Nigeria is trending again in the international news headlines for the wrong reasons. According to BBC News: At least eight people have been killed in explosions in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, marring celebrations to mark 50 years since independence from the UK. Was a jamboree necessary in a country that is for all intents and purposes [...]

It was near my bedtime last night when I decided to punch the magical www.facebook.com into the address bar of my favourite web browser. Loh, I got an error message reading something like “peer connection reset”. “My ISP has gone bonkers again”, I thought to myself. Then, I decided to take a peep at another [...]

This blog post is part of a series of blog posts focused on how to blog more effectively. One of the basic ways of being effective with your blogging activities is to use a real domain name, as your blog address. It not only shows how seriously you take your blog, but helps your audience [...]

A recent observation has compelled me to reflect on the title of this blog post: Is Blogging A Calling? Who said blogging was easy? Why do so many blogs fail? The focus of my observation is on the multitudes of personal blogs that have closed shop and those on indefinite leave of absence. For the [...]

For anyone who travels regularly across the land borders within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the notoriety and cruelty of the uniformed officials along the route would be a regular reality. Extortion and brutality is the order of the day, along the land borders. Travellers (especially citizens of ECOWAS countries) are routinely [...]

It has been a long and windy journey of self-discovery; a journey of networking and opportunities. Come 1st November 2010, this personal blog would have been up-and-running for 5 years. I dare say, it has been a relative success. I would be publishing a grand blog post on the anniversary date, that would offer some [...]

I was interviewed via telephone by Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) in June 2010, and was asked some questions about blogging as part of their Blogging for a living: it’s catching on in Africa. “Blogging for a living” was part of an episode of Bridges with Africa. Bridges with Africa is RNW’s radio programme linking Africans [...]

DStv Mobile is not exactly a new service. It was initially launched in 2007 but with FIFA World Cup around the corner, Multichoice (operators of DStv) found a need to re-launch the DStv Mobile service. The re-launch is a born out of a collaboration between DStv, MTN (Africa’s leading telecom operator) and Nokia (world leading [...]

With the second edition of BarCamp held in Nigeria on 22nd May 2010, it appears signed & sealed that the event has come to focus on tech; and not just tech, but dot-coms. Themed “Creating Local Content for Nigerian Web Market”, the event attracted dot-com players and wanna-bes from all over Nigeria. It was held [...]

I don’t know if to smile or frown but I was surprised to have noticed this advertisement on Facebook: Great Quality Summer clothing! mens, womens, and kids resale stock at cheap prices to all traders from only £2.50 per kg.

Whilst in Nairobi Kenya on 3rd February 2010, I was invited by the BBC World Service to join a discussion on “Is the Internet constraining how we develop as individuals?”. The week day radio show was “World Have Your Say” and that happened to be my second time on the programme. That day’s programme was [...]

I picked-up an MTN Nigeria mobile broadband kit recently and have used it heavily, since then. Find below my review of the service. The entire kit cost N18,650: HSDPA USB stick: N8,500 MTN SIM: N150 Airtime: N10,000 (24/7 monthly plan) The MTN agent asked for an ID and passport photo. As I had no prior [...]

We were cruising at an altitude of about  34,000 feet from the coastal town of Mombasa headed for Nairobi when the voice of the Kenya Airways pilot broke into the quietness of the flight. I took it to be another routine announcement but it  turned out to be different: ‘…for those seated on the left [...]

I was privileged to be at last night’s Skunkworks meeting. The 2-hour meeting held at KCCT Teleposta Towers focused on a new project aimed at physically bringing the tech community in Nairobi & environs together. The audience included staff from Kenyan Youth Fund, staff from Kenyan ICT Board, freelancers, application developers, 4 members of the [...]

Kenya’s tourism industry is back at full steam with earnings from tourism back to where they were before the 2007-2008 Kenyan electoral crisis. I watched Kenya’s Tourism Minister, Najib Balala, confirm the growth in an NTV news report a few days ago. Information available from Kenya’s Ministry of  Tourism website further confirms the sharp decline [...]