I was a young lecturer at Lautech when GSM was launched in Nigeria in 2001. I could not afford one immediately because of the cost of purchasing a phone and the rates. It cost ₦ 50 per minute to make a call... Many blamed the cost of licensing the telecom providers - Econet , NITEL , and MTN - which was a whopping $285 million. To put the call rate in perspective, the minimum wage in Nigeria was ₦ 5,500 then. If you had one line, speaking for 10 minutes could cost you 10% of your salary. Fast forward to today, the rate is ₦13.80 per minute, a 72% drop since GSM came in 2001. Unlike in 2001, when there were no per-second rates , Nigerians can now make calls for a few seconds without being charged at a per-minute rate. There are also several options for consumers at cheaper rates on the surface - data plans of all kinds, combos of call and data, pay-as-you-go, etc. Many attribute these options and lower rates to technological advancement in the GSM space, including the proliferatio...
APC (the ruling party in Nigeria) has played itself into a corner with its divide-and-rule strategy with PDP , the main opposition party in Nigeria until recently... PDP has now splintered into several other parties, which will make it hard for APC to win in 2027. Because the new parties represent several different political blocks that connote ethno-religious groups that determine two-thirds of one-quarter of the vote for a winner in the Nigerian elections. The frantic effort to ensure these new political parties ( NDC , ADC , APM, etc...) are exempted from the ballots in 2027 is seen as a form of desperation to hold on to power. An incumbent party that is doing well by the people should not be afraid of the opposition. It should engage and not try to disengage the opponents through crooked means... Democracy is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people ... The people should choose their leaders, and not the other way round. Records and programs of a...