Interswitch Nigeria Limited in collaboration with banks last week inaugurated an awareness campaign to protect ATM card holders against fraudsters and to educate them on the payment card in the country.

In the last few months there have been various messages requesting cardholders to register their debit, credit or cash card details under the guise of participating in non-existent promotions or with the promise of winning bogus prizes.

[...]

But inaugurating the cardholders’ awareness campaign in Lagos, the Managing Director of Interswitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, explained that the main objective of the campaign scheduled to run on radio, newspapers, magazines and billboards is to protect card holders from fraudsters, who temper with ATM cards’ PINs in order to have access to cardholders banks’ accounts.

According to Mr. Elegbe, the joint campaign between Interswitch and participating banks, has been designed to also create awareness on card usage without generating unnecessary panic in the minds of cardholders and to also enlighten them of channels on which their cards can be used other than just cash withdrawals at ATMs.

I had blogged about such scams here and here in the past.

Well, I’d say better late than never. It beats me that the banks did not include a short manual with every ATM card they issued before now, warning customers about the possibility of fraudsters tricking them into giving up their ATM PIN codes and how to guard against such.

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Hello,

Thank you for participating in the AdSense Referrals programme. We will be retiring the AdSense Referrals programme during the last week of August. After that time, AdSense Referrals code will no longer display ads.

The rest of the email gave instructions on how to remove Google Adsense Referrals from one’s website. Apparently, this new move is related to Google’s recent acquisition of the DoubleClick ad network. I got the following from Google Adsense help:

What happened to referrals?

During the last week of August, the AdSense referrals feature will be retired for both AdWords advertiser products and Google products. After careful consideration, we believe that we can best serve our advertisers and publishers through two alternative offerings, AdSense for content and DoubleClick Performics Affiliate.
[...]

How can I choose my own ads now that referrals are retired?

We understand the importance of being able to manually select the ads that appear on your site rather than having ads appear based on the Google ad auction. Though we’ll no longer offer referrals after August, you can still manually select the ads on your site using the Google Affiliate Network. Learn more about the Google Affiliate Network by visiting http://www.performics.com

I used Google Adsense Referrals on a website providing web-related services and carefully selected referral ads that were related to the web services, but which I did not offer directly. Though I earned from the Referral ads, I chose to remove them eventually since I was no longer satisfied with the ads competiting for attention from the website users.

Google Affiliate Network appears to be fully independent from Google Adsense. Publishers on either cannot login to the other unless they signed-up on both. There is much more scrutiny with entering the Affiliate Network.

If you are a Nigerian, you are permitted to retort: “…but most Nigerian products/services are inferior!”. Well, I am proud to say you are not exactly correct. Over the years, several companies have despite the titanic challenges they experience doing business in Nigeria, still been able to provide products/services that are of high quality. They might not be the best in the world today but I need you to remember that Asian companies also started weakly. Look at Japan, South Korea, China and to some extent, India today. They are forces to reckon with in product manufacturing and service delivery. When Nigerians will insist on Made-in-Nigeria, then the future of our industries will be secured. More patronage = more revenue = faster expansion = better products/services.

Banking: This is one sector that makes me proud of Nigeria. Thanks to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s strict monitoring and control, Nigerian banks have now emerged to take their rightful place as the best in West Africa, and among the best in Africa. Report in recent years have consistently been listing UBA, Zenith Bank, GT Bank, Intercontinental Bank, First Bank of Nigeria, Oceanic Bank as leading banks in various areas. The CBN sees to it that all banks in Nigerians have a majority Nigerian stake so you can bank with any of the 25 banks that meet your specific needs and be rest assured you are patronizing a Nigerian bank.

Aviation: This is a grey area in Nigeria. I am not about to delve into the poor practices in that industry but if you need to fly outside Nigeria or into Nigeria, whenever possible, fly Virgin Nigeria as against British Airways, KLM, Air France and the likes. Others are Bellview Airlines and Aero Contractors.

Satellite broadcast: HiTV actually broke the monopoly in Nigeria’s pay television industry enjoyed until now by DSTV. It is now challenging the dominance of its South African owned competitor and has put all its will and energy to achieve this goal. HiTV has high quality, high capacity digital infrastructure that allows them to offer premium content at surprisingly low costs to every nook-and-cranny of Nigeria using Direct to Home (DTH) satellite technology on the NigComSat platform.  NigComSat is the entity established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to operate and manage the first Nigerian Communications Satellite.

Mobile telephony: glo is the clear choice in this market segment. Globacom has established itself as the preferred telecommunications company in Nigeria by its provision of world class telecommunication services and affordable product packages. It currently has over 15 million subscribers in Nigeria and has successfully launched its services in the Republic of Benin. Glo was also recently awarded a licence to operate in Ghana, and is currently laying an undersea optic fibre cable to link West Africa with Europe, to enable it provide even better telecom and Internet services. This space will not be enough to preach the virtues of glo. It is a fact that glo brought about a revolution into the digital mobile telephony market in Nigeria with its loud entry in 2003.

Mobile Internet: Visafone is another wholly-owned Nigerian telecommunications company. It utilizes EVDO technology to deliver real mobile broadband Internet services within its coverage area. Visafone has a universal licence and is rapidly expanding its network across Nigeria.

Web hosting: Why do business with European or American websites when you can buy your web hosting and domain services from Web4Africa? Indeed, Web4Africa is a leader in its market segment and is currently ranked 2nd in the entire West African sub-region by WebHosting.info
Web4Africa offers world-class web hosting at affordable prices plus great customer support.

Computer hardware: Zinox Technologies Limited manufactures desktop & laptop computers, as well as UPS units. The Zinox brand was created as an initiative to promote an international Information Technology identity for Africa.

What are you thoughts? Post your comments here and now!

About the show:

From what I got on Mo’s website:

Moments with Mo is a purpose built vehicle by which Africans and the rest of the world will come to appreciate our culture and our achievements ant to know and understand us as a people.

Mo has realised that the ultimate task facing us as a continent is to build world class persons and brand, to “showcase” our own achievements in a global setting and economy.

Our challenge is to credible debunk the tendency of the western media that portrays us as the Dark Continent which exemplifies Disease, Despair, Destruction, Disaster Destitution and Deceit.

I am wondering on which TV channels this talk show is broadcast in Nigeria. It appears the programme is produced exclusively for MNET, and only available on DSTV. The talk show is anchored by Mo Abudu and its website is http://www.momentswithmo.tv

Keep it real, Mo!

ET breaks the news that comedian George Carlin has died from heart failure. The man who made famous the “seven words you can never say on television” passed away at 5:55 p.m. Sunday at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, his longtime publicist said. He was 71.

Carlin, who has had several heart attacks and a history of cardiac issues, went into the hospital this afternoon after complaining of heart problems.

I got to know about George Carlin through Yahoo! Launchcast, an Internet radio service offered by Yahoo! Music that plays music based on user ratings and preferences. I found his jokes very humorous indeed and have since then been a fan. I have watched a few of his performances on YouTube and downloaded an audio clip from his website: www.georgecarlin.com

The George Carlin performance I have enjoyed most is “Sanctity of life”. Watch out. He can be very vulgar.

May his soul rest in peace.

And the “Work Offline” really works, for the first time.

What’s more? There are a lot of new great features buried under the hood. Wanna take a test drive? Go to http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

It is indeed “The Best Firefox Yet”!

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The .me domain which is sponsored by the Government of Montenegro, is generally available for entities connected with Montenegro but in actual use, it is beginning to replace .name as the ideal TLD for personal domain names. And why not? .me sounds much personal and even more appealling. The good news is that anyone around the world can register a .me domain name, including you! You don’t have to be in Montenegro to register a .me domain name.

A really personal domain name
You can simply have your first name or your last name dot me. Example, john.me or newton.me is much more personal. It tells your audience even before they visit the website, that it is indeed a personal website. This is great for bloggers like me around the world.

A catchy marketing tool
.me domain names can also be used in creative ways for catchy marketing campaigns by savvy marketers around the world.

Now, do can you register your own .me domain name(s)?
The .me domain registry is currently going through a Landrush Process. Anyone is eligible to apply before the Landrush ends on 26th June 2008. The actual domain name allocation will take place after the landrush ends. There are two possible scenerios: (1) you are the sole applicant for a particular domain name or (2) there are multiple applicants. In case its (1), you get the domain name but if its (2), the domain name is allocated to the highest bidder through an auction by the registry.

Now is the time!
Web4Africa offers .me domain name registration at competitive prices. Visit www.web4africa.net today. Please note that minimum registration period is 2 years, as mandated by the .ME Registry.

Web4Africa offers shared and reseller web hosting on Linux & Windows platforms, as well as generic domain registration like .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name plus country-code top-level domains (CC-TLDs) like .ng, .gh, .us, .uk, .eu, .za, .ws, .me, .ke etc.

The real value is with the knowledgable and friendly customer support. You can reach Web4Africa in the event that you have a technical problem with your hosting account via email, a ticket system, phone call, SMS or even a live chat. Your issues will be addressed in a timely manner.

What’s more? Web4Africa is one of the leading web hosts in the entire West Africa sub-region. Indeed, Web4Africa currently ranks #2 in West Africa in terms of client base and number of domain names hosted. Web4Africa is runs its own powerful web hosting services in the USA and has been offering affordable web solutions since 2002 and is here to stay.

How to pay from Nigeria?
There are multiple payment options for residents of Nigeria: cash deposit in Naira into a corporate bank account with a leading bank in Nigeria, funds transfer in Naira at any of the thousands of InterSwitch ATMs around Nigeria to Web4Africa’s CashCard, pay online via e-gold or Liberty Reserve.

Visit www.web4africa.com.ng now!

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I put the blame of the criminal attacks fully at the doorstep of the South African government. I’d quote excerpts of a recent article by Rowan Philip published in The Times aptly titled: “No one hates foreigners like we do“.

Responding to the shock findings, political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of President Thabo Mbeki, blamed the government’s “failure to acknowledge the crisis in Zimbabwe, failure to control the borders, and failure to grant these people refugee status” as the “real reason” for levels of xenophobia and the past month’s violence.
[...]
Instead, University of Pretoria Professor Hussein Solomon, former immigrants project head for the Institute for Security Studies, said attitudes stemmed from “perhaps the most lopsided regional economics in the world”, in which, per capita, Mozambicans earn 36 times less than South Africans, and Zimbabweans far less than that.

“When the economy turned sour here, it was always going to happen — inevitable, but also predictable, and the government has failed to act to counter it,” said Solomon.
[...]
“The Mbeki government’s refusal,” according to Solomon, to respond to the scale of the migration with any national policy, as well as the withholding of police statistics on the involvement of foreigners in crime;
[...]
# The failure of the government to heed isolated xenophobic attacks and regular warnings from the SA Human Rights Commission, Idasa and the National Intelligence Agency; and

# “A perpetuation of negative stereotypes of migrants in the South African press” — and from public figures — according to a major report by Queens University, Canada, and Samp, which found that 52% of press reports on migration from 2000 to 2003 included negative references to migrants.

Show me a great nation, and I will show you a nation where immigrants have played a significant role in the development of that nation’s economic development. No single nation can do it alone.

This serious attack on foreigners in addition to the recent power crisis is making me wonder: is this Rainbow nation on the brink of an implosion? So much for African Union and all that…

Mambe complains about the fact that he has earned only $2 per week from Google Adsense and is of the opinion that Google is biased towards residents of African countries in the sense that they earn less, when compared to their counterparts in the United States of America. He is right, but only to an extent. There are several factors that determine how much one earns from Google Adsense and the geographical location of the website users is one of the determining factors. I’d explain in clear terms: A website that has US residents as its core audience will have several more ads to display and more revenue per ad click than a website that has residents of Cameroon as its core audience even if they both have the same number of website visitors and same number of ad clicks. I do not have any reason to agree to the suggestion that the location of a website owner is factored into the earnings from Adsense.

It could be difficult for a website owner living in Cameroon to attract a core US audience. Since the content is more likely to be directly related to Cameroon, it is more likely the website will have a Cameroonian core audience. Logically, such a website cannot attract as many adverts from Google Adsense and even the ads that appear will fetch less earnings as compared to a website that has a core US audience. This imbalance is not determined by Google, but by the market forces from within their Google Adwords program. There is a high number of Google Adwords adveritisers who would only target a local audience. The number of advertisers targetting the USA is high, and so are those ad rates. Many e-businesses advertising via Google Adwords would rather target residents of USA, Canada, western Europe, Japan, Australia and other rich economies since they are more likely to earn a high return-on-investment. Any savvy advertiser will only target a global audience or any particular countries when there is a strong reason to do so.

This talk about the location of the website users is not as important as the amount of daily traffic a website generates. Thus, a website with only 10 daily visitors cannot generate much revenue by way of Google Adsense even if all users were in the USA, Nigeria, or any other country. There are several other factors that determine one’s earnings from Google Adsense but I am limiting this blog post to the ones relevant to this discussion: publisher location and traffic.

Google Adsense still stands out as one of the best means of monetizing a website as of today - whether for news/feature publishers, e-commerce stores owners, bloggers etc, the potential for a huge income still remains but one must do things right to earn high.

Share your comments here whether you are an Adsense publisher or not. Your experiences are welcome.

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At long last, I saw an admission from Multichoice that its content on Africa Magic was primarily from West Africa and this is why they are launching a new channel named: “Africa Magic Plus” on channel 115. Though I wonder why Plus since Africa Magic Plus will not be a premium channel nor necessarily an improvement of Africa Magic.

From June this year, DStv viewers will get more great African programming when M-Net launches its newest channel AFRICAMAGIC PLUS.

Focused on programming from East and Southern Africa, the launch of AFRICAMAGIC PLUS follows the success of the first AfricaMagic channel, which is and will continue to be primarily focused on content from West Africa.

AfricaMagic launched in 2003 and since then, the channel has quickly become a buzzword on the continent.

It’s widely popular with DStv audiences for its mix of African movies, series, talk-shows and specials, all made in Africa for Africa.

The result has been a growing audience demand that will be met with the start of AFRICAMAGIC PLUS.

Already the channel’s first month line-up is packed with content from Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, encompassing everything from comedy and drama to romance and adventure.

For M-Net Director of Operations for sub-Saharan Africa Joseph Hundah AFRICAMAGIC PLUS symbolises growth and action.

“AfricaMagic was the very first channel of its kind anywhere on the continent and it has proven, every day since it began, that African audiences embrace African stories. With AFRICAMAGIC PLUS, we aim to partner with producers in East and Southern Africa and to offer an additional African focused channel.”

In the past few weeks also, they had launched another new channel Magic World that appears to be catering for a wider audience with much more diversified African content including classic Francophone films from Senegal, Guinea and other francophone countries. Of course, the films are subtitled in English. Some of the programmes from Africa Magic have been moved to Magic World.

One might wonder, why is Multichoice scrambling to get better by the day? The reason is simple: competition. Once upon a time, Multichoice’s DSTV was a monopoly in sub-Saharan Africa, offering Direct-to-home digital satellite broadcast to the rich and powerful in Africa. Not any more. Multichoice is now offering different bouquets to cater for a wide market segment: DSTV EasyView, DSTV Family, DSTV Compact, and DSTV Premium. They even have DSTV Select, for select mobile phones in Nigeria, Namibia and Kenya.

Where is the competition from? GTV, HiTV Nigeria, MyTV Africa, soon-to-be launched DaarSat and the free-to-air channels (popular in North Africa) available on various satellites hovering over our continent Africa.

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What’s worse?

The blast tore through Ijegun suburb, engulfing schools and homes after a bulldozer burst the pipeline, but was brought under control as night wore on.

Red Cross officials said many injured people had been taken to hospital and rescue attempts were continuing.

Children in schools in the blast area are feared dead.

Sad news. :-s

This new development makes InterSwitch the only transaction-switching network to have 100 per cent of Nigerian banks connected to it and the only Nigerian e-payment company to have real-time online connections to all the 24 banks in Nigeria. The banks on Interswitch’s network are: First Bank, United Bank of Africa, Zenith Bank, GTBank, Oceanic Bank, Skye Bank, IBTC Chartered Bank, Afribank, Wema Bank, Bank PHB, FCMB and Diamond Bank. Others include Union Bank, Access Bank, Intercontinental Bank, ETB, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, Citi Bank, First Inland Bank, Sterling Bank, Spring Bank, Unity Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

The paper reports that over 21 million debit cards have been issued by member banks, and over 4,100 ATMs, and 7,500 POS terminals deployed nationwide, as at February 2008.

Other competing payment transaction networks in Nigeria include ValuCard, Etranzact.

The event which would be hosted by Instinct Media publishers of Mobile World magazine, aims to provide stakeholders with insight into opportunities in mobile advertising and marketing in Africa, as well as strategies to tap into them, says Instinct Media’s group executive publisher, Akin Naphtal.

With the huge growth of mobile communications in Africa, this event will be bringing together advertisers, communication agencies, content developers, and mobile service providers.

Learn powerful campaign strategies and techniques straight from the foremost international and local experts that will help your brand connect with the continent’s over 200 million mobile phone users.

I’d be live at the event venue in Lagos Nigeria. This might just be your long awaited opportunity to meet Oluniyi David Ajao in person. See you there!

Visit www.mobileafrica.net/events.php for more information about this event.

I have also considered e-gold quite risky and too hot to handle especially because of their random account blocking despite the fact that I have used e-gold exclusively for about 5 years now.

Liberty Reserve seems to be the best alternative to e-gold. I signed-up for Liberty Reserve recently. It has many good qualities: located outside the USA, backed in part by gold, dual currency (US Dollars and Euro), aesthetically-pleasing website, timely customer-friendly support system, very secure login system etc. The biggest weakness I have seen so far with Liberty Reserve is their consistent downtime. Apparently, they’re been constantly hit by DDOS attacks by criminals who don’t want them to survive. As I type this, Liberty Reserve has been offline for 3 straight days now. The following is the latest post on their blog:

Unscheduled Outage

Dear members!

Out site is currently subjected to a massive ddos attack. We are taking measures to rectify the situation and will be back as soon as we are ready. We apologize for any inconvenience during this unplanned outage.

All best.

Now, how do I trust Liberty Reserve with deposits if I can’t access my account when it matters most?

I know about the other digital gold currencies like e-bullion, c-gold, Crowne Gold, e-dinar, GoldMoney, and Pecunix but I don’t think any of them is viable enough to deserve my patronage. This brings me back to the question: Are Digital Gold Currencies still viable?

Share your thoughts by posting your comments here and now.

Zenith Bank Plc has taken its drive for cashless transactions to new levels with the launch of dual currency VISA credit card capable of being used for both Dollar and Naira transactions.

This dual currency functionality allows transactions carried out by the cardholder to be denominated in Dollars while abroad and transactions performed at home reported in Naira.

Cardholders who want Visa now have more options.

Among other benefits to the customers, the VISA credit card which comes in three variants: classic, gold and platinum eliminates the challenge of currency conversion for local transactions because of its dual currency nature even as it offers users an enhanced secure payment channel through the use of the ‘EMV’ or pin and chip technology, the latest and safest card technology in the world.

Zenith Bank Visa Prepaid
The Zenith Bank Visa Prepaid card offers you the recognition of a globally accepted payment card with the convenience of a prepaid card. For just $20 a year, the Visa prepaid is the solution to most of your global payment needs. Simply pay at any Zenith Bank Branch and a Visa Prepaid card will be issued in your name with a limit of your choice. Alternatively, you can pick up a Zenith Vuxz non-personalized prepaid card.
The cards are reloadable and would work on the Internet as well as on Visa Point-of-sales terminals.

Zenith Bank Visa Credit Card
The Zenith Bank Visa Credit Card is a dual currency international credit card issued on Visa International platform accepted at more than 24 million shops and business locations in over 220 countries and at more than 900,000 ATM machines worldwide including Nigeria.
These come in 3 different ‘flavours’: Classic, Gold, Platinum and come with varying monthly and annual fees. They all allow card-to-card transfers, email statements and transaction notifications.

Other banks and ATMs

Access Bank, another leading bank, has been issuing Visa cards since last year and many of their ATMs are linked to the Visa network. Some 12 other banks in Nigeria have Visa accreditation but are yet to start issuing Visa cards though some ATMs of First Bank, Skye Bank and UBA are linked to the Visa network.

The United Kingdom is listed second in a report on global cyber-crime statistics, behind the United States and ahead of cyber-crime “hotspots” Nigeria and Romania. The 2007 Internet Crime Report was released in April by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a joint operation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center.

It is interesting to note that 3 sub-Saharan African countries are listed among the top ten perpetrators with Nigeria taking the lead.

The 2007 Internet Crime Report cites the top ten countries by amount of perpetrators of online crime. In descending order, the top ten list includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Canada, Romania, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Russia, and Ghana…

The full 2007 IC3 Annual Report is available here. [PDF]

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Doesn’t seem like I coined that word afterall. I just googled it and got 1,450 results! Oops… So my name doesn’t get into history books on this matter. Sad huh?

The subject of my blogspiration this dawn is the low level of local tourism in Nigeria. To the best of my knowledge, most Nigerians don’t bother with exploring their country just for the fun of it. Travel in Nigeria is risky enough, travelling for the fun of it is out for most. Also, most people are busy trying to make a living. Having made barely enough to survive, many do not have enough to spare for tourism.

Nigeria does not lack tourist destinations. Far from it. Nigeria has abundant natural, man-made tourist destinations and events - too several to be listed here but these places are hardly ever visited due to the reasons I have listed above. Places like Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Ikogosi Warm Springs in Ikogosi-Ekiti, Idanre Hills in Idanre, Obudu Cattle Ranch close to Calabar, Yankari Game Reserve, Gashaka Gumti National Park in Adamawa and Taraba states etc

I am guilty too.

I always feel jealous when I see western tourists here in Accra, who are here to explore and enjoy the natural scenery of Ghana’s hinderlands, game reserves, historical monuments and the likes. Many Europeans drive to Ghana by road in a bid to experience more of Africa, first-hand. Some even come on bicycles! They painstakingly go through the bad roads just to enjoy the rich scenery and wild life Africa has to offer.

Having been in Ghana for years, I find it shameful to state that I am yet to visit Kakum National Park, Mole Park, and the likes that I have heard/read about so many times. I hope to make amends this year and in years to come. I’d however highlight explorations by a couple of fellow Nigerian bloggers:

Jeremy Weate of Naijablog who along with other tourists climbed the highest mountain in Nigeria and even ventured into parts of Cameroon on foot, blogged about “The Mountain of Death: no be small o!” I would only reproduce the concluding part:

Gashaka Gumti National Park really is a national treasure for Nigeria. Whether you want to exhaust yourself climbing the highest mountain in Nigeria as we did, or simply want to visit the base station of the Primate Project and go on an easy monkey/primate safari, you will experience a serene and tranquil side to Nigeria many will never even know about. It is something like the Eden of West Africa, untroubled by tourists, and a universe away from the bustle of Lagos and the cynicism of Abuja. You are guaranteed to have an experience of a lifetime if you go there.

Yomi Adegboye of Yomi Says was At Olumo Rock again with his family:

I am posting this from the top of Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Ogun state, south-western Nigeria. It’s my second time here. The first was last year when my wife and I came alone. This time, we are here with the kids.

See also:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Nigeria
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks_in_Africa#Nigeria
• http://www.nigeriatourism.net/
• http://www.onlinenigeria.com/travel/index.asp

Have you had any experience of exploring Nigeria for the fun of it? Share your experiences here by leaving your comments.

No kidding. GoldKobo has closed shop! From their website: www.goldkobo.com

PUBLIC NOTICE

April 3, 2008: GoldKOBO is placed under Receivership.

1. Effective immediately, Goldkobo Services Ltd will stop offering e-gold exchange services.
2. Since we officially started offering e-gold exchange services in 2005 to our now over 10,000 Nigerian customers we have had to contend with several challenging fraud schemes by the same customers we work hard everyday to serve. At all such times we have had to cover the losses from company funds because e-gold operating agreement prohibits them from giving out account holder’s information without a US Court order when we requested assistance.
3. As at March 31, 2008 we had our operating e-gold account frozen. While we await explanations from e-gold regarding the reason for this action, this situation has technically put us out of business. We have therefore appointed a Receiver in the process of winding up of the company in accordance with the COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT (CAMA) of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
4. The public is hereby notified to direct every enquiry, forward any claims and or obligations regarding Goldkobo Services Ltd to the Receiver:

Attn: Barrister Williams Agugo O.

Agugo Chambers

#27 Old Aba Road, Rumuogba

Port Harcourt, Rivers State

Nigeria.

Email: agugooluchukwu@yahoo.com

Thank you for your kind attention to this notice.

Management

Goldkobo Services Ltd

From their “About Us” page:

About GoldKOBO
GoldKOBO Services Ltd is a Nigerian privately held company engaged in digital gold exchange. GoldKOBO is an Accredited Gold Interchange Operator (AGIO) in the e-gold system.

GoldKOBO is focused on the Nigerian market. This means our customers can fund their digital gold accounts using the Nigerian national currency , the Naira, and also withdraw their digital gold account values into Naira.

I will deal with e-gold’s account blocking spree at a later time.

What Google has for Ghana so far is just a basic page. Nothing that enables you to search “pages from Ghana” nor Google’s search engine in Ghanaian languages. I can only hope these would be implemented later since most other Google country pages come with them.

I upgraded my blog via Fantastico without any problems.

The control panel of this great blogging platform now looks much better and the menu options are now arranged in a more sensible manner. CSS at work. The new look is a bit confusing since it is very different from WordPress 2.3.3 Makes me wonder why this new version was simply not called WordPress 3.

I am unable to list all the new features but the bottomline is that much work has gone into making WordPress the number one blog software. The full list of the new features is here.

There are several forms of ecurrencies. There are digital gold currencies like e-gold, e-bullion, pecunix, c-gold, Liberty Reserve, GoldMoney etc. There are also many others not backed by gold, that are usually referring to as ewallets. Popular ones include: PayPal, Moneybookers, Alertpay etc.

PayPal: This is the number one choice for most, in making payment online. And why not?
Currently, PayPal operates in 190 markets, and it manages over 164 million accounts. PayPal allows customers to send, receive, and hold funds in 17 currencies worldwide. These currencies are the U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Euro, Pound sterling, Japanese yen, Chinese renminbi, Czech Koruna, Danish krone, Hong Kong dollar, Hungarian forint, New Zealand dollar, Norwegian krone, Polish zloty, Singapore dollar, Swedish krona, and Swiss franc. PayPal operates locally in 14 countries. My point is, there is no other internet payment system with a wider global reach than PayPal.

Some merits of getting paid via Paypal:

• global reach
• multiple currencies
• accepted by several merchants online
• multiple withdrawal methods: bank account, visa cards, Paypal debit cards (US only), cheque.
• receive money for free: some companies have special arrangements with Paypal that allows them to send payment to their members for free irrespective of whether the recipient’s Paypal account is Business, Premier or Personal.
• high security: this is quite controversial but I consider Paypal very secure. Your money is safe with Paypal as they have several measures that trigger red-flags whenever fraud is suspected.

Some downsides of Paypal:

• all African countries on Paypal cannot receive money but can only send. Some countries outside Africa are also in the Send Only category.
• Countries like Ghana, Egypt and Nigeria are excluded from Paypal entirely. If you’re in any of these countries, its safer to stay away from PayPal.
• No interests. In case you choose to leave your money in your Paypal account, you earn no interest on it unlike a typical savings account with your bank. An exception though is PayPal Money Market Fund for USA Paypal account holders who choose to opt-in.

Websites that pay via Paypal:
Paypal frowns at HYIPs and MLMs. Despite that, it would be practically impossible to list all the web-based companies that pay via Paypal. However, I have listed a few below.

• Publisher Ad networks: ValueClickMedia (formerly FastClick), Text-Link-Ads, ShoppingAds, Bidvertiser, Yahoo! Publisher Network (currently open to US residents only), Chikita eMalls, WidgetBucks, AdMob, etc. Minimal payouts vary from $10 to $50.
• Forex trading: Many forex platforms allow Paypal deposits, but not PayPal withdrawals. The following allow PayPal withdrawals: OANDA FxTrade, GCI Financial.
• Professional services: Are you a blogger? Web/Graphics Designer? Web Applications Programmer? Translator? Whatever you do, there are several websites like Elance.com, Maclance.com, Guru.com offer PayPal payouts.

The next blog post on this issue would discuss other online payment options. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts about Paypal.

Jonathan Gbemuotor is with Tade Ogidan and you can expect the best of camera works whenever Jonathan Gbemuotor is behind the camera.

Synopsis: True life story about a notorious criminal who terrorised the city of Benin and the high profile mission to apprehend him.

I heard about the escapades of the likes of Anini and Shina Rambo who were both notorious armed robbers in the late 1980s. I am thus assuming that this movie titled Anini is based on a real-life story.

The movie set in 1986 when the military still ruled Nigeria, starts with Anini in the hospital with an amputated leg, telling the story of his life, of how he turned out to be a deadly armed robber. As a young boy who left his village for Benin city in search of a brighter future, he joins a mechanic workshop as an apprentice, learning to fix automobiles. He soon learns through another apprentice, how to steal car spare parts and sell to a certain unscrupulous spare parts dealer. For the fine details, grab a copy of Anini.

Eventually, he becomes a hardened, much feared armed robber on rampage who goes about shooting police men. The important thing for me about the movie is that it highlights the entrenched corruption in the Nigeria Police. In a scene, Anini is seen lamenting that men of the Nigeria Police give them tips about where to rob, hire weapons to them for use in robbery, come back to arrest them for robbery, and then harass them to part with bribes so they could walk free. What an irony.

The movie also brings to fore, the failure of the past Nigerian governments to adequately cater for the citizenry. Corruption in government is one thing that has brought Nigeria to its knees today and just about every problem in Nigeria today can be traced back to corruption in high and low places: erratic power supply, poor security, poor roads, poor air safety records, poor telecom facilities, etc.

Well, Anini is a movie worth watching - if you can get a copy.

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Cheque: Good old paper cheque. This is the worst way of getting paid online even if you live in the same country as the company behind the website you’re dealing with. First there are currency issues, then postage, and then deposit into your bank account.

If you an affiliate, chances are your parent MLM company is US-based and they issue cheques denominated in US Dollars. If you’re based outside the western world, hard-luck. First, you need to wait for a few weeks for your cheque to be prepared and mailed out. Regular mailing is probably free, but the cheque could take between 1 and 3 weeks to get to you or might never get to you at all because it can get stolen or “lost-in-transit”. Sending via services like DHL, UPS or Fedex could attract an additional fee of about $30 but you’d get the cheque in about a week.

So you got the cheque? Now what? You need to deposit it into your bank account. Your local bank would usually require that you have a US dollar denominated account to be able to deposit such cheques and you need to wait for between 3 and 6 weeks for the cheque to clear! What your bank actually does is to send the cheque back to the USA and clear it through their corresponding bank. This takes time.

Now wait for the worst part: your bank will charge you a fee, for clearing the cheque. Depending on your country, this could be anywhere between $15 and $50! (I’ve had a bank charge me $50 to clear a cheque with a face value of $75 here in Ghana before).

Way out?
A way out of this is to open a US checking account (that’s what current accounts are called in the US & Canada) but then the cheque has to come to you first for endorsement and then you need to mail it back to the USA. Your US bank is not likely to charge you any fee for clearing the cheque. The major hurdle is how to open the US bank account. Since 9/11 terrorist attack, the USA Patriot Act requires that all financial institutions obtain, verify and keep the identity information of any individual or organization that opens a new US bank account.

Opening a US Bank Account
Now, most of the banks require the Social Security Number (SSN) of account applicants, as well as Passport, state ID or driver’s license. The SSN angle makes it virtually impossible for a non-US resident but a few banks accommodate none-US residents, through very stringent means.

In my opinion, paper cheques should be scrapped as a means of making payments less than $1,000 for all the reasons I have stated above. There are other means of receiving payments online. I’d deal with these in the 2nd part of this post.

Al Jazeera English is available via satellite, mobile devices and affiliate TV stations around the world. See Al Jazeera English world coverage.

You can watch both channels if you’re subscribed to Multichoice’s DSTV in Africa.

Several leading banks in Nigeria have since followed the steps of Ecobank, issuing international Mastercard and/or Visa card products.These banks include: UBA Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria, Access Bank Plc, Intercontinental Bank Plc.

There are several problems with these cards however:

1. Acquisition: Obtaining a credit card from any responsible financial institution should necessarily be rigorous but not to the extent of discouraging the customer. Expect a Nigerian bank to ask for several documents since there is no national database of Nigerian residents that can be used to verify the identity and credit-worthiness of a potential customer. Photo IDs, reference letters, utility bills, bank statements, pay slips (for salary earners), company registration documents (for corporate customers) are among the documents the banks will ask for. Fair enough, a know-your-customer policy needs to be implemented in strict terms to guard against money laundering or any other financial crimes but the sad truth is that not every genuine customer can provide all the necessary documents. Thus, a federal database with every resident easily traceable using an ID number would have reduced the red-tapes.

2. Acceptability: This for me, is the most important issue here. Theoretically, Mastercard/Visa cards issued in Nigeria are acceptable anywhere in the world where there are internationally-linked Mastercard/Visa ATMs, POS terminals or websites powered by payment processors that accept international cards. However, this is not always the case. The terrible reputation Nigeria has on the Internet in terms of fraudulent financial transactions, has seen to it that the word “Nigeria” draws red-flags. To be on the safe side, many internet merchants decline transactions involving a credit/debit card issued in Nigeria [yours truly included], and a Nigerian billing or shipping address. There are also reports of some ATMs in the UK rejecting rejecting cards issued by Nigerian financial institutions - I am unable to verify these claims independently. All these have virtually made such cards mere objects of decoration for the wallets of their holders. Of what use is a card that will be rejected on the Internet?

3. Convenience: To obtain a Mastercard from many of the banks in Nigeria, you need a domiciliary account (essentially a foreign currency account denominated in US Dollars, British Pounds or Euro). The card is not directly linked to the domiciliary account and you would still need to transfer funds to the card to make payments online. This extra hurdle is not necessary in my view and only creates an extra inconvenience.

4. Fees:  The best example to illustrate this point is to look at the entry fees for the FirstBank Mastercard. The card has a minimum credit limit of $500 and a maximum limit of $10,000 - limits are in multiples of $500, the card is secured by a 125% cash collateral! and the customer must provide a minimum deposit of $625 to obtain the card, amongst other requirements. Source: First Bank of Nigeria website. Many of the banks also charge their customers varying monthly/annual fees.

Many of the cards issued in Nigeria are inadvertently labelled secured credit cards or prepaid credit cards whereas the best description for such cards would have been: debit cards. Most of the card products in Nigeria are backed by cash! There are real credit cards though. I know Ecobank and Access Bank issue real credit cards that are not backed by cash but these are only feasible for traceable salary-earners or high net worth business owners.

There is no better way to conclude this blog post than to reproduce the reply of Propre on Nairaland: Re: To Get Legitimate Credit Cards in Nigeria « #3 on: September 27, 2005, 09:19 AM »

Obtaining a credit card in Nigeria is one thing, being able to use the card on the internet is another – for a credit card merchant to accept your card as a form of payment and deliver your goods/services as ordered requires trust; the knowledge or peace of mind that the transaction wouldn’t be charged back.

Nigeria has lost credibility, a browse on eBay will show that Nigerians in Nigeria are specifically being excluded from bidding for fear of fraud, 90% of online merchant wouldn’t sell to Nigerians with a Nigeria address or shipped to Nigeria.

It is nice and a good thing that credit card are now being issued in Nigeria; this is a welcome development, however a lot need to be done by the card issuers in Nigeria and the government in PR to try and redeem Nigeria image domestically and in the international arena before credit card issued in Nigeria on a Nigerian address can be widely accepted by online merchant.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you hold a card issued by a Nigerian bank? Have you experienced any problems with using it? Share your opinion by posting your comment.

That was how MyJoyOnline.com introduced a news item that announced the sad death of a Ghanaian woman whose deportation from the UK last year had brought so much controversy about the United Kingdom’s immigration laws and the application of those laws. What is important here in my opinion is not to blame the government of the UK, but lay the blame squarely at the doorsteps of most African governments who have failed woefully in providing quality healthcare services for the general populace.

These politicians before getting into government, promise heaven on earth only to do very little when in power, or nothing at all. Its always the same at the end of the day - when they or any of their close relatives/associates are ill, are promptly flown to the UK, Germany, South Africa or any other country with a developed health infrastructure. The poor in the society are thus left at the mercy of under-paid health workers and poorly-equipped health facilities. Little wonder there are many dying from malaria, and other easily-treated diseases in this part of the world.

Who can deny that they knew Ama Sumani was coming to Ghana to die? The facilities that could have prolonged her life are either unavailable or too expensive. Quoting BBC News:

But the drug she needed to prolong her life - thalidomide - is not available in Ghana.

For how long will this vicious circle continue? The people deserve better healthcare facilities and this is possible if only the governments would get their priorities right. Much as I admit that the treatment by the British government was not the best, the abysmal failure of the government her home country is shameful - in my opinion. May her soul rest in peace.

What are your thoughts? Did the UK government take the right decision by deporting a terminally-ill Ama Sumani? Who is to blame? The UK government? The government of Ghana? Post your comments.

I visited the website. The design theme is quite similar to that of Senator Barack Obama’s official campaign website but one could see Nigeria’s flag displayed beside Nigeria for Obama at the lower right corner of the website’s homepage. Other things on the website included the names of the honourable members of the Lagos State House of Assembly who had come together to register an organization (Obama Nigeria Initiative) to publicly push their support of Obama as President of the United States of America. What’s more annoying? Donation were being solicited from Nigerians and souvenirs being offered. Had it not been that I could confirm that this was official, I would have classified ObamaNigeria.org as a classic scam. Why the donations?

To add insult to injury, it appears the Assembly members are using public funds to oil the machinery of their “Obama Nigeria Initiative”. How? What official business of Lagos State House of Assembly is it, as to who wins the US presidency? Can you imagine a State in the USA officially declaring support for any Nigerian individual or party to win Nigeria’s Presidency?

Let’s give them the right of reply. From the Nigeria for Obama’08 webpage:

FELLOW PATRIOTS,
Though without a voting right in the ongoing party primaries of the Democrats in the USA, like everybody around the world, we are very much involved because of the global implications the outcome of the elections would have on the world.

We are particularly thrilled by the feat of Barack Obama because for the very first time in the history of the USA, he has successfully broken the colour bar. We are even more thrilled that white voters rally forcefully behind this charismatic black man in his quest to become the first black president in the most powerful nation on earth. Like Mr. Martins King Jr. said, today he is no longer being judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character which has propelled him from near obscurity to international limelight. In Barack Obama, the agitations of early black nationalists such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and so many others found concrete expressions as he attains leverage in the political calculation of the USA that would no longer ignore Afro-Americans and their electoral strength. To us, this is a feat worthy of celebration as the dawn of a new era. FELLOW PATRIOTS,
Though without a voting right in the ongoing party primaries of the Democrats in the USA, like everybody around the world, we are very much involved because of the global implications the outcome of the elections would have on the world.

We are particularly thrilled by the feat of Barack Obama because for the very first time in the history of the USA, he has successfully broken the colour bar. We are even more thrilled that white voters rally forcefully behind this charismatic black man in his quest to become the first black president in the most powerful nation on earth. Like Mr. Martins King Jr. said, today he is no longer being judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character which has propelled him from near obscurity to international limelight. In Barack Obama, the agitations of early black nationalists such as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and so many others found concrete expressions as he attains leverage in the political calculation of the USA that would no longer ignore Afro-Americans and their electoral strength. To us, this is a feat worthy of celebration as the dawn of a new era.

Okay, Barack Obama should be celebrated but why not wait for the man to win the US Presidency before popping the champagne?

I’d wrap this up with my2cents’ comment on the Nairaland thread:

…At the taxpayer’s expense? If this were some project by a private individual, I would say, no problem. But from the looks of things, this is sponsored by the state. How many millions do you think has gone into this project (from the coder, to all the kick-backs)? Considering there are bigger issues facing Lagos (roads, security, electricity, water, etc), as Afam has said, this is a misplaced priority.

Support Obama? Yes. At taxpayer expense? No.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Post your comment here and now!

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President George Bush marrying new wives? I didn’t say that. Did I?

Photos courtesy of The White House website.