Nigerian Pidgin Verbs

Following the fomal inclusion of Nigerian Pidgin English into Google search
I notice that some english words used have Pidgin equivalent especially verbs
I have paistainly collated some words:

borrow borrow,
corner corner,
bend bend,
tear tear,
talk talk
jaga jaga
holy holy
moi moi
Mago mago,
yanma yanma,
chuku chuku,
hurry hurry,
sharp sharp,
wuru wuru,
patch patch,
luku luku,
begi begi
Waka waka
Mu mu
wuru wuru
kia kia
sleepy sleepy
jege jege
join join,
yahoo yahoo,
puff puff
chin chin
Wuru wuru,

gbomo gbomo - Kidnapper
copy copy.
Tolo tolo
shiti shiti
Jaga jaja,
mago mago,
talkie talkie,
pissy pissy,
craw craw
waka waka,
ye ye,
Chuku chuku,
gbamu gbamu,
fear fear,
Chop chop,
cry cry
Sand sand
blom blom - balloon
Padi padi
Scatter scatter
kabu kabu,
holy holy,
talki talki,
lie lie,
hehe, jedi jedi, kip kip, dada, la! la!, yafu yafu, fast fast, quick quick, tey tey, king king, 2day 2day, lulu
Waka waka, sleepy sleepy,eaty eaty, talkie talkie, shitty shitty
thief thief, bad bad, gra gra, gre gre, kain kain, kai kai, boy boy, Ble Ble, katy katy, coolu coolu, jolo jolo,

5 Reasons Nigerian Business Should Go Online

I will make this post entry really short and straight to the point.

1. You can't just erect a sign board in front of your office.
2. You can't just paste stickers or posters anywhere.
3. No illegal fees or charges from LASAA (Lagos State Signage & Advert Agency)
4. Wider audience reach (which should translate to business)
5. It's really cheaper to have a website and makes you really focus on what really matters to improve your business.

What do you think?

Social Media Strategy in Nigeria

When I visit websites I see a lot and see same mistake again and again especially with Social Media Strategy and Search Engine optimization (SEO). I do not claim to know everything about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) but I believe it's meant to be included in website development but most often it's not until the site is already existing and the client wants a magical touch from the SEO consultant.

Also because the search engine changes there algorithm regularly there Is a  lot of misconception out there and the consultant yesterday's winning formula is no longer fashionable today. Sometimes  clients want me to optimize their site for more search engine traffic for a badly designed site. My response is usually you need a new site not only SEO strategy. It's not the how much traffic you drive to a site but I just will not work and soon the professional will become a liar.  Well, it's not that that site is not redeemable but an SEO consultant cannot rewrite history. Your site is your face to the world and if your site looks designed by an amateur,  that is what prospects will view your services even if you are actually do your job well. To be honest with yourself, open up your site side by side with your competitor and be honest with yourself: Will you buy from your site? If No, you should be speaking to me. It doesn't matter how much you optimize your site if it dos not create the right impression, you don’t get business. These days that people simply Google your name and business before they make you calls for business. You can't leave them to chance.

Usability

Your site needs to be well designed and usable an not confusing , what is the point of bringing people to the site and then get frustrated and leave?  I'll rather have a one page site than to have numerous pages clicking back and forth. I often seen site where pdf, images and swf flash are used as substitute for text in a webpage source code. This is not a good idea, hile it will work for great presentations but iy's completely ignored by search engines, so my rule is: flash is for humans while text is for search engines  not text in images, pdf or flash.

Keywords Density

If you want to download the company's brochure click here meaning they put emphasis on the phrase click here this is confusing to searches and as such they don’t index them in fact if you Google search "click here" it does not point to your site. A better approach is click to download xyz product highlighting the sentence and referencing the page description. I just thought I should share this.

Terms and Conditions Apply

This is a very familiar phrase that anyone who have used a product or promotions in Nigeria would be

A friend told me that in this country. Very recently I got a message on my phone, apparently a CDMA operator in Nigeria came up with a promotion that looks great. I called the company representative to get further details any every thing looks intact. So I was encouraged to switch my current plan to enjoy the plan. I did! Only to discover that I was crazily billed and could not  enjoy the data services on the previous plan.  Each time I place a call to the customer care, they either reply " There is nothing I can do sir" or some simply but professionally end the the call. This is very annoying.

It was then it occurred to me that some people(Senators, Policy makers and Regulators) do not get treated this way as our money do not really mater in this equation. If this continue we may adopt this as normal practice. My friend usually tell that it's only those that have money are role models. Whether he is a good or bad guy it does not matter and a cursory look at this is true. Because those in the regulatory body do not know why they are there in first place this is why they abuse the position. Well will I blame them no The leaders come form the populace where the average person have similar mindset this why decision are not taking with due process or on merit but rather favoritism  an leaders will always prefer to keep everyone in the dark. I still do not understand what the minister of information and technology do at Abuja other that press conferences where he is sitting one the gateway of Nigerian economy. 

My advocacy is that until we increase the education and quotient level of the average Nigerian before  we start to see dramatic changes in business and governance. This is why I Nigerians out there should strongly consider coming back home to make difference in their little way. And with that we will create the kind of Nigeria we are all proud of.

Life of a Nigerian Developer

Growing up in Nigeria is a bewildering experience talk less of trying out creating stuffs in areas of technology space that most of the Nigerian populace can not immediately relate with- creating app and showing this to some it's like  traveling in a lonely road without end in sight. Because of the deprivation, most neglect the every day people business and the majority run after the wealthy minority few. When they mess up or do business the wrong way, we make excuses for them and their standards becomes the acceptable norm. So how will   technology and technologist bring the change we crave?

Firstly, most developers didn't get to learn from proper learning for IT but most learn through trial and error and are mostly still not found online. It's not that Nigerian do not have great ideas or initiatives but the reality is the people who have the idea have gotten the ideas stolen or do not have the money to fund it and the one with funds may be overly greedy, place unrealistic demands and rates of return (probably to get back money ASAP) or may just not be interested due to ignorance. 

Also another reason for the slow growth in the sector is that the costs are prohibitive take for instance an average developer wants to create application solutions at his closet, he must personally get all the hardware and softwares including the skills to run them, at that stage if it didn't work out or gets damaged he may be crippled by the failure think of other faster options especially when the developer is faced with basic realities facing him i.e Food, house rent, internet cost etc. 

Due to high deprivation and yeaning for a better life a typical programmer resort to 419 or hacking and to make matters worse Because hard work is usually not noticed let alone rewarded while mediocrity and sycophancy is greatly celebrated,  most Nigerians are forced to do what they are not cut out for.

Africa Is the focus for buzz and investments there two things to happen: Every good and bad on ground will be currently in Africa will be magnified revolutionary tech break through and sophisticated level of crime and corruption. Also redistribution of wealth -true entrepreneurs will emerge from producing goods and services because you can't give what you don't have. So if you are an African outside of Africa, this is the time to start thinking of of returning to build a greater Africa. 

How to stay safe online

From seeing several Analytics tools, I notice that the Google Chrome is the most preferred browser by users (maybe because of design or security) The Chrome was built to enable users have optimal browsing experience online while taking security seriously. You probably may be using the browser but it's your duty to stay safe online. These are some things you should know about your browser.

Checkout their help page for more details.

Investors in Nigeria

Last week LinkedIn went public meaning they open their company for outside investors to invest in it. The upward movement of the share price form the first day suggest people's confidence in the company. This make me think of my country Nigeria where stock prices are still largely controlled by a very few. They determine what the majority get to know by buying up media agencies that run advert and PR for them. Angel investor?

Ok, not every business need to be on stock exchange Angel investors can pull the trigger but a simple discussion with Techprenuer reveals that most have gotten horrible stories to tell. In Nigeria investors entrepreneur relationship is seriously inversely related as most angel investor are greedy and looking for where they will get instant 100% increase in investment or they will have all sort of flimsy reason not to invest in a solution provider and all the reason in the world to justify his N5million spend on a car, ceremony or girlfriend. When Sarah Lucy of TechCrunch visited Nigeria it depict that the opportunity Nigerian investor refused to see is now highly sort after by foreign brands like Google, Nokia Blackberry e.t.c Her post on TechCrunch shows that we have what it take in technology o compete across the world. However Nigerian are still loyal to what is true to them in my opinion Govt is not the solution to our problem but Govt is our problem. 

This tells me the equation is about to change and Nigerians are tired of lies from traditional media and they now get thier news sources from the internet thereby everyday blogger can speak the truth on issues. Techpreneurs in Africa are redefining standards from Kenya to Ghana and to South Africa. Africa is the place to be.   

How to deal with someone that ask too much questions

What ever your work is you will have to work with people. You may work in a corporate organization or simply work form home, you will at one point or the other experience some people who ask a lot of questions. I learnt this from feedbacks and questions from my Tech related radio show "Tech 360" on City105.1 in Lagos. The requests come from all sorts, through Facebook, Twitter, emails and even phone calls at times when you really need to concentrate.  It could initialy be fun helping people out, but as time progresses and the number increase you can barely cope. 

In fact some will refuse to think because "Mr Fix" it is here.  Am going to share with you how to handle them. One is to simply encourage them in a polite to way to "Google it" another way is to classify the questions and set up a frequently asked questions (FAQs) an answer them as detail as you can (A Google site is a fantastic tool) then schedule an auto responder to your incoming e-mail explaining where you may not personally respond to every request and simply refer them to the FAQ.  Also you need  to have work tools like phones, tablet e.t.c to enable you work more efficiently like answering the same question once and documenting your reply so you don’t have to round tripping  again and again.  This way you can work less do more and have a great life. 

How Do you Permanently delete files from your Computer?

When you finish with a file or document, how do you get rid of it do you just hit the delete key and believe the document is gone forever?

I see this habit common a lot in Lagos especially with non technical workers.

Actually pressing only the delete key sends your file or doc to the recycle bin, the implication of this action is that if an unauthorized person gets control of your computer he/she can access the details of the files. Meaning its actually deposited in the bin should you change your mind later.  To permanently remove a file or doc from your computer and your sure you will not need it again press the shift and the delete key together a dialogue box prompts you to confirm your action then choose yes. With that, the file is out of your system. In other words in a typical office, pressing only the delete key throws the doc into the dust bin while pressing shift + delete key together is shredding the doc.

Let me know what you think.

http://www.abiodunthorpe.com.ng

This is a great day from me

Am testing my Podcasts with blogger.

My first!!

It's great to be able to post after I opened this account and not being able to post to my page. Then I ran to WordPress. Now blogger has to impress me.
www.abiodunthorpe.com/ng