2015 and adopted ambitious plans for accelerated economic growth in a time-bound manner. A number of positive developments have occurred in the Nigerian economy since 2001:

* Under former President O Obasanjo, the government embarked on a massive privatisation drive, disinvesting in several major oil, steel, mining and port operations.

* International reserves saw healthy growth from $41 billion in 2006 to well over $52 billion in 2009. The average inflation rate dropped from close to 18% in 2005 to 11% in 20083.

* Nigerian lawmakers enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Bill in 2007, institutionalising the deregulation of oil prices. A Public Procurement Bill was also passed the same year.

* In 2004, a bank consolidation plan was executed to strengthen financial institutions and improve their credit capacity for private sector businesses.

* Nigeria’s bulk of outstanding foreign debt was conditionally waived off by the London and Paris Clubs, allowing for increased government spending on poverty alleviation programmes.

Perhaps the most optimistic of recent signs have been observed in the non-oil sector, which doubled since 2001 and currently accounts for 7% of GDP. Another success story is the revival of agriculture and its growth to 42% of GDP by 2008. Although oil continues to be the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, contributing 85% of all revenues, recent governments have wizened up to the idea that the country’s tall ambitions cannot be fulfilled without rapid economic diversification. The answer, given the country’s abundant human capital and natural resources, is rapid business development in the SME space. Nigeria has a great opportunity and an even greater obligation to foment an enterprise revolution that will radically transform its economic landscape.

The following are some of the broad parameters Nigeria must be guided by while formulation economic policy interventions in this regard:

* Creating a central body with responsibility to coordinate all policies relating to start-ups and existing enterprises.

* Creating a mass base of viable enterprises across the non-oil economy by promoting private sector equity participation.

* Reinforcing micro-finance institutions to enhance loan-disbursement capacity for small businesses.

* Cutting down on high operating costs with tax breaks and financial incentives directed at entrepreneurs.

* Removing institutional deterrents that lead most new and emerging enterprises to operate in the informal economy.

* Improving technical support for rural enterprises that continue to operate using outdated practices.

* Improving entrepreneurial productivity through tertiary skills development and vocational training programmes.

Given the vagaries of its economic history, Africa’s second largest economy faces tremendous hurdles in securing a better place for itself in global rankings. Nigeria has not had a particularly impressive track record in terms of timely economic intervention, as the gathering banking crisis demonstrates. What Nigeria needs today are aggressive, pro-active policies that have the full benefit of both its past experiences and its future aspirations!

Fraud in Nigerian Crude Oil Selling: Authenticating The Crude Allocation and Documents by Oil Buyers

HOW DO YOU ASSURE THAT A NIGERIAN CRUDE OIL SELLER’S ALLOCATION OR DOCUMENT IS AUTHENTIC OR GENUINE?

This observation by the research report on the subject, done by the Africans in America News Watch, a New York based non-profit organization, in August 2010, sums up the issue:

“There are many genuine crude oil sellers in Nigeria but the problem is getting the real and verifiable ones. Crude Oil trade is a booming and thriving business and many people seem to want to go into it. Buyers from other countries contact sellers in Nigeria in order to buy Nigerian Crude Oil. [But the business is now full of]… scammers on the prowl.” It adds that “There are lots of crude oil sellers in Nigeria, but the challenge there is the ability to find genuine and verifiable sellers.”

In point of fact, as this author has amply documented elsewhere in another study, the assertion that in the arcane world of international crude oil buying and selling today the landscape is literally littered and crawling with fraudsters and scammers, is now a well-established, well-settled truth about which there can hardly be any serious argument or disputation in the contemporary international oil buying and selling industry.

In consequence, given that stark REALITY that “there are many genuine crude oil sellers in Nigeria but the problem is getting the real and verifiable ones,” the big million dollar question is this: AS A CRUDE BUYER, HOW THEN DO YOU GET THOSE SELLERS FROM AMONG THE WHOLE LOT WHO ARE THE “REAL AND VERIFIABLE” ONES?

THE KEY? Most experts, in the case of Nigeria, say that basically you (the crude buyer) would have to demand and insist on the purported Seller showing you AUTHENTIC documentation and other proofs of having genuine BLCO and FLCO allocation from the Nigerian NNPC, as well as proof that that product is still currently availability. (For Nigeria, the NNPC, which stands for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, is a Federal government-owned company that administers the buying and selling of petroleum, including giving allocation to genuine sellers of the crude oil in Nigeria).

THE KEY DOCUMENTS IN NIGERIAN CRUDE OIL BUYING/SELLING INDUSTRY

There are some key documents that are crucial in the purchasing of the Nigerian crude oil transactions. They will include the following documents, among others:

– Seller’s shipping documents, such as: Clean Ocean Bill of Lading; Seller’s Commercial Invoice

– Seller’s Proof of Product (will comprise the License to Export & the Approval to Export, issued by the country’s government, statement of Availability of the Product, Port Storage Agreement, etc)

– SGS/Sayboat Certificate of Quantity and Quality issued at the loading port

– Certificate of Origin issued by the NNPC

– Certificate of Authenticity issued by the NNPC

– Charter Party Agreement on the vessel, issued to the charterer of the vessel and presumably showing that the vessel is actually chartered in the designated Seller’s name

– the Q88 questionnaire, filled out by the managers of the vessel providing the relevant information and specs of the vessel;

– Etc.

PROOF OF PRODUCT

Probably the most important document of all that a crude buyer may need to see from the seller, is the proper Proof of Product (POP). This document, which has to be one issued by the appropriate department of the NNPC in Abuja, Nigeria, serves as a clear indication to a crude buyer that the owner of the oil commodity has true possession of the product, and also serves as an indication that, at least as at the time of the transaction (but only at that time), the seller has the commodity available for sale.

IMPORTANT: It should not just be any form of POP, however. It needs to be one that is in a format that will enable satisfactory verification to ascertain that it is valid and authentic. Based on this writer’s research, to ensure the optimum likelihood that this goal can be attained, there are basically two types of POP documents that are acceptable, and none others, and only sellers whose POP documents meet those “preferred” POP documents standards, ought to be entertained or attended to.

THE POP MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS.

A). It must have the Loaded vessel documents that are CURRENT (that is, must not be more than 2 days old, otherwise the document will immediately be rejected as it may mean that the vessel is no longer available), and should include the following documents:

i. A Current Authority to Board (ATB). Seller must provide, for the buyer’s inspection, the ATB that was specifically issued to the initial buyer (consignee) of the crude in whose name the vessel was issued. The name on the ATB must match exactly with the name on the POP and other documents named here. And, here again, the ATB MUST be CURRENT – that is, it must be no more than 2 days old. (An ATB that is more than 2 days old, should be automatically be viewed as representing a vessel which is no longer available and hence not acceptable).

ii. Certificate of quality.

iii. Certificate of origin

iv. Cargo manifest

v. Vessel ullage report

vi. Certificate of quantity.

vii. Bill of lading

viii. ATS (Authority to Sell) from the NNPC

B) PROVIDE THE PARTICULARS OF THE VESSEL.

Generally, the Buyer may require (and hence the Seller must be willing and ready to release them), vessel particulars such as the following: the name of the vessel, location of the vessel, the IMO name, call sign and other vessel details. The reason this is required is so the buyer can do the tracking of the said loaded vessel, and to ascertain its current availability.

C) PROVIDE THESE DOCUMENTS, ALSO, FROM THE NNPC

As in the case of the POP which reputable buyers’ facilitating outfits like the Reliable Dealings International require from any AWR seller before they can begin to do business with them, the other things that may often be required from a seller, would include the following:

= the Lifting Lease/License from the NNPC, and

= the Letter of Authority to Sell (ATS) from the NNPC. The Letter of Authority to Sell, also called a Letter of Allocation, which should usually come from the NNPC’s Crude Oil Marketing Department, is basically the official document which shows the buyer that the seller actually has the authority from the official government agency for the crude product that he’s selling. (Must usually be in a paper format and on NNPC company letterhead; must contain the date of issue and expiration date, and be signed. Scanned copies of document are alright. All documents must be certified, valid, authentic and verifiable.)

= If, for example, the seller claims that the cargo has been cleared, then he should usually be able to provide the CPA (Charter Party Agreement), the ATL (Authority To Load), and Q88 vessel details.

ALRIGHT, BUT HOW DO YOU ASSURE THAT THESE DOCUMENTS ARE AUTHENTIC?

OK, so let’s say you’ve assembled the proper Proof of Product and the other essential documents such as those that are outlined above. There’s one key, in deed critical, question that still remains for you – how do you assure that these documents you’ve gotten from the seller are even any good? That they are real, valid, AUTHENTIC and GENUINE to warrant your taking the Seller’s offer seriously?

This question is, perhaps, often the most critical for a buyer because, as a rule, most fraudsters and con artists who operate in the Nigerian crude oil industry, are simply masterful forgers and copiers of every bit of the legitimate industry documents that are used in selling and buying operations by refineries and government agencies, and who are highly skilled at the craft. Consequently, buyers are strictly wary never, ever to accept outright at face value or be ever fooled by, any document submitted by sellers or claims made by them, however seemingly convincing or real-looking!. And what it all means, is that one crucial facility that a crude oil buyer and his aides must quickly develop and have, are some good, fool-proof, tools or skills by which they can INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY the authenticity of at least the key, most significant pieces of documents from among the tons of documents that sellers and their agents will often present them in the course of hawking their products. And, above all, that they must have the skills and the knowledge and business sophistication to be able to detect which ones among such documents are genuine and legitimate, and which ones might be plain bogus.

To be sure, making such verification and confirmation may often be problematic for a buyer. However, it is not really that difficult a task, at least for the schooled and experienced eyes. You only need to know what and what to look for, the right questions to ask, and how to counter check and cross check facts and information. And, in any case, whenever in serious doubt about the authenticity of a document, you should always take the path of caution – ask for more proof, or even reject the offer, depending on the particular facts at issue in an offer.

FOR A FOLLOW UP

YOU WANT TO FOLLOW UP ON HOW YOU CAN ASSURE THAT A NIGERIAN CRUDE OIL SELLER’S ALLOCATION OR DOCUMENT IS AUTHENTIC OR GENUINE?

Please see the instructional information in the author’s resource box below

Industry Analysis – Nigerian Mobile Telco

Introduction

Nigerian Mobile Telco has been referred to as the fastest growing market in Africa. Nigerian telecoms came into mainstream in 2001 when the deregulation of the subsector of the economy gave way to the private involvement. The telecommunication system was opened up with the issuance of Global System for mobile communication (GSM) unified license in 2001. GSM license in Nigeria cost about US$285million. Nigerian Telecommunication (NITEL) was the only operator in the market before 2001 with subscribers of about 500,000 from a population of 140 million.

The deregulation usher in telecom players like MTN, Glo Mobile, Zain formerly Celtel, Etisalat, Visafone, Multilinks, Starcomm and Zoom formerly Reltel. The telecom regulator in Nigeria is Nigerian Telecommunication Commission (NCC), with reference to NCC Act 2003; 3-(1) “There is established of a commission to be known as Nigerian Telecommunications Commission with responsibility for the regulation of the telecommunication sector in Nigeria”.

Product/ market Segmentation

The market is divided into urban and semi-urban, and rural market. Tele density in the urban is about 65% while semi urban is about 45% and rural is less than 15%. Product Segmentation is GSM and CDMA.

Major Players

MTN, Zain, Glo and Etisalat control the GSM market. While Visafone, Multilinks, Starcomm and Zoom formerly Reltel are CDMA product segment. The market share of these major mobile telecoms are MTN-40.54%, Zain- 30.20%, Glo Mobile-28.11 and Etisalat- 0.7%, M-Tel Mobile phone business of NITEL-0.45%. While Visafone leads the CDMA market, follow by Multilinks, Starcomms, and Zoom.

Fig.1. Market shares (percentage of total subscriptions)

Factors affecting the industry

o Infrastructure

o High demand

o Frequency problem

o Regulatory institution (NCC)

o Inadequate base station

o Large market

o Economic sabotage

o Interconnectivity problem

o Quality of Service-Due to the problem of capacity constraint

Product Differentiation

The telecom operators offer similar products with slight difference such as

– CDMA and GSM- Voice Service

– VAS; SMS, mobile news, online banking, music, data card, etc

– With diverse product differentiation, voice is the main source of income for Telco in Nigeria.

Growth in the Industry

Nigeria has maintained its lead as African’s largest telecom market with active subscribers of about 65million relegating South Africa to second place with about 45million subscribers. From a bit above 500,000 NITEL fixed wire line and mobile subscribers in 2001. The industry grew to over 7million subscribers in 2004; in December 2008 the subscribers in the market grew to 62.99million. An addition of 22.59 million subscribers in 2008 alone represented 56% annual growth rate. Recent figure as at January 2009 put the subscribers’ base at 64.16. While GSM subscribers are in the range of 57million, CDMA subscription in Nigeria grew from just 380,000 in 2007 to more than 6million at the end of 2008. The country intelligent report on Nigeria by Pyramid research stated that the market grew by 23% with total industry revenue of US$8.42billion. With mobile penetration of 42% revenue will increase to US$11.14billion by 2013 with forecasted annual increase of 5.7%. The telecom market has been named the largest mobile market in Africa. Tele density of 0.73% in 2001 has steadily increase over the year to 33.72% as at December 2006 and about 45% aggregate in December 2008. The current market installed capacity is 117.892 million as at December 2008. The mobile industry ARPU in 2003 was around US$54 per month but as at 2008 December was US$13.

Demand in the Industry

There is increase in demand due to;

o Population explosion in urban cities and metropolis

o Business purpose- Growth in SMEs

o Improved Banking operations

o Competition-The opening up of the market to competition in all segments of the industry has resulted in major drop in price for telecommunications services.

o VAS

o Business expansion by the operator- CAPEX and OPEX investment in the industry

o Infrastructure sharing

o Interconnectivity

o Fall in cost of subscription- Pre 2001, NITEL mobile cost above #60,000 per line, after the issuance of GSM license from mid 2001, it cost #20,000 per line, and today, this figure has fallen to almost zero. Tariff for calls on GSM network was #50 per minutes, today as low as #25 per minute (mobile to mobile). CDMA and fixed wireless tariff is even much lower.

Supply level in the Industry

o The supply as regards the product availability is encouraging compared to about 4 years ago but in terms of service and customer satisfaction is the opposite

o The market is still dominated by the market leader MTN

o Infrastructure in short supply

Benefit of Mobile telecommunication Operation in Nigeria

o Create competition in the telecommunications industry

o Privatization of Government owned telecom entities

o Telecommunication becoming affordable to the ordinary Nigerians

o Increased accessibility to telecom services

o Rural telecommunication project is encouraged

o Increase revenue generation for the government

o Creation of employment opportunity in Nigeria

Conclusion and Recommendation

The telecom industry in Nigeria is a goldmine; the development of telecom in Nigeria is so rapid and gives the investors quick ROI more than what they could imagine. The regulatory body (NCC) has to do a lot in Nigeria telecom development such as the issue of frequency or spectrum allocation, also the SIM registration is taken effect from July 2009 as well as the number portability which is scheduled to take effect from May 29 2009. If these are done well and successfully, the subscribers will have another story to tell compare to what is happening presently in the industry which is characterized by high drop calls and economic sabotage among the major players vis-à-vis the Nigerian Telecommunications Commission. Federal government should also look into the problem of social infrastructure such as electricity because this has increased CAPEX and OPEX of the telecoms operators in Nigeria.

Telecommunication service providers should expand their coverage beyond urban areas unto rural areas as most rural areas of the country are still without telecommunications network coverage.

Rapid roll out of network resources such as base station and switches, which should result in improved quality of service; by improving on their transmission infrastructure across the country, optical fiber and microwave transmission lines should be constructed.

PayGate: The Credit Card Processing Company of Choice For Many Nigerian Businesses

Nigeria, once a country that was unable to make internet purchases or sell products online due to credit processing companies being scarce, now has a booming internet sales business. PayGate has helped pave the road for on line credit card processing in not only Nigeria, but other areas of Africa as well. PayGate started small over a decade ago and today is a leader in the industry and the choice for many business owners when it comes to credit card processing needs.

PayGate

PayGate is considered by many to be the preferred credit card processing provider in Nigeria. They are noted for having top notch customer service and quality products. They hire only the best when it comes to IT workers and their systems are monitored around the clock so that businesses can feel confident in using them for their credit card processing provider.

PayGate Recognized by Leading Banks

In Nigeria and South Africa, PayGate leads the industry in on line credit card processing. The company, according to their website, has been accredited by all major South African Banks who recommend PayGate to their business customers.

PayGate Offers A Variety Of Services

PayGate offers customers a variety of services and according to their company website they offer the following products:

PayPoint – merchants can put through card payments or pay suppliers on the internet. This is a password protected ‘back office’ facility. It is ideal for call center use.
PayBatch – merchants can process multiple card payments in batches.
PayWeb – clients can sell products and services from their website.
PaySubs – recurring payments like subscriptions can be automatically programmed for processing.
PayBill – you can send out and get your invoices to customers paid by them with the simple click of a button.
XML-service– for technically literate clients who demand total control, this facility allows your development team to customize your interface to PayGate in any way you prefer.

Additional Features of PayGate

In addition to the basic service features, PayGate also offers customers the following when it comes to their products and services:

· Fast transaction speeds.

· Easy integration into your current billing system.

· Quick to set up and get running for your business.

· Payment from customers is simple and customers have multiple payment options.

· An on-line data base that is secure and accessible for your business 24/7. This allows you to easily access client payments.

· Multiple user functions. You can allow multiple employees access to your account. Additionally, you can restrict areas that you do not want them to have access to.

Items Not Valid for Foreign Exchange (FX) in the Nigerian FX Markets

In an attempt to sustain the stability of the Foreign Exchange (FX) Market and ensure efficient utilization of Foreign Exchange for the derivation of optimum benefits from goods and services imported into Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently issued a new directive in a circular it distributed.

The directive exempts some imported goods and services from the list of items eligible to access FX at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange markets in order to foster and support local production of these items in the country.

The implication of this development is that importers desiring to import any of the items listed in the aforementioned CBN’s directive would be required to source for FX funds without any recourse to the Nigerian Foreign Exchange market (Interbank market and BBN Intervention).

The list of the affected items are outlined below but may be reviewed as the need arises. However, please note that the importation of these items are not banned.

The items include the following:

Rice

Cement

Margarine

Palm kernel/Palm oil products/vegetables oils

Meat and processed meat products

Vegetables and processed vegetable products

Poultry chicken, eggs, turkey

Private air-planes/jets

Indian incense

Tinned fish in sauce(Geisha)/sardines

Cold rolled steel sheets

Galvanized steel sheets

Roofing sheets

Wheelbarrows

Head pans

Metal boxes and containers

Enamelware

Steel drums

Steel pipes

Wire rods(deformed and not deformed)

Iron rods and reinforcing bard

Wire mesh

Steel nails

Security and razor wine

Wood particle boards and panels

Wood Fibre Boards and Panels

Plywood boards and panels

Wooden doors

Toothpicks

Glass and Glassware

Kitchen utensils

Tableware

Tiles-vitrified and ceramic

Textiles

Woven fabrics

Clothes

Plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules, cellophane wrappers

Soap and cosmetics

Tomatoes/tomato pastes

Eurobond/foreign currency bond/ share purchases

In our view, we understand Share Purchases (item 40 in the list) to be referring to Nigerians who access the foreign exchange market to invest in foreign securities and not foreign investors who inflow funds into Nigeria for the purposes of investment.

The CBN stated this was in a bid to sustain the stability of the foreign exchange market and ensure the efficient utilization of foreign exchange whilst encouraging local production of these items. The CBN also stated clearly that importation of these items are not banned, however importers of these items shall do so using their own funds without recourse to the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Markets.

The implication of this is that there will be reduced demand on the official market which means reduced pressure on the official FX market. However, there will be increased pressure on the parallel Market (Bureau de Change). The gap between the parallel and the official market will widen and the rate for dollars in the parallel market will increase. This will also lead to an increase in the cost of these items locally for consumers and ultimately inflation.