₦airaland Forum

olex:
Senate committee empowered by the constitution to make what changes? Under what conditions? Will a general referendum be involved? A constitution is a weighty piece of document that can only be accurately interpreted by the judiciary. Its misuse by the executive arm of government to perpetuate its stay in power is illegal, immoral, barbaric and shameful.

Why do such things only happen in Africa persistently? The rest of the world has moved on, we on the other hand are deluding ourselves. Obasanjo should just go. The mere mention of a third term is a setback for Nigeria.

America has been operating for about 250 years with the same constitution that states that a president can only serve two-four year terms. Why can’t Nigeria operate it even for once? Aren’t we the same human beings or are we genetically predisposed to act stupidly. I think we are backward in our way of thinking and unless we start thinking progressively, our fate will ever remain in the hands of rulers that continue to misuse power.

1. It is not every amendment that warrants for a referendum.

2. The statement that the US have been practicing 2 - 4 year terms is completely false. FD was sworn in for a record 4 terms in office but died early into his 4th term in office, that was about 50 years ago. So, the US actually limited the number of terms to 2 terms of 4 years each around that time.

We must not present outright lies or misinformation in a bid to win a case.

Hi Thomas,

Good post.

Unfortunately, we have a lot of Nigerians that are blinded with suspicion and hatred for the man OBJ to the extent that they have failed to look at any issue other than seeing him leave Aso Rock in 2007.

Like you stated, every one is entitled to his/her own opinion.

I think a lot of Nigerians are missing the point completely.

I have a client with website at www.timeautos.com that provides an online platform for Nigerians to sell automobiles.

Up to 6 clear views of each car is allowed.

In today’s fast paced, technology based society, it's best to prepare yourself and your business for the platform that establishes trust and integrity in all your dealings with both the buyer and the seller.

Being able to search and see the automobile you want to buy online without having to travel long distances just to enquire about an automobile is more than enough reason to rely on our fast and efficient automobiles services.

I understand the traffic is heavy and people have actual bought cars from the website - no online payment facility sha.

Interesting topic.

OBJ does not have the powers to amend the constitution to allow for a 3rd term, only the law makers can do that.

So, if OBJ gets a 3rd term today and such clause is in the constitution, it makes sense to put the blame on the law makers because they have the right to make this 3rd term speculation die a natural death even today.

The followership still will take its own share of the blame because we are focusing on the wrong person/persons. OBJ should not be the focus, the focus should be on those that can make or mar the plan legitimately.

About OBJ making categorical statements on the 3rd term bid, he has denied having such plans on at least 2 ocassions, Remi has denied it, Fani has denied it, the PDP scribe has denied it.

Whether we believe them or not is another matter but the fact remains that OBJ and his aides have denied it, so I wonder what Nigerians want him to do again to prove that he will not go for a 3rd term.

The monitoring tool was for 48 days and not one year.

That your site is up for less than 2 months does not mean that it will remain so for up to a year.

Even properly scheduled maintenance by your hosting company is enough to reduce the uptime from 100% to anything less than that.

I will agree to the 100% uptime is it stays so for 12 months.

Not sure if you meant personal or business websites.

I do have a business website at www.justwebservices.com

Thanks Seun for the info.

Seun,

I think the point Demmy is trying to make is that people need to understand very well what it takes to run a successful online business.

Passion or interest is not enough, sound knowledge of what it takes is far more important than just the desire to make it happen online.

With a new site like that experiences server problems the way they have, it will affect the perception and you and I know that perception is key in any online business, once a website does not look or appear professional and reliable people will hardly trust it and once the trust is gone, it becomes a problem for the website to succeed.

larger_20:
With the level of complexity involved in the commercial website I am developing, [12 programmers] I don't think a nigerian company can win the bid becasue they have not done much per say.....

Sorry for asking, but what type of commercial website would require the services of 12 programmers?

My concerns are

1. Will these 12 programmers remain with you for a long time to guarantee continuity?

2. Do these guys have skills that are at par with each other? If no, would there not be mistakes or lack of adherence to programming standards?


I think we have seen far more failed online projects that I cannot even count them. So make sure you get it right the first time especially when the project costs real money otherwise you may end up hurting your business.

Thanks Seun. With time, a lot of companies will shut down their websites and look for providers that can translate their regular business to a successful online business.

The main reason I usually give prospective clients that I turn down their requests to build websites for is that I am not looking for clients that will taste the web for just one year and shut down because they cannot see any value in it.

I did a site for someone in the real estate industry for less than N20,000.00 about 2 years ago. He keeps telling me that all his peers respect him even when most of them have very expensive websites that are basicaly not effective.

He is so thrilled to the extent that he asked me if I needed to change anything as regards the functionality, style or anything. I simply informed him he could get a better website for a much higher price but since he has been a loyal client I will not charge him much and he agreed to redo the site for N100,000.00 first year and N58,000.00 subsequent years.

He is only comfortable doing so because he is happy and believes that he is in a safe hand. It is not about the money, it is about the service.

A website that is not task focused will not become a success.

Google is a typical example of a task focused website and you will all agree that google can afford to pay the most expensive web designers if they wanted to.

But they are not interested in people congratulating them for a fine website, rather they are more interested in making it easy for clients and users to accomplish their tasks in the shortest possible time as possible.

I see some beautiful websites in Nigeria but not a lot of successful websites and that's a serious issue.

Maybe a list of web hosting companies with data centres within Nigeria should be compiled.

People think web hosting is cheap business because they imagine a web server and internet connection, sorry more and more web hosting companies are closing shops, only the reliable ones will last.

US remains my choice until such data centres can be setup cost effectively here in Nigeria.

Nice list. But where are these products if I may ask?

Do they program from scratch or just repackage someone else's products?

Use uses these softwares that generates all the money stated?

Apart from banks that concentrate on about 2 or 3 major softwares I am yet to see a specific industry where software is in high demand.

I need to learn more, so anyone with more information on these questions should please help me out.

i was baffled to hear someone demanding N450,000 for a simple portal.Have we ever wondered how india became the prefered destination for outsourcing amongst Americans and Europeans?Do yo know that with just $500, you can get the kind of portal you have never seen in Nigeria from these indians?

The quote above was from brushparke.

I will demand N450,000.00 for a portal.

Now, if you think that N450,000.00 is way too much and that you can do it for $500.00, it logically follows that $500.00 is way too much because someone will be ready to do it for N20,000.00, get my drift?

Building a successful web business or tranforming a regula business into an online process is not just about web design and basic code tweaking.

You may choose to run other people down to make your point but the fact remains that not everyone will be willing to listen to you.

My site is at www.justwebservices.com. I have a few clients and they are all very happy and that is what matters.

I have had to turn down more than 25 web projects for reasons ranging from unclear terms of references on the part of the client to impossible list of deliverables.

I hardly advertise but these guys keep coming from already existing clients and only happy clients will refer clients to you.

I never engage in price wars because it is self defeating and never lasts.

One of my clients just sent me an email thanking me for turning her into a web guru simply because I installed good content management system and taught her other basic things she needed to know about managing every part of the website without my help.

She even plays around with images, uploads them and she is happy. See her site at www.travelnigeria.info and see what she has turned the site into without much help from me.

So, while you continue to run people down, they will be making clients happy and smiling to the bank.

You must realize that web business is basically a service oriented business and it is the level of client loyalty and satisfaction that really matters and not technical jargons.

I guess it is safer to avoid them if possible or to be on the safe side have the business name duly registered with the CAC so that you can defend the name anything there is a problem.

I once got a letter sent to my lawyer concerning using Lagosestores as a business website name, they claimed the name was enjoying Lagos state patronage so I did what was ideal in such circumstance, avoid the name completely and move everything to a duly registered business name with the CAC - Just Web Services.

What's in a name anyway? Nothing if you ask me, as long as it is easy and simple to remember by those that are of interest to you.

The site has refused to open for quite some time now, what's up?

I do not think it is a good setup if I will need to meet all the individual sellers if I needed to buy anything, what's the essence of the convenience promised in any online commerce?

The owners should please endeavour to keep the site online as mush as possible because I have tried to access the site for over 4 minutes now without success.

Hi Timmy,

You are getting worked up for nothing. You will see all kinds of promises by web developers some as low as N7,500.00 to set up top professional websites including hosting and basically everything.

The thing is that the website owners are partly responsible because they tend to reduce everything to a single parameter, price and they never get to understand the problems until they start having problems with the website developer.

My company, a construction company, based in Liberia wants to design its web page.

CAn you do it?

A lot of people can design web pages. What exactly do you want the web developer to design? What do you want to achieve on your website? What functionalities do you want on the site? These questions and more are what you need to have answeres to before you ask any prospective website developer if he/she can perform or not.

How much does it cost?

Unless there is a clear understanding of the requirements and expectations no one can correctly quote for a job of this nature. I will advice you get in touch with a developer or better still some developers, tell them what you want and get feedbacks from them.

What and waht is needed?

From your end

1. Clear requirements - what you want to achieve with the site should be made very clear

2. Complete and/or relevant information that you want on the site

3. Cash unless someone decides to do it for free for you

Nice concept. More and more online trading platforms are springing up and that's good for Nigerians.

There is an online automobile trading platform available at www.timeautos.com - comes with up to six pictures of automobiles displayed and full seller information too.

Just Web Services can help you. See www.justwebservices.com to learn more.

It depends.

Any web project that will require coding from scratch will cost a lot of money.

Static websites are easy and cheap to set up but very expensive to maintain especially when they are done with proprietary software.

Dynamic websites are more expensive to setup even if you only need to work with pre-defined templates but the cheapest to maintain.

The maintenance costs should be well thought out because websites that are not constantly updated with fresh content will just sit there and gather dust.

Anyone can design a website afterall almost all computers come with one or more website authoring tool but understanding a business process and developing a website to solve real business problems is where the game is won and lost.

Basically, it depends on what the website owner wants to achieve with the website.

You may see www.justwebservices.com to learn more about how web solutions are priced.

When you say a website is the best what do you really mean?

Best in terms of functionality? visual appeal? animation? effective?

1. The use of language translation software on sites never produces the best results because these translations are dictionary based and may not make sense when you consider the content and context of the messages being translated.

2. The quality of a website lies in the ability of a manager to decide what needs to be published and what needs not to get on the site. The simpler the better.

I think most business owners that own websites do not depend on the websites to succeed so may never bother with the usefullness or otherwise of the website. As long as it is fine it is presumed ok. With time these things will change.

The simpler a website is the better. Imagine what you have on the home page of google. Is it that they cannot pay the most expensive web designers out there to design stunning graphics or what?

It's about the business surviving, it's not about friends telling you "hey your site is cool, I like it". If you have a business website and you do not get any business from that site, it's just another money down the drain.

I am also a huge fan of FW and will not even contemplate on switching to any other image editing tool.

A good knowledge of any tool is enough to produce good graphics

Well, one thing that is important to note is that web hosting is serious business where a lot of money is spent on keeping web servers secure and updated against potential threats.

Anyone with enough information can setup a web server and host websites on it but not everyone can set up a secure web server let alone a reliable web server.

We see web servers hosting over 40,000 websites by carving up the disk space and these websites will bring unique visitors to the same machine thereby competing for resources all at the same time.

One never understands the importance of reliable online infrastructure until something goes wrong just like the case of lagbaja.net. I am glad the site is back.

www.justwebservices.com can setup a web portal similar to or better than the Lagos State website.

However, the minimum amount for such government and large business website is N450,000.00.

A complete simple to use content management system coupled with high availability servers remains what we guarantee.

No one will teach you what you need to know for free.

It costs money to learn any application properly and unless the person is running a charity organisation, you will have to pay to get information that is valuable.

Even cheap training schools end up providing you with information you can access free of charge if you spent more time looking for it yourself.

L & G,

I have a an upcoming project with one of the terms of requirements as the following:

Windows and Macintosh platforms; versions 4.X and above for Netscape and
IE browsers, and current versions of AOL, MSN, and Opera browsers

I am a fan of open source software and have relied on open source web development tool like PHP and have never had a problem (reported to me anyway) with access to any websites I setup using any specific browser or platform.

My question is this -  Is there a development tool out there that guarantees uniform browser/platform independence?

I need to know for sure so as not to believe that all websites setup by me are all browser/platform independent simply because no one has complained about having difficulties in accessing them.

Many thanks for answers and contributions that may follow.

BUt really sha most nija web guys are hungry and can give you a rubbish in the speed of light just flash them cash and the'll flash you design

The statement above is unfair and demeaning to Nigeria based web developers anyway.

You can get a website setup for as little as free to as much as 2 or 3 million naira or more depending on who is paying and what is being paid for.

I have developed websites for free and have charged above N300,000.00 for a website project.

The bottom line is that you get what you pay for. With time people will begin to focus less on the cost and focus more on the value and effectiveness of the website.

Interesting topic.

I cannot agree more with Seun. The fact is that a lot of companies have given web projects to Nigerians but unfortunately majority of these jobs were messed up by the Nigerians as a result of unreliable web hosting, prolonged delay on the actual job time frame, poor design, very limited or no support available etc.

In some cases, people just collect the money and disappear.

Another reason is that most of these companies will give these jobs to friends or relatives rather than focus on the ability of the handler to perform.

I have heard over and over again business owners that will tell me that my prices are high, that they saw cheaper prices on Guardian adverts or quotations from web hosting companies. I simply tell them to make use of the cheaper ones he saw if cost is their only concern.

Just Web Services is based in Nigeria but does not offer cheap web hosting plans because the focus is reliability and availability so we stick with a plan that guarantees maxixmum uptime.

Just Web Services - http://www.justwebservices.com

Customer service and support is free as long as any contract lasts

Just located this forum today. Nice forum and very friendly atmosphere.

I have a business site and it's located at http://www.justwebservices.com

Cheers