On 16th July, 2020, Nigerians on Twitter lamented the handing over of military checkpoints along the express roads to Nigeria police. It was both hilarious and disheartening to listen to the soulful laments of these young and old Nigerians. It was quite obvious that nobody wanted the police to man our roads and protect the citizens. Somehow, the Nigerian military personnel have won the hearts of many Nigerians.

It may be ironic to realise that Nigerians prefer men with guns to those with batons. Of course, mobile police and SARS officials are usually the police officers that mount roadblocks and they both carry guns. But then, their possession of gun spells doom instead of safety for Nigerians. So, instead of Nigerians rejoicing that the military men are going back to the barracks, they cried out in pain, seeking for their comeback.

One may wonder why Nigerians prefer Nigerian Army, Navy or Airforce to protect travellers on our highways. Well, below are some of the reasons Nigerians on Twitter gave.

• Extortion

It is well known that in Nigeria, police checkpoints are extortion points. Like someone said, if you meet one hundred police checkpoints as you travel, you will be extorted one hundred times. On the contrary, if you meet one hundred military checkpoints, you are likely to be extorted zero times. This is just to say that Nigeria police checkpoints are money making ventures. Increasing these checkpoints is just a way of creating more problems for travellers.

• Assaults and Killings

You hardly hear that a military man shot a civilian during an argument. But is there any week you don’t hear about a police officer killing a driver, a passenger, a passer-by or even another police officer because of N50? Most of the time, if drivers get into heated arguments with these officers, people like me will plead with them to release that money because no one knows what the officers have in mind. One can never tell what it takes to annoy these people to the extent of shooting someone. Worst is that most of these mounted checkpoints are illegal and thus, any officer that commits crime at an illegal checkpoint may disappear without trace. Nigerian police has finally succeeded in making themselves enemies of the people.

• Security

If you are travelling and you meet a military checkpoint, you can comfortably park your car around the area and even doze off because you are sure that your life is in good hands. But trust me, you won’t even dream of doing that at a police checkpoint. To start with, the police can pack up and dismount their roadblocks at any point in time. But the military checks are almost permanent – they don’t pick up random areas to mount their checks.

Another thing about military checkpoints is that they are mounted around areas where hoodlums attack motorists. For instance, the military checkpoints along Enugu-Onitsha expressway were stationed at Ugwu Onyeama and Uguwoba. In the evening, they set up monitoring checks at Mopol junctions. These areas are notorious for armed robbery at any time of the day. However, since these military came, no report of robbery has been recorded along Enugu-Onitsha Expressway. Now, it looks like we are going back to where we were before.

Calls for reformation of the Nigeria Police Force have been ongoing for a long time now. It is quite unfortunate that Nigeria police are giving us the impression that they can keep our roads safe when they know fully well that they cannot do so without the help of these military personnel. However, we have to give them the much support we could to see if they can really do the job. But then, something has to be done to ensure that illegal checkpoints, extortion and assaults by the Nigeria police are eradicated. Nigeria police has to do a lot of work to win back the confidence of Nigerians.

He created the e-commerce platform after discovering that the internet was growing by 2300% per month. The internet was growing at a very great rate back in 1994/1995.

Jeff Bezos left DE shall to prove that there is an opportunity on the growing internet.

He never knew he was pioneering an entire industry.

 He launched the site in his apartment and in 1997 the company went on IPO. That is the story of how Amazon was conceived and birthed by Jeff Bezos.

 But, there is one thing to take seriously as an entrepreneur and business person. That one thing is the fact that every product and innovation has a purpose. 

The purpose of Amazon is to make it possible for people to be able to buy anything online, from anywhere in the world.

 So, this is very critical as Prof. Nduibisi Ekekwe said that innovation +commercialisation= innovation. What does that mean? It means that for your innovation or product to be considered a solution, it must be useful in the market.

 That is why it is very important to know how to determine the market target in business modeling. Modeling the market target into your business model is a step towards commercialising your product or innovation.

 So, in this article I shall be guiding you on how to determine the market target. Here it goes; 

How to Determine Market Target in Business Modeling.

In order to determine the market target in your business modeling design, you must provide answers to some questions. 

These are questions that help you to uncover who the market target is. It is not everybody that is your market target but it is someone that is. Here are the questions to answer. 

• Who Has The Problem

 You should know by now that every product in the market is a solution. A specific solution designed and packaged to solve a specific problem.

 That is the rationale behind every product and services. Think about the products you use today, your cream, food, your toiletries, car etc.

 They are specific products that help you to solve specific problems. So, it should be very clear what problem your product is solving.

 You have to provide an answer to the problem that your solution will solve. This is the first step to understand your market target. 

Then you have to know who has the problem that your product is solving. 

• Who Has The Product

The product of a business is not for the business. The products of a business are for a set of people.

 Amazon e-commerce is not built so that Jeff Bezos will use it or the staff but it was built so that people and businesses can sell their goods there.

 Who has the product or the solution you are working on. Some good examples are as follows. Here are my products are who need them;

•  How to sell Anything Online While Sleeping (Magnetic Copywriting). This product is For entrepreneurs and business owners.

•   How Google and Facebook Hire Best Brains(To Drive Innovation and Marketing).For entrepreneurs and business owners.

These examples can be applied to your product. You will be able to know who has the product. Now, who has the product you are working on?

•  Where Can They Be Found

This is very important in business modeling. Your market targets or prospects are not everywhere but are somewhere. 

You have to know how they can be found and where they can be found. Their interest and what they spend time with.

 An entrepreneur has to create the demand side and the supply side of the business. There is no demand side and supply side when you start developing the product.

 You create the demand side by taking the solution you created to those that need them.

•  Can They Pay For The Solution

 This is what will ultimately determine if your product will succeed in the market or not. According to the third law of value until people exchange money for your product, it does not have value.

 You have to determine the people that have the product and the problem can pay for it. If they can’t pay, then that will market the market for your business ineffective.

 When you consider these questions very well and provide answers to them, you will be cleared about who your market target should be in your business model. 

These insights can save you from wasting your funds on businesses that are not feasible even in the model stage.