I know LIzzy, the proprietor of Lizzy Business Center, as one would know a friend and a neighbor. I know when she started her business. When she came to the neighborhood, she was working under a master, (I wish he was in Satellite town when this story was being written). He used to only take care of her meals and other stipends, but how amazing that with a skillful use of thriftiness and rising early for the day, LIzzy has been able to make a humble business, that of selling prepaid cards for GSM networks in the country and offering mobile phone calls at fifteen naira (N15.00) per minute, an enviable one.
Granted, the business of selling prepaid recharge cards and offering paid mobile calls to the public requires humility and a readiness to serve. I think that is why many persons look down on this sort of business. But, how many persons know what the profit will be when you first start the business. You have to ask Lizzy and she’ll tell you that your profits will be next to nothing.
She had to offer other services to make ends meet like renting of Nollywood films nollywood films. Those services have been discontinued. It is amazing how much thriftiness is required for a startup in this business but when the momentum has been put forward, you’ll never want to stop.
Lizzy is one of the first business people to open her shop for the day. She’s up as early as 6:30 am. Very interesting indeed. She has to do this so that her customers who want to make early morning phone calls before they go for their business during the day can find her sitting down at her yellow canopy, a handset on her hand and a smile on her face.
At these times of poverty and high unemployment, we need to celebrate women of thrift like Lizzy. I believe so.
One thing though she should do is expand the business. She should return to the days of renting Nollywood movies. It will really do her much good. She can also offer snacks and make the place a little beehive for her nighttime customers, just my suggestions.
And if you think she looks lovely in the picture, then she could be your woman. She is still searching for the perfect man. I wish her all the best in her search.
This is my take for this week on people around my neighborhood who have to be admired in one way or the other because they bring smiles to our lives.
To reach her:
Name: Elizabeth.
Business place: Lizzy Business Center, Kessington Broadway, by Michael Orija Street junction, Satellite town, Lagos.
Mobile Phone numbers: 234-8036942874, 234-8084844825
She sells recharge cards for all networks in Nigeria. Her calls per minute are fifteen naira (N15.00).
follow me on twitter, @emeka_david
SOME SUGGESTIONS ON HOW WE CAN MAKE THE NEXT ELECTIONS A TOWN HALL AFFAIR.
Town hall elections are elections where every stakeholder is present when the votes are cast and counted, and the stakeholders leave the hall knowing who won and lost. But in a country as big as Nigeria of a hundred and fifty million (150m) people, town hall elections are impossible, right?
Well, they can be possible.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, as she is fondly called, was created to make sure our elections are free and fair and exempt from rigging. Well, that is the utopian case. INEC tries its best to do its job, but we know they can do better. That is why every party are on their feet to work with and watch them work.
In a simplified description, this is how the elections are conducted here in Nigeria:
1. On election day, possibly April 9 this year, voters meet at selected polling centers to cast their votes.
2. The ballot papers are counted by Electoral Commission officials in the presence of Party officials.
3. The balloting results are compiled by the parties in 2 above and verified.
4. The results are released to the public through the press and other media.
If we consider the recent events at Ivory Coast, greater involvement of the voting public in the stages above can increase the confidence in the results released. And by the way, they’d reduce our reliance on foreign observers.
It takes the use of technology and ingenuity by members of the voting public.
If we can make use of social media, the elections can be put in the hands of the public and the distrust taken out of the hands of the parties.
How?
It involves a cycle of tweeting results (or posting facebook updates), compiling them by categories and retweeting the results of the compilation (or posting facebook updates) until we get the total aggregate results.
First, if just seconds after the hour when the election ends a volunteer for a polling center posts the results to a facebook wall or twitter noticeboard, and another does the same for another polling center in the same ward, eventually, people following that channel can pick these, collate them and produce a total results for the polling centers under a ward. These total results are then reposted through these channel as total results. These will take approximately five minutes.
Also, another channel dedicated to collecting results for a local government area collates the posted results for wards under a local government, less than fifteen minutes after the hour, the public will be informed of the election results for candidates in that local government. Eventually, another channel collates the local government total results into state totals and posts the results, eventually, less than forty minutes after the hour, with a little accommodation for errors, Nigerians in every state will log onto their facebook accounts or twitter timeline to be informed of the results for their candidates by parties, assemblies, etcetera, for a state, either using a PC or a mobile device.
Eventually, if another channel is dedicated to collating state results, less than an hour or an hour and thirty minutes after the election’s last hour, the public will be informed of who is the next president, their state governors, their senators and so on and so forth even before INEC begins the arduous task announcing the results.
By the way, this can be the People’s INEC, an alternative but unofficial way for the general public to be well informed of what they had cast on the election day. I believe it will in a big way forestall our witnessing another drama the like of Gbagbo versus Ouattara that just occurred recently at Ivory Coast.
But because these channels are unofficial, then there is the risk that fifth elements can hijack them. That is why it is beholden on members of the public to coerce the news media and other NGO’s in the country to take up this cause since they have the machinery on the ground, and the confidence of the people. It will involve people management and also political neutralism for this suggestion to see the light of day.
To prepare for such, such groups of persons, organizations or medium, should create alternate channels in case twitter channels are clogged. Status.net has a server that is free, open source, and effective as twitter.com. Also, for social networking, there are alternate sites to facebook.com like Diaspora.
Well, I wonder if anyone has other suggestions like mine. It is unwise for Nigerians to wait until a drama the like of Ivory Coast occurs at our doorsteps which could lead to a mass exodus of persons as was witnessed during the Abiola and Babangida debacle. I wish we don’t have a repeat of such in this country. It will also be wise to carefully read the “promotions guidelines” document on the facebook website.
follow me on twitter, @emeka_david
Well, they can be possible.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, as she is fondly called, was created to make sure our elections are free and fair and exempt from rigging. Well, that is the utopian case. INEC tries its best to do its job, but we know they can do better. That is why every party are on their feet to work with and watch them work.
In a simplified description, this is how the elections are conducted here in Nigeria:
1. On election day, possibly April 9 this year, voters meet at selected polling centers to cast their votes.
2. The ballot papers are counted by Electoral Commission officials in the presence of Party officials.
3. The balloting results are compiled by the parties in 2 above and verified.
4. The results are released to the public through the press and other media.
If we consider the recent events at Ivory Coast, greater involvement of the voting public in the stages above can increase the confidence in the results released. And by the way, they’d reduce our reliance on foreign observers.
It takes the use of technology and ingenuity by members of the voting public.
If we can make use of social media, the elections can be put in the hands of the public and the distrust taken out of the hands of the parties.
How?
It involves a cycle of tweeting results (or posting facebook updates), compiling them by categories and retweeting the results of the compilation (or posting facebook updates) until we get the total aggregate results.
First, if just seconds after the hour when the election ends a volunteer for a polling center posts the results to a facebook wall or twitter noticeboard, and another does the same for another polling center in the same ward, eventually, people following that channel can pick these, collate them and produce a total results for the polling centers under a ward. These total results are then reposted through these channel as total results. These will take approximately five minutes.
Also, another channel dedicated to collecting results for a local government area collates the posted results for wards under a local government, less than fifteen minutes after the hour, the public will be informed of the election results for candidates in that local government. Eventually, another channel collates the local government total results into state totals and posts the results, eventually, less than forty minutes after the hour, with a little accommodation for errors, Nigerians in every state will log onto their facebook accounts or twitter timeline to be informed of the results for their candidates by parties, assemblies, etcetera, for a state, either using a PC or a mobile device.
Eventually, if another channel is dedicated to collating state results, less than an hour or an hour and thirty minutes after the election’s last hour, the public will be informed of who is the next president, their state governors, their senators and so on and so forth even before INEC begins the arduous task announcing the results.
By the way, this can be the People’s INEC, an alternative but unofficial way for the general public to be well informed of what they had cast on the election day. I believe it will in a big way forestall our witnessing another drama the like of Gbagbo versus Ouattara that just occurred recently at Ivory Coast.
But because these channels are unofficial, then there is the risk that fifth elements can hijack them. That is why it is beholden on members of the public to coerce the news media and other NGO’s in the country to take up this cause since they have the machinery on the ground, and the confidence of the people. It will involve people management and also political neutralism for this suggestion to see the light of day.
To prepare for such, such groups of persons, organizations or medium, should create alternate channels in case twitter channels are clogged. Status.net has a server that is free, open source, and effective as twitter.com. Also, for social networking, there are alternate sites to facebook.com like Diaspora.
Well, I wonder if anyone has other suggestions like mine. It is unwise for Nigerians to wait until a drama the like of Ivory Coast occurs at our doorsteps which could lead to a mass exodus of persons as was witnessed during the Abiola and Babangida debacle. I wish we don’t have a repeat of such in this country. It will also be wise to carefully read the “promotions guidelines” document on the facebook website.
follow me on twitter, @emeka_david
SURPRISING! TWITTER CAN HELP YOU SCORE HIGH IN JAMB.
I was tweeting on http://www.twitter.com when the thought came to me – what if there was twitter when I was preparing for JAMB, would I not have scored above 300 and been admitted to read Medicine and Surgery at the University of Nigeria?
Well, there was no twitter then and I did not read Medicine.
I do not recommend that you cheat in your JAMB exams. Although I know that cheating goes on at the examination halls , but unfortunately, twitter.com can help you cheat if you are only a little tech savvy.
Mathematics.
1ACEDC 6BEACB 11DAADC
16EBBCB 21AEBCD 26DEDEA 31DDDEE
36AAEBB 41CCBCC 46ADECB. Sucess.
The blue text above is the first tweet my collaborator outside the hall would have sent me. The complete answer to the fifty (50) questions and with no sweat. No running up and down thinking about the invigilators, no wondering if the JAMBITO by your left will give you the answer to question number fifteen (15).
How to achieve it? Simply have an account on twitter.com. Tell whoever is going to be your collaborator to also have an account. Set your account to follow the tweets of your collaborator; for the period of the exams if you wish. Then set up mobile notifications on your twitter account for the tweets of your collaborator such that each time he tweets the answers, the tweets are delivered straight to your handset.
It’s really easy and simple in today’s world of technology and computers to cheat seamlessly in JAMB; it also takes a little smartness and ingenuity.
I discovered that one of the don’ts is that: 1. Don’t turn on sound for your SMS notifications. It would call the invigilator’s attention to your desk. And you might be discovered. 2. Don't allow sounds for incoming calls during the exams. 3. Don't spend so much time in copying. Better use a handset with text reader software and earplug.
You’re smarter than I am. Discover other ways you can make sure you succeed.
My parents were disappointed that I did not read Medicine and Surgery. They sent me to one of the best schools in Lagos, Alakoto High School and expected the best of and from me. Although they are deeply religious people, the urge to please them and the urge to pass in JAMB were two conflicting desires I could not satisfy at the same time. Fortunately, I refused to cheat during my exams, for reasons of conscience, but in today’s Nigeria, it seems everyone has given their approval and go-ahead to the game.
It is appalling how much students spend to pay collaborators to do the Mathematics, English, Chemistry etcetera for them; run around to know the invigilators, bribe them with huge tips to allow the cheating answers enter the hall and every sort of gimmick.
It is laughable, but that is the reality of today’s Nigeria.
With twitter.com, though, as long as the exam is on multiple-choice, a little tweet can solve so much problems. The only problem your collaborator would have is laying their hands on the question papers in good time so they can solve them and tweet the answers to you before the end of the exam.
But if you get caught, maybe in the exam hall , or because JAMB went to twitter.com and asked for all tweets sent during the exams, then you are on your own. Think about it – if you start cheating at JAMB and WAEC, when will you stop?
follow me on twitter, @emeka_david
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