AMBASSADOR JOY OGWU LOSES HUSBAND

Prof. Joy Ogwu and her late husband, Dr. Aloysius C. Ogwu, M.D.

The news of the death of Dr. Aloysius C. Ogwu, M.D., husband of the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, Prof. Joy Ogwu, came to me as a shock.

The Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations made the announcement in a press release earlier today. The death occurred on Monday, October 27, 2014 in Rye, New York.  Dr. Aloysius was 77 years old.

Below is a press release from the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the U.N.:

“We regret to announce the death of Dr. Aloysius Ogwu on Monday, 27 October, 2014 in New York at the age of 77.

Dr. Ogwu was a distinguished Surgeon who retired as Chief Consultant Surgeon at the Military Hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos. He is survived by his wife, Prof. U. Joy Ogwu,

Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, five children, grand-children, sisters and brothers.

Burial arrangements will be announced by the family.

Permanent Mission of Nigeria tothe United Nations, New York
30 October, 2014″

Our fervent and earnest prayers for Prof. U Joy Ogwu and the entire Ogwu family avail much..

‪#‪#‎SAYNOTOMONOPOLY EXPOSITION OF THE DOUBLE STANDARD, DANGOTE AND SEPHAKU CEMENT

What will Dangote say if South Africa squeezes the business environment against Sephaku Cement?

It made very interesting news when it was announced that Nigeria’s Dangote Group was moving his sprawling investment machine into the South African market. For Nigerians, this was a huge announcement of how strong companies from this market can play in the global business environment. It presented the hope that in the near future, the very unfair trade and investment balance between Nigeria and South Africa would be addressed.

This is for very good reasons. In Nigeria, South African companies are doing great businesses, flying their country’s flag and boosting their economy from monies made from the Nigerian market. MTN, the telecom company that controls over 80 percent of the Nigerian market is South African. Last year alone, as earnings from other countries flagged, huge profits from Nigeria bolstered the books for the brand and enabled it stay atop as one of the most profitable companies on the continent. In fact, MTN joined the Forbes list of biggest companies in the world in the strength of its successes in the Nigerian market.

There are many other examples. Mulltichoice, the pay TV company is also South Africa  and has been a virtual monopoly in the Nigerian market, making frighteningly huge profits from its businesses here. Shoprite, South Africa’s budget supermarket chain is the biggest thing to happen in Nigeria’s shopping space. They are spreading everywhere and making more money in Nigeria in one year than they have ever made since their existence.

The list is endless and Nigerians have often worried that the economy would one day be totally at the mercy of South Africans. Hopes that Nigerian banks, which began massive continental expansion in the wake of the banking consolidation that Charles Soludo inspired in 2005, would also move into South Africa would not materialize. They were all intimidated by the sheers size of South African banks like Standard Bank, ABSA and so on.

It made very cheering news when on October 15, 2010, it was announced that a Nigerian company in the name of Dangote Cement was moving into the South African market. The investment, worth a staggering N11 billion ($71million) gave the Nigerian company 64 percent share of Sephaku and places them in pole position to compete fairly in the South African built industry.

Dangote’s Sephaku Cement range was tested and approved by the South African National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications, enabling the company to begin producing for the market. To-date it has secured significant sales volumes and its cement brand has been available at retail outlets in key South African cities like Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga since January 2014.

 It is interesting to note here that the regulatory authorities in South Africa did not ask Dangote to make the 42.5mpa grade for the South African market. Matter of fact, Dangote got approval for a “range” of cement grade, meaning that builders have their choices to make, depending on the type of construction they are undertaking. Those who are building homes would have the option of going for the regular 32.5mpa or the 42.5mpa. Those involved in construction of bridges face the same option.

What options would Dangote have faced if in the middle of their investment in 32.5mpa production line, South African regulators come out to tell him that the country have reviewed their grading system and have made the 32.5 grade unacceptable.

South Africa will not do that because they understand the values of each cement grade and builders in the country would also understand what cement to use in what kinds of buildings at what mix quantity.

It is therefore against any known civilized standards for the same company that is benefiting from the fair business codes and practices in other countries to come act in ways that suggest it wants to unfairly squeeze competition in its country of origin. Today, Dangote plays in a number of African countries and expects level playing fields as a business and as a foreign investor. If the governments of those countries in dubious connivance with the biggest indigenous player change the rules of the business game in the middle of huge investments, would Dangote be able to play?

Sephaku is a great export by Nigeria and should represent a landmark in the quest of Nigeria to fly its flag in the continent’s cross-border business and investments ecosystem. But if Sephaku becomes a reminder of double standards and unfair business practices, Nigeria as a nation will be the ultimate loser.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) must wake up in this regard. They must be compelled to tell Nigerians the true reasons they are insisting on banning the 32.5mpa grade of cement. The mischievous narrative about building collapse being directly connected to the 32.5mpa cement grade is unintelligent and smacks of ignorance on the part of an agency mandated to institute, preach and enforce standards in cement as in other products manufactured, sold and marketed in Nigeria.

‪#‎SAYNOTOMONOPOLY

INFO-GRAPHICS: THE 9 MOST DESPISED WORK PERSONALITIES

Regardless of their form, we can all identify a few frustrating work personalities who negatively impact productivity. Are you one of them?

THE #SAYNOTOMONOPOLY ADVOCACY GROUP WINNING THE FIGHT

It's been exactly 30days with a record 65MILLION impression when we started the fight against monopoly with the hashtag - #saynotomonopoly. According to our count, VICTORY is CERTAIN. Dawn is coming to the Cement Industry and the the copyright administrative system in Nigeria. This is to specially thank you all who made a decision to be the voice of the voiceless. My partners and comrades; the Likers, the engaged and the passive reader. We await the sound of total victory. Love you all

HEPHZIBAH COLUMN - THE COMMUNICATION GAMES COUPLES PLAY: A COMPILATION

On a softer side of the digital divide and due to demands from my audience, I have introduced a saturday column that will be focusing on relationships - the emotions, the pains, the choice, the break ups and the how. 

For today, I have narrowed down on a compilation of the unhealthy communication games that many individuals and couples play, not realizing the destruction they are causing. The purpose of this article is just to point out some of these manipulative games so you are aware of them. The next step is to properly deal with them and eliminate them from going on in your relationship. There is indeed a thin line between love and hatred.

These are common unhealthy thinking patterns that contribute to emotional pain. We all seem to fall victim to one of more of these patterns from time-to-time:

MAGNIFYING —Making Mountains Out of Molehills: It’s taking life’s events and exaggerating them until everything seems like a catastrophe. We take nickel and dime incidents and turn them into million dollar crises.

OVERGENERALIZING —History Always Repeats Itself: Generalizing is relying on past events to predict the future —casting doubts on your adequacy, and preventing you from trusting others or yourself. They hold on to past hurts, failures, and rejections, and recite them as evidence for their gloomy attitude toward the future. They figure, “Why try? The past will just repeat itself.”

EMOTIONAL REASONING —Interpreting Feelings as Facts: Emotional reasoning is confusing feelings with facts. Regardless of the evidence to the contrary, the person’s convinced that if they felt it, it must be so. What they feel, they think is true—despite what anyone else says to the contrary.

POLARIZING —Seeing Everything as Black or White: “Polarizing” is a perfectionistic thinking pattern that views life as all-or-nothing, good-or-bad, and/or black-or-white. They classify events as right or wrong, good or bad; and they judge their performance (or their spouse’s) on the basis of their own impossible standards.

SELECTIVE ABSTRACTION (An off shoot of Polarizing) Missing the Forest for the Trees: Selective Abstraction is focusing so intently on a few negative traits that the positive ones are overlooked. It’s focusing on what’s wrong rather than on what’s right —spending precious time and energy fussing over a few minor problems instead of investing their energies on positive solutions.

MINIMIZING —It Really Doesn’t Matter: “Minimizing” is denying or discounting any feelings associated with significant events of one’s life. They shut down their emotions and shrug their shoulders over life’s significant hurts and events. It can have a chilling effect on marriages.

UNIVERSALIZING: Making an unwarranted leap from a specific situation to a vast generalization. (This often makes use of “always” and “never.”)

CHARACTER KILLING: Switching from the issues of the conflict to making a personal attack on your spouse. (This may include sarcasm for a more devastating effect.)

CLOUD COVERING: Making a vague, foggy accusation instead of being detailed and specific about the complaint. (Again, sarcasm helps!)

UPPING THE ANTE: Instead of responding to the hurt or anger of your spouse, you just play “tit-for-tat” by citing a worse case that’s been done to you.

SCATTER BOMBING: Overwhelming your spouse with a barrage of faults and misdeeds that land all over the map. Dropping into the conversation a huge list of sins (usually unrelated) —including everything and the kitchen sink!

MOTH BALLING: Putting an old grievance in storage —for years or decades —and bringing it out at just the right time to hurt your spouse.

SPITTING IN YOUR SOUP: Using passive-aggressive comments to lay the guilt on the other party. Often involves sarcasm.

KICK OUT OF THE ROOM OR THE SEXUAL APPROACH/AVOIDANCE GAME: One of you has a greater sex drive than the other. Generally men have a higher sex drive than women, but that’s not always the case. The game starts when the spouse who has the higher sex drive starts believing he or she has to ask or hint for sex 6 or 7 times in order to get it once.

YELLING, OBSTRUCTION, EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL

MIND READING: Expecting your spouse to “know instinctively” what you expect.

A few insights on this expectation:

Anger can be generated by mind reading. In your mind you create your own reasons for why your spouse did what he or she did and you project those reasons onto him. Keep in mind that hinting, pouting, and sighing won’t get the desired results. You need to ask clearly.

Families are often spared heartache when the husband isn’t required to read his wife’s mind [and the same can be applied in reverse if the husband is the one who is playing this game.

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (Romans 15:5-6)

The Mind of an Entrepreneur: My diary, Your Self-Assessment tool

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."- Theodore Roosevelt

The decisive factor to my journey as an entrepreneur of over a decade is the "do-it-now-attitude", setting off the spirit of procrastination and doing something worthwhile. A lot of people have visions and ideas but only a few take a decision to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer."

Entrepreneurs have been found and said to be risk takers, willing to roll the dice with their money or reputation on the line in support of an idea or enterprise; willingly assuming responsibility for the success or failure of a venture. Ready to get mocked at and turning every mockery, every failure, into sources of inspiration for greatness that will silence the critics.

Setting up your own service or product line is like riding a roller coaster. There are high points and low points but my experience is that while the lows can truly be very low, the corresponding highs have proven to be really high. At the end, you are doing what you love most, sculpting your thoughts and ideas into reality.

No successful entrepreneur has had a smooth ride to the top and none ever will. The challenges, disappointment and failures will always be there; it’s the manner you handle them that determines whether you will succeed or not.

The follow-your-gut mentality of the emerging or aspiring entrepreneur can be more challenging; more fulfilling; more inspiring, truly more fun and what a heck, you get to sculpt your very own business empire with your very own ideas and skills. True success is not about money, status or fame, it’s rather about finding a livelihood that brings you joy and self-sufficiency and a sense of contributing to the world.

Finally, always remember that It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.  The credit belongs to the man who is in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; Who strives valiantly; Who errs and comes up short again and again; Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; Who at best knows in the end the triumph of great achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be among those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Are you an Entrepreneur or Do you want to be one? Are you really cut out to be an entrepreneur or are you just running away from a problem or running toward a Vision? Or you feel you have no choice but to start a business when all you really want is to find a good job.  If you're thinking of taking the entrepreneurial plunge, it's important to take a self-assessment test if you really have what it takes to be one. Click on the link below to test if you may be one and let us know your findings.  Self-Assessmenttool 1  or the Self-Assessmenttool 2

Useful Tips to ponder further on.

"If you embrace that it’s never too late to start living a dream, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you see opportunity when others see impossibility, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re taking risks, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you believe that anything is possible, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re trying, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re contributing to something bigger than yourself, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re creating jobs, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re scared, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re determined, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re making tough decisions, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you believe that nothing is “unrealistic”, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re focused, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re asking questions, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you embrace the unknown, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re hustling, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you feel overwhelming love, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re learning, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you embrace your childlike wonder and curiosity, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you accept that obstacles, turbulence, and failure leads to opportunities for success and achievement, you’re an entrepreneur.

If you’re passionate about something, anything, you’re an entrepreneur.

A MONOPOLIST, HIS DECEIT AND HIS MEDIA ACCOMPLICES

Two days ago, a front page headline on Hallmark newspaper screamed that stakeholders in the cement industry have blamed the rising incidents of building collapse in Nigeria on the use of the 32.5mpa grade of cement. At a time Nigerians in their millions have been screaming against what clearly looks like a government-assisted monopoly in the cement industry, it comes as shock that a newspaper should put such a story on its front page.

From the onset, it looks like a sponsored story, such that only a Hallmark newspaper that prints fewer than 5,000 copies daily and which is always in search of lifelines, could publish. The fact that only Hallmark newspaper carried such a story makes the entire thing ridiculous. This is given that if “stakeholders” in the Nigerian built sector would ever want to talk to the public through any newspaper, they know where to go and Hallmark would never be in their radar.

But curiosity would encourage anyone who sees such a story to read a bit deeper. Hidden inside the body of the story was the name of a certain Joseph Makoju that was referred to as the Chairman, Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.

A simple search on Google revealed that the story was sponsored by the Dangote Group, apparently in response to the angst of millions of worried Nigerians that have lampooned the monopolistic tendencies of Dangote and his collaborators in government.

Joseph Makoju was made Chairman of Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria because of his relationship with Alhaji Aliko Dangote. Wikipedia shares his resume as follows:

“Engineer Joseph Oyeyani Makoju (born 13 July 1948) served as Special Adviser (Electric Power) to the President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria under two separate administrations. He is now Honorary Adviser on Electric Power to the current President/Commander-in-Chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria (effect from 20 May 2008). He is also the Special Adviser to the President/Chief Executive, Dangote Group, from 2009 to date, the chairman, Cement Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, as well as West African Power Pool Executive Board.”

How possibly can a man that serves as Special Adviser to Dangote possible speak on behalf of stakeholders in the Nigerian building industry. From what could be found on the internet, Joseph Makoju may be the middle man that has been incubating the monopolistic tendencies of Dangote around government circles.

Makoju is a serial government apologist, having served as Special Adviser to three past presidents of Nigeria. He has always been around the corridors of Aso Rock, where he is likely to have been planted to perfect the anti-competition agenda of Dangote Group. For such a person to pretend to speaking on behalf of the entire building industry is the height of hypocrisy.

Makoju should actually be telling Nigerians how he ran aground, West African Portland Cement Company, a firm he managed, according to Wikipedia, for almost a decade. West African Portland Cement was the largest cement company in Nigeria before and during Makoju’s time. Today, the company is no more.

There are other critical questions that Makoju should answer. At the time he was at the helm at WAPCO, was he producing the 42.5 grade of cement? Was he not producing the 32.5mpa grade? How many buildings that were built with his WAPCO products have collapsed on account of his cement being substandard? Would he ever publicly admit before Nigerians that his WAPCO cement were not good enough for building purposes at the time. If WAPCO was still producing and he is still the managing Director, would he lead this so-called stakeholders group advocating for the ban of the 32.5mpa grade of cement?

Nigerians know a lot better these days and Makoju, who is a proven poor manager of resources cannot hoodwink anyone.

We all still STAND to #SayNotoMonopoly

10 Ways to Overcome Facebook's Organic Reach Problem

One of the trending conversations in the Facebook digital space is the decline of organic reach and the rise of Facebook advertising. Facebook page admins who built their fan bases through page like ads are now being asked to advertise again to reach those same fans. Getting a decent percentage of organic reach on Facebook is no longer an easy task. According to sendible, the interwebs are filled with folks who are still constantly screaming about this fact and bemoaning that no one sees their posts.

I have decided to repeat this article which was originally posted by my partners, sendible and which I believe will go long way in guiding you on ways to solving your organic reach decline.

There are ways to overcome this problem. You don’t have to give up and whine. When you look at your personal Facebook news feed, there are promotional posts from companies and sites that you want to see, right? I know there are in mine. They don’t get there by accident, and yours won’t get in others’ feeds just because you decided to post something, either.

Success is about overcoming problems, not the absence of them. Choose to succeed with your social campaign, and be ready to do what it takes to make that happen. Here are 10 things that just might help you do that. 

1. Get Over It:

Before moving on and sharing what wisdom I’ve gleaned from here and yonder about this subject, first let me tell you to stop your whining. It doesn’t help. Facebook has a reason for their organic reach policy. Imagine if there were no filter on your TV broadcast for what kind of or how many commercials could come through. You’d never see another program.

There are over 18 million business Pages on Facebook, and they all want your eyeballs seeing their posts. Without good filters, your news feed would become unbearable. According to Brian Boland who leads the Ads Product Marketing team at Facebook, more and more content is being created and shared every day. 

There is now far more content being made than there is time to absorb it. On average, there are 1,500 stories that could appear in a person’s News Feed each time they log onto Facebook. For people with lots of friends and Page likes, as many as 15,000 potential stories could appear any time they log on.

As a result, competition in News Feed — the place on Facebook where people view content from their family and friends, as well as businesses — is increasing, and it’s becoming harder for any story to gain exposure in News Feed. In addition to the growth in content, people are also liking more Pages. 

2. Get Out  More

Facebook is not the only hangout in town. You should be making the rounds through the neighborhood – window shopping at Pinterest, catching up with the news on Twitter, geeking out at Google+, doing some business on LinkedIn, you get the idea. It’s called a well-rounded social media marketing strategy.

I am definitely not recommending that you abandon Facebook, that would be insane from a business perspective. However, if you get more attention on Twitter or Pinterest, then I do recommend focusing more energy there. You can improve your Facebook reach, but you have to assess where your time and effort are best spent. A social media dashboard for cross-network posting is a must.

3. Do it the Old Fashioned Way

Remember back before social media when you had to make friends *gulp* in person? People are still people, even when they’re online, so whatever might be annoying in a real conversation is going to be annoying in their news feed as well. People like interesting, not overbearing. People like nice and sweet, not abrasive and depressing. Use your common sense and turn your broadcasting into a conversation. Be interesting and engaged.

4. Flip Your Timing Around

Somebody had to do it, and that somebody turned out to be Jon Loomer. He decided to see what would happen if he started posting when his largest audience was offline instead of online, and the results were awesome. There are several possible explanations for this.

One is that with less people online, less people are posting, because they’re all following whatever schedule their favorite social guru has told them will work – peak times. Posting off-peak increases your chances of reach in many cases, and may even extend your post’s time at the top of the feed because of engagement during off-peak hours.

5. Understand Business Expenses

Facebook’s explanation for lower organic reach and how to overcome it is always the same: buy ads and promoted posts. Guess what? They’re right, to an extent. Facebook needs to make money just like any other business, or it will cease to be. Selling ads and promoted posts makes them money, and they like people that make them money. These are not a magic pill, but they certainly help and are, imho, a necessary expense of any business.

6. Bypass the Third Party

Create your own webspace that people can/will visit independent of the social networks. Use Facebook as a recruitment tool to guide people into your own community. These communities are treasure chests of information because they are a direct pipeline to your customers with no one acting as a middleman. You can also create your own mobile app for that direct contact.

7. Ask Interesting Questions

I don’t know anyone who has the time or inclination to stop and answer ridiculous or rhetorical questions in their news feed. “IRS caught in new scandal. Do you think the IRS a corrupt institution?” Really? I’m expected to answer that? Why not pose something like “Shower survey: water or no water?”

Questions are one of the best ways to engage your audience, but stupid questions are only stupid. You want to ask a question that will strike some chord in them and make them think, but not for too long. A really cerebral question can have the same end result as a stupid one. Make them think slightly and make it interesting, and see if you don’t get more responses and shares. Check out the surveys that get shared left and right and take cues from them.

8. Go Back to Email

Did you know that email marketing is still the most effective form of digital marketing, hands-down? Yes, even in 2014 that is still the case. Build a solid email marketing campaign and then push them to like your Page in the email. Use your mailing list to seek them out on Facebook and engage them directly.  Free email marketing sign up and units for the first 20 to subscribe.

  

 

9. Emulate the Big Boys

Fortune 500 companies know what they’re doing when it comes to almost anything in marketing. It’s their lifeblood, and they take it seriously. Follow the pages of some of the big companies that are very successful on Facebook and see what they’re doing. What kind of posts do they use? How often? Do they respond to comments? You might learn a thing or two.

10. Images, Images, Images

What gets shared? That’s right, images get shared. Pictures, videos, infographics, repeat. If you aren’t posting interesting, cute, or emotion-invoking images regularly, you don’t understand the rules of the game. The more self-explanatory the picture is, the better. Not that text should be left out, but some pictures require no caption, and those are the ones that will spread the quickest.

Leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty

"On this day we recommit to think, decide and act together against extreme poverty -- and plan for a world where no-one is left behind. Our aim must be prosperity for all, not just a few."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

 I am excited to join this noble cause in creating the necessary awareness with the sole aim to #EndPoverty wherever and whenever it is found. Let us join hands together and help the United Nations to raise awareness about the progress made and the challenges that remain for people living in poverty. Use #EndPoverty to post your messages about the MDGs and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty has been observed every year since 1993, when the United Nations General Assembly, by resolution 47/196, designated this day to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries. Fighting poverty remains at the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the development of the post-2015 development agenda.

The 2014 theme recognises and underscores the demanding challenge of identifying and securing the participation of those experiencing extreme poverty and social exclusion in the “Post-2015 Development Agenda” that will replace the Millennium Development Goals.

The official commemoration on 17 October at UN Headquarters will be an occasion to recognize people living in poverty as critical partners for fighting the development challenges we face. The commemoration at the UN is organized in partnership with the International Movement ATD Fourth World, the NGO Sub-committee for the Eradication of Poverty and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, supported by the Missions of France and Burkina Faso to the UN.

One of the initiatives planned is a ten-part exhibition of collective artwork by people living in poverty that will be mounted in the buildings of the United Nations from 13 October 2014.

There will be a panel discussion on 16 October 2014 (1.15-2.30 pm) at the United Nations Headquarters entitled “Beijing+20 - Leaving No One Behind: Women, Poverty, and Participation”, which will explore the disproportionate effects of poverty on women and women's contributions to ending poverty.

THE CALL

Help the United Nations to raise awareness about the progress made and the challenges that remain for people living in poverty. Use #EndPoverty to post your messages about the MDGs and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

70.3M Mobile Broadband Internet Users in Nigeria

 There has been a tremendous increase on the numbers of internet users on GSM networks in Nigeria and this is an interesting observation to note as it relates to broadband penetration. The recent data released by The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC clearly showed that Nigerians are gradually embracing data as the next revolution in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, in its Monthly Internet Subscriber Data, disclosed that the number of Internet users on the Global System for Mobile communications, GSM, networks had increased to 70, 307, 5011 in July, 2014.

The data revealed that there was a joint increase of 3,109,506 Internet users on all the networks in July, adding to the 67,197,505 users recorded in June, 2014. It showed that from the 70,307,011 Internet users recorded in July, MTN Nigeria led the table with 35,464,669 customers browsing the Internet on its network.

MTN had an increase of 1,519,682 Internet subscribers in July, after it recorded 33,944,987 users in the month of June while Globacom is second on the Internet usage table, recording 15,354,094 subscribers surfing the net with its network in July and gaining a total of 982,702 additional internet users on its network, up from 14,371,392 users in June. 

Airtel Nigeria came third on the roll with 12,562,495 internet users in July, as against 12,052,455 customers recorded in June and gained additional 510,040 Internet users on its network in July. The data further revealed that Etisalat was last on the table with 6,925,753 of its customers browsing the internet in July, against the 6,828,671 users in June but was able to increase its internet users by 97,082 in the month of July.

The NCC data further disclosed that the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators (Multi-Links and Visafone) had a joint total of 156,011 Internet users on their networks in July. It showed that the only surviving two CDMA networks in the country listed a loss of 170 internet subscribers in July, from the 156,181 users they recorded in June.

However, Visafone on its part, recorded an increase of 373 customers surfing the internet in July, amounting to 153,292 compared to the 152,919 users in the month of June while Multi-Links had 2,719 Internet users in July, hence losing 643 customers from the June record of 3,262.

#SAYNOTOMONOPOLY BATTLES THE MACABRE CEMENT INDUSTRY DANCE

The Nigerian economy should be one based on the presumption of a free market. This means that individuals and groups are free to do the work they choose to do, provide goods and services of their choosing and to spend money on the things they want. 

When the market functions properly, competing individuals or businesses provide the same (or similar) goods and services to consumers. Because consumers have a choice, providers will lower their prices to win consumer naira. The interplay of competition to supply a good or service and consumer demand for it will set a fair and efficient price in a free market. However, when there is no competition (and only one individual or business provides a good or service) the market cannot set an efficient price. In such instances, a monopoly is said to exist. 

A monopoly exists when an individual or firm can explicitly force competitors out of business by imposing anti-people policies through regulatory exclusivity, monetary influence of government organs, bribery or intimidation, Like in the current case of the cement war in Nigeria where #SON and the House of Representative in Nigeria have connived with Dangote to create a monopolistic system in the cement industry. Their ultimate goal is to stifle competition, impose upon the consumer a no-choice system, and stagnate on innovation. The likes of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) through Joseph Odumodu and the 8-man "montized" Ad-hoc Committee on the Composition and Pigmentation of Cement in Nigeria should learn from the Coca-Colas and PEPSIs of this economy and they should also take a deep look at the transformational competitive process that birthed the new telecommunication sector – there was indeed a time when NITEL held sway with its awful national monopoly services accompanied by high cost with no added value to the customers in terms of desired experience. Once deregulated, the sector became competitive, prices are still getting better and now we the consumers can port to a better product and or service. 

This is another clarion call to all Nigerians and the Diaspora to join the Nigeria consumers, the #saynotomonopoly campaign and the Alliance Against Monopoly as we fully associate ourselves with the recent stance of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on the instigated cement crisis in Nigeria which has been found by all stakeholders as been unwholesome and extremely dangerous to an economy that is already sliding in the negative and that will impose severe burdens on the Nigerian society.

Join the #saynotomonopoly growing conversation on twitter currently reaching over 5 million in less than 2 weeks or on the #saynotomonopoly Facebook page.