People, that is Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi. He is on a train – and reading a book. Sure, it is possible that the UN General Assembly might have pushed all Uber drivers out of New York (!) for the crusader of ride hailing to be advertising subways and trains. For me though, there is a message: America has a denominator for all humans.
Otherwise, how do you explain that a man who runs a company which can use just 40% of its value to buy all the stocks in the Nigerian Stock Exchange can touch the train? Nigeria needs to look at its sheer values as a nation!
I see CEOs of insurance companies which generate less than $8 million annual revenue flying first class on international flights, out of Lagos, and could not understand where the conviction came from.
A working society elevates humans. Nigeria certainly needs to work better.
Poverty of the mind does so much damage on its host, it makes you see everything from the lens of desperation and unquenchable desires.
Those born into wealth whose ancestors were also wealthy, rarely waste money, because they were trained to understand wealth as fortune bestowed on them, so even when they work hard to maintain the family fortunes, they still see all their possessions as privileges, and they never brag about them.
The challenge is often from the new found riches, where you have concentration of rich fools, they were neither trained in the things of money nor understand its purpose. To this second group of people, it’s always about the fear of not wanting to return to poverty, and in that desperation, they steal, loot, acquire all manner of things they do not even understand their functions; they want to taste every food, drink every wine, visit everywhere, because their better life embodies lack.
It’s a long walk to freedom, because neither poverty nor wealth is defined by size of bank account, rather by richness of one’s mind; an eternal paradox of some sort.
Nigerians were rightly informed, a few weeks back, that the country’s Science & Technology Ministry had been renamed to Science, Technology & Innovation. One might ask; was that really the remedy to the lingering lapses?
I have chosen to emphatically lay emphasis on the country’s technology sector, which is borne out of my quest to see a Nigeria where the citizenry wouldn’t depend on foreign products or services as they struggle for survival and greatness.
The current blurry outlook of Nigeria’s tech sector doesn’t need a flurry of activity, but holistic, from those who have been delegated to salvage it, or sieve the flour, if we must get it right. It’s on this premise I thought it wise to painstakingly observe and study the area in question.
It’s quite appalling – to assert the least – that at this age, our education sector as regards science and technology is still operating in the past. On a regular basis, countless of our engineering graduates could hardly design a device related to their field of study let alone constructing it.
The aforementioned educational lapse is not unconnected with the dilapidated learning environment found in our various higher institutions. These citadels can hardly boast of standard laboratories and workshops needed to inculcate the required technical skills into the students’ minds.
Pathetically, a few of the graduates who were privileged to acquire the necessary skills, perhaps owing to their individual talents and abilities, had been compelled to leave the country for elsewhere in search of a better accommodating environment suitable for their quest. The brain drain has continued unabated that it’s seriously telling on the system.
S&T initiative (NigComSat(
The ongoing lack of adequate facilities invariably witnessed in our schools is the reason many have overtime been forced to patronize foreign education, hence posing a severe threat to the economy of the acclaimed giant of Africa.
Aside from learning, the universities aren’t doing enough regarding research work. Basically, they were not to function as institutions meant solely for imparting knowledge, but equally a place where people or corporate bodies can seek services on all forms of research.
It’s bad that these citadels are not duly funded by the respective governments to enable them to commercialize their patents. It’s noteworthy that every technological invention is directly dependent on a certain research activity.
The health angle isn’t left out while dissecting the lingering ugly physiognomy of Nigeria’s tech sector at large. Nigerians quickly rush abroad when suffering from an ailment that ordinarily could easily be taken care of here, probably as a result of the unfriendly outlook of both private and public hospitals cum health centres domiciled across the country.
We have well-tested health/medical experts but occurrence of an uncalled environment deprives them the opportunity to practise favourably. This particular menace has also resulted in colossal brain drain, thereby making our tech sector cry woefully.
In the area of agriculture, the story isn’t different. The government has continually clamoured for improved farming activity, still the country dwells on a crude system of cultivation and harvest. It’s not anymore news that the Nigerian State is yet to get it right when it calls for mechanized farming despite the apparent willingness.
What about the manufacturing sector? It would candidly be an understatement if one opines that this area is really frowning at us. In spite of the outpouring promises coupled with seeming frantic effort to uplift it, the stakeholders involved are still seemingly marred by apathy. All our various ancient production firms have virtually gone into moribund, and till date, nothing tangible has been done to revive them.
As we collectively celebrate Nigeria amidst her 61st Independence Anniversary, it would be nice, wise and caring of us to as well urge her to embrace a sober reflection with a view to bringing a turnaround in the country’s system, particularly the tech sector.
It’s pertinent to acknowledge that to address a certain existing anomaly, you must be ready to fish out its rudimentary attributes or fundamental causes. This is the only way such a plight could be tactically tackled.
The truth is that we, as a people, have in recent times neglected as well as abused our collective tech prowess. We need to revisit it towards making amends. The governments at all levels must take drastic action to resuscitate our numerous technical colleges. There’s a compelling need to inject more life into these institutions, which bear the foundation of the nation’s tech sector.
We ought to equally reawaken the essence of the ongoing Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) being participated by the science-oriented learners in our various universities and polytechnics.
Similarly, the engineering students should be meant to undergo a one-year compulsory training section, which ought to serve as a prerequisite to the national youth service, just as it’s done by the medical cum pharmaceutical students.
Innoson plan
Inter alia, we need to in earnest rejig the country’s extant policies to end the lingering mono-economy era. For instance, the desire to revive the country’s downstream sector in the petroleum industry requires a viable and strict policy.
It’s apparent that overtime policies concerning the anticipated revival of the downstream sector have profusely been compromised, perhaps owing to lack of political will and other related pranks being played by the government at the expense of the governed. This anomaly must be addressed in earnest if we, as a people, are truly concerned to get things right.
The recent signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law, by President Muhammadu Buhari, is just a stepping stone. There must be a thorough implementation of the entire clauses therein.
We must, therefore, seriously learn to jettison all our old patterns of doing things as well as every obnoxious norm being upheld by those entrusted with public responsibilities, with a view to embracing an era of total positive turnaround.
Technology, particularly Information and Communications Technology (ICT), is already here with us. Hence, we mustn’t shy away from facing the realities squarely.
This is the prime reason the government is expected to throw every needed support behind the activities of the already existing indigenous tech manufacturers such as the likes of Innoson Motors Company, among others.
It’s disheartening that 61 years after, Nigeria isn’t yet self-reliant, technology wise, hence the need not to rebuff the above candid suggestions.
Changing or rebranding the name of the Science and Technology Ministry isn’t the answer, but an apt thought, policy direction and action.
Nigerian fintech startup, Paystack which has been acquired by US-based Stripe, is announcing a big integration: Apple Pay for Nigerian businesses and people. Yes, if you run a business in Nigeria, the Apple world can now pay you. There is a clear trajectory here – the world of big tech wants to work with those who understand the terrains rather than build from scratch.
Nigerian fintech startup, Paystack which has been acquired by US-based Stripe, has announced that it is launching Pay with Apple Pay on its platform, unlocking a new cross-border payment channel for Nigerians.
Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments and digital wallet service, provides users with a secure and private way to pay on their iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Macbooks.
For years, Nigerians have been locked out of many international payment platforms. For instance, PayPal forbade Nigerians from receiving money using its platform until its partnership with Flutterwave. But things are changing. The evolution of fintech is dismantling the status quo with Nigerian payment startups partnering with their overseas counterparts to close existing international payment gaps.
PayPal with Flutterwave, Apple Pay with Paystack….this is just the beginning as nothing has touched Oriendu Market in Ovim, Abia State; it is still all cash every Orie day!
Paystack said the Apple Pay integration is “the fastest, secure way for Nigerian businesses to accept international payments.”
Nigerian fintech startup, Paystack which has been acquired by US-based Stripe, has announced that it is launching Pay with Apple Pay on its platform, unlocking a new cross-border payment channel for Nigerians.
Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments and digital wallet service, provides users with a secure and private way to pay on their iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and Macbooks.
For years, Nigerians have been locked out of many international payment platforms. For instance, PayPal forbade Nigerians from receiving money using its platform until its partnership with Flutterwave. But things are changing. The evolution of fintech is dismantling the status quo with Nigerian payment startups partnering with their overseas counterparts to close existing international payment gaps.
Paystack said the Apple Pay integration is “the fastest, secure way for Nigerian businesses to accept international payments.”
In the product announcement report, TechCrunch’ Tage Ekene-Okafor analyzed how Paystack/Apple Pay partnership is different from that of PayPal and Flutterwave, and why the deal beams bright future for Paystack. Read below:
Despite having a presence in almost every continent since 2014, Apple Pay only made its way into Africa this March through South Africa.
While the launch in South Africa showed Apple’s keen interest in increasing its penetration in sub-Saharan Africa, the tech giant didn’t say if it would expand to other countries like Nigeria and Kenya. Like South Africa, these countries have also seen the adoption of digital payments significantly increase these past few years.
However, instead of waiting for Apple’s next move, Paystack has taken the initiative to integrate the payment service on its platform.
The company is now the first payment gateway in Nigeria to support Apple Pay. Doing so gives Nigerian businesses access to millions of Apple Pay users in the more than 60 countries where the payments service is active.
Here’s how it works: A customer with Apple Pay enabled will see the option to checkout using Pay with Apple Pay when they tap to buy from a Paystack merchant. Using Touch ID or Face ID, they can then go ahead and pay.
Pay with Apple Pay is available to Nigeria-based businesses that use Paystack. They can accept payments made through any of the Paystack-hosted Commerce tools — Paystack Storefronts or Invoices — and via multiple payment channels including cards, mobile money, USSD, QR codes and EFT.
Over the past few years, Paystack merchants have accepted international payments from customers following the integration with global commerce platforms Wix and Shopify.
Khadijah Abu, the head of product expansion at Paystack, told TechCrunch that the integration with Apple Pay is the platform’s first global payment channel integration.
“We’re the first payment platform to support this channel in Nigeria, and we intend to integrate more global payment channels in the future to help connect Paystack merchants to the global economy,” she said. “We’ve integrated with Apple Pay because we want to give our merchants and their customers more payment choices. Customers also love Apple Pay, the conversions are great and our merchants can now reach an even larger audience.”
Paystack integration with Apple Pay is similar to what Flutterwave, another big-name African payments platform, did with PayPal back in March. In earlier report, TechCrunch had referenced how PayPal and Flutterwave would coexist if PayPal decided to expand to Nigeria and other African countries where Flutterwave offers the integration.
While the same applies to Paystack and Apple Pay, the playing ground is quite different. In Nigeria, Android is king in the mobile operating system market, where the OS commands a more than 87% share, compared to 7.75% for Apple’s iOS. Little wonder why the iPhone maker isn’t too keen on expanding Apple Pay into Nigeria (in South Africa, iOS has a 14.89% market share).
This statistic might be behind Paystack’s optimism that its integration with Apple Pay will not be affected should Apple decide to extend the payment service in Nigeria. If anything, the company is looking to eat into Apple Pay’s market by replicating the integration for businesses in South Africa and Ghana.
“We’re seeing impressive growth in South Africa, with thousands of new businesses of all sizes joining us every month,” Abu said regarding Paystack’s progress in the country. “Apple Pay is super convenient and secure, and while we’re beginning with Nigeria, we aim to bring this payment channel to all our markets.”
Giving her opinion on how this would impact e-commerce in Nigeria, Abu said that in addition to merchants being able to sell to an international audience, the success rates of international transactions on the platform would improve significantly.
“There’s an existing eagerness to connect with the global market. This new payment channel makes it significantly easier to access and sell to that market.”
