The Largest Computer Market In Nigeria - Ikeja, Lagos.

The Ikeja Computer Village situated to the left of Kodesoh Street, when facing Oba Akinjobi Road towards the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, choked within a small area in-between Oremeji Street, Ola-Ayeni Street, Otigba Street, Olayi Tomori Street and Pepple Street, is the largest Computer/Electronics market in West Africa. Every Computer Engineer worth his salt in Nigeria knows the way to this place.

I've bought PC parts, a UPS, sine wave inverter, ink cartridges for deskjet and laserjet printers, a webcam, etc. I've also gotten a UPS and motherboard repaired by the many technicians that work in that area.

What I love most about that market is that you don't need to know any particular seller/technician; you just need to go there and you'll be directed to someone who can solve your problem!

This thread is for us to share useful information about the Ikeja Computer Village.

An organization caled the Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN) has been created to regulate the computer village. You can learn more about them here.

One of their first resolutions is a law banning the listing of product prices in newspaper advertisements or handbills. This means that we'll no longer be able to look up current prices of computer parts by buying a copy of the Wednesday Guardian newspaper (which includes the Compulife magazine). If this "law" is followed, sllers will no longer be able to distribute price lists to their customers outside their premises.

This is stupid, because in their attempts to protect sellers who are unable to sell at competitive prices, they are hurting customers and stiffling competition. Those price lists in Newspaper adverts, which they are trying to ban, are partly responsible for the popularity of the Ikeja Computer Village.

Is this a welcome development, or the[i] beginning of the en[/i]d for this market?

hey,It's good to know that we have the largest computer market in W.Africa.But tell me how competent are the engineers,what is the quality of the goods being sold etc.I'll be much hapier to learn that we now manufacture computers in Nigeria,but I guess this is a good beginning.About banning advert of the prices-sounds silly to me!Is that allowed?What kind of marketing strategy is this one??Who thought it up!Seun more info please.

That law is very silly because I always like to look up the prices of things in the paper before going there so that I'll know where exactly to go and how much to hold. And emm...is it not Tuesday Guardian?

IAH: The Compulife Magazine and Computer Adverts were previously being published in the Tuesday Guardian, but sometime this year they moved it to the Wednesday Guardian. Many of the ads are for companies in the computer village.

abuguy: The quality of products and engineers you can get at the Ikeja computer village are the best in the country. You just need to be willing to ask for directions and a discerning buyer.

seun you scarred me ooo, the price listing has not been banned according to CAPDAN .
the papers said;
"CAPDAN would get a consensus of all the people doing business in the area.
"The plan to ban price listing in news papers, has not yet been agreed upon by all dealers of computers and other allied products in this arena.""

i'm very sure they would not reach a consensus as per the price issue cos its a very good marketing strategy for those that know how to do business.
as per clearing the streets of computer village of street traders?? i wonder if it will work as well.
anyway lets wait n see.

That was in August. They have now decided to enforce the law. You can take my word for it (it was in a newspaper report but I've lost the clipping)

Banning the price listing in news paper is a bad idea, cos b4 we go for any purchase we must buy wednesday Guardian to compare prices and be up-to-date. Even if we want to bill clients we always make sure we aint giving an old price. so the listing is very helpful. Banning it will be a backward step which i dont think people who want to move forward in business should take.

As to the competency of the technicians there, I will say... pray well b4 leaving home. or better still know some1 u trust. Those guys are good but they sometime use their knowledge to rob you. Am very scared of those guys.

That law seems very stupid. But i beleieve in turning dead ends into opportunity. I never say die. Its time for the sellers there to own their own biz websites where they'll be able to give out their prices (as long as they have another branch elsewhere). If u can extensively market that..people coming to Ikeja Village would be looking for ABC store since they know the price.
I personally don't like going there if i don't have a pricelist to work with.

A problem I noticed at the silicon computer valley village is the ever increasin presence of touts/thieves. That should hav been the first issue to be addressed by that regulatory body. The village is so jampacked, there are no parking spaces. Most people are discouraged from coming in their cars. When u come to buy stuffs like laptops etc without your car...u gotta be careful. I've heard stories wher people were been trailed and robbed. It happens often.

Asides these, I love the computer village. Just that that law is bad. That village is what it is because of competition (and consequent lower pricing).

Prices are so cheap. And how can we know how much others sells if u see it no more in the news papers. that law is crude.

[That law seems very stupid.]

really, how could those doing business in computer village agree to such an idea?
anyway maybe they'll come up with another alternative.

whatever happened to www.computervillageikeja.com?

I'm curious as to what sort of price you would pay for good there.
For instance say I wanted to buy a AMD processor how much would it set me back?
or even some ddr3200 memory?

gentleone:
whatever happened to www.computervillageikeja.com?

The fate of which most Nigerian websites catch up with it, after the first year.

Hey, Seun

What did you need a sine wave inverter for?

The idea of not showing computer prices in the Guardian newspaper (Wednesay) and other handbills is not only stupid but foolish. why is Nigerian fond of taking two steps forward only to reverse by four steps? I am a regular reader of PC magazine and Computer Shopper published in the US. These magazines boldly published prices. And in these magazines you see critical and honest reviews of products so that buyer can make informed choice. I pray that this rule be over ruled. Those who are afraid of competition in this business should look for something else doing. God bless.!

Well, i think the price gag placed on product advertising will set a lot of people back, but hey thats Nigeria for you. How many companies are bold enough in Nigeria to advertise the prices of their products in newspapers? Most often than not, u will have to call the people to get an idea of the product price or worse still, u have go there in person!! I think its a Nigeria thing, we are afraid of a price war, but what we dont know is that the price war is good for the industry and the consumer. See what is happening to the price of a GSM SIM card. I cant belive that i joined the qeue to pay =N=20,000 for my MTN SIM in 2001, but how much is it going for now? Almost free!!!!!

As per the dearth of parking space at the village, i usually park for free at the post office opposite Ayinke house and just stroll to the village, so you guys might want to try that next time

This is stupid, because in their attempts to protect sellers who are unable to sell at competitive prices, they are hurting customers and stiffling competition. Those price lists in Newspaper adverts, which they are trying to ban, are partly responsible for the popularity of the Ikeja Computer Village.

Is this a welcome development, or the beginning of the end for this market? Huh

The ban is very bad and very good at the same time. If you are an engineer what nosy clients used to do is to bring Wednesday Guardian to you so they will do the math with you. Now they can't do that anymore.

The way out is for some of the big/small players in the market to work harder on their sites. Gafunk.com was doing a nice job until i started getting some "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" error on their site.

If you are an engineer you can always have a regular customer from whom you can get an idea about recent market price on
items.

Seun am interested in the sine-wave inverter, can you give me the address/phone-number from where you bought it from, price is also needed.

@joftech, u still can't compare it to the varying prices you get in the guardian.
how many places will you go in ikeja village to be sure u're really getting a good price?

I think you can always call them to confirm. Gafunk prices are OK for me too.

yeah, i guess one will look up their numbers in the old guardian n call them

JOFTECH
How can you see any good in a retrogressive law? The explanation you put forward serves to further confirm to us that those engineers are out to rip people off. Why will they not want clients to have knowledge of the prices? probably because they have something to hide.

Meanwhile on the issue of security, computer village is right beside the old african shrine and a lot of those miscreants are still in the vicinity. Until they are properly uprooted from the area, the security problem will persist.

How can you see any good in a retrogressive law? The explanation you put forward serves to further confirm to us that those engineers are out to rip people off. Why will they not want clients to have knowledge of the prices? probably because they have something to hide.

If you supply PCs you must be a smart bizness man or else. When you supply a PC you give people at least 3 months warranty, how about if something went wrong with the PC before the expiration of your warranty. It's part of the money that you managed to get that you will use to fix the PC.

Meanwhile on the issue of security, computer village is right beside the old african shrine and a lot of those miscreants are still in the vicinity. Until they are properly uprooted from the area, the security problem will persist.

The place is secure. Hardly will you hear anybody talking about losing money to pick-pockets. My advice is that when you are there walk briskly to where you are going and don't wander about, that way if anyone is trailing you they will know you know what you are doing.

well, I don't think there should be so much noise on the matter, there must have been some good reasons why they think they need to ban the pricelist but the truth of the matter is I think more newspaper make more moeny from the idea than the sellers of the product and I have had many times checked the pricelist and found out that the situation was actually different from reality....more over for those of you that are regular with the internet most good retailers have their pricelist on the their websites. I just go there and download the stuff b4 going to d market..that is what I did as at last thursday ...even u r sincere most times it is cheaper.
I think alot of ppl put on the paper adverst rediculous prices....that I believe is responsible for the ban...and it is very dubious.
but certainly it will cause more congestion in otigba, cos human traffic will increase compared to the already saturated situation. May God help us out
tk care guys

Basically. If computer stores and shops at the village can all have their websites, they can display their prices as well as the products they are selling.
I feel the village can become the best on the continent. There's an urgent need for them to think of moving to a more spacious and secure environment. Where there will be car parks,e.t.c and no touts or pick pockets to worry about.

the village has its good and bad.

I have bought phones there at good prices and functioning well. i have also bought software CDs with completely nothing in them...that i consider a form of insolence to my laptop.

Unlike cabali I have bought software CDs that are very good, and I am still using them.

The Wednesday Guardian (formerly Tuesday Guardian) used to be a must-read for me due to the price lists of computer parts published every day. The Compulife Magazine articles are yawners, I must say, but the price lists were enormously useful and prevented engineers from being cheated on computer system/accesory prices.

Most of the computer parts dealers that used to advertise in Wednesday Guardian are based in Computer Village, the computer market in Lagos. The Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), an association formed to regulate the market, created a policy forbidding members from listing their prices in adverts or distributing their price lists outside their physical premises.

As a result, the Wednesday Edition of the Guardian Newspaper is no longer worth buying. There's no point in purchasing the newspaper for the sake of the adverts when the prices are not listed. You are better off just going to the Computer Village to get what you want, and now you have to shop around to be sure that you're getting good prices. Sad, isn't it?

They have enforced the price list restriction.

That''s a very ridiculous law. I'm sure the big-wigs who made the law are being affected by the former situation.

You will agree with me that touts have been able to deploy and successfully market "original" fake products in Otigbaland since this change. Look at the flash drives, memory and hard disks in the market, many of them go for the same price as the original ones yet they don't last longer than a few weeks.

And it's killing hard core "clone" engineers like us. You get to three stores and you get a board for 17,500 only to see another store at the end of the road with 15,500 on the blackboard. You walk in and see that it is a correct Mercury board, you'll be like "Oh my God" if only Guardian could publish prices.

Something needs to be done about this stuff. We can come up with an internet advert magazine instead, at least if all these stores had websites, no one can stop them from putting their price list there in. And if an ambitious nigerian picks all these websites and publishes them weekly, then we have a price list handy, at least shop for less, game, and Argos publish their price list @ any time, why should West Africa's biggest ICT market be relegated to a mediocre level of marketing. It's so unfair, consumers lose and some evil people feed fat because they do not want to compete and cut prices. Let's make em pay.

Pls is Argos in Nigeria now ?