General News
Why Only Truly Indigenous E-Commerce Companies Are Champions

By Dr. Ajit Sigh, international trade lawyer spoke in Lagos on a short visit to Nigeria
By midday on Tuesday September 4th 2018, a remarkable development,whose reverberations are still felt today, shook the e-commerce world and the whole of Wall Street.
Amazon, an American e-commerce giant, had followed Apple Inc. to become the second U.S. company to reach $1 trillion in market value after the company’s shares climbed 1.9%, briefly topping the $2,050.27 needed to push the company’s value above $1 trillion.
To put this in sheer perspective, it is fitting to bear in mind that Nigeria’s current external reserves is pegged at $42.3billion (as at October 25th), a figure which amounts to less than five per cent of Amazon’s worth.
Available data shows that it took Amazon only about 165 trading days to grow its market value from $600 billion in January 2018 to its valuation of $1 trillion in September 2018 – an astronomical rise that saw it put daylight between it and the likes of Microsoft and Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Conversely, Apple needed about 183 trading days to hit the $1 trillion mark after it reached $900 billion in November 2017.
Amazon’s rise can be put down to its unalloyed status as a disruptive force of commerce, with analysts and other Wall Street watchers predicting the company’s imminent overtaking of Apple as the biggest and most valuable company in the United States.
Indeed, the identity of the first five companies on the list of the world’s most valuable companies – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Facebook Inc. – further goes to demonstrate the pre-eminence of tech companies and the undeniable role of technology in the emerging world order of digital wealth where oil, previously the most valuable resource, has been relegated to the back-burner.
Despite its disruptive business model and series of high-profile acquisitions which have undoubtedly boosted its revenues, Amazon remains an e-commerce company – a sector that is fiercely indigenous.
With the backdrop of all the arguments against some of its unfair business practices, Amazon remains a hit with a large segment of the American populace who are traditionally at home with online shopping. According to research, an estimated 79 percent of Americans shop online, a figure that amounts to abouteight in 10 Americans.
While Amazon can be reckoned with as a global e-commerce behemoth, there is no denying the fact that, it will struggle to replicate the brilliant success it has enjoyed in other climes.
As part of its expansionary plans, Amazon has spread its operations to over a dozen countries including the United Kingdom, India, China and Singapore. While sales outside the United States amounts to about a third of its total earnings, the company has also come to learn that selling abroad is not easy. In addition, it has also come to the realization that, e-commerce is best left to the indigenous players who understand the terrain and idiosyncrasies in each country.
Though it has enjoyed a fair measure of success in India where it has attempted to take on FlipKart – the country’s predominant indigenous player – with lower prices, Amazon has been almost an abysmal failure in China – the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market. Alibaba, Pinduodo, Taobao and others are deeply entrenched in the country owing mainly to their understanding of the complex vortex of persuasions influencing the shopping habits at play in that country. Today, Amazon struggles to retain a foothold in China, whereas Alibaba enjoys over 50% of the market share.
Considering the immense financial resources and spending power at its disposal, one will expect that Amazon will conquer every market it berths in. However, the incontrovertible fact remains that, to succeed in any market requires more than just financial power, but a large dose of street-smartness, an understanding of the people and a business model that is realistic and suited to their local circumstances.
Here in Nigeria, the reality is not much different.
Ingrained in the cultural complexities of a society or people are certain peculiarities or predilections, all of which contribute to shaping their every tradition, including their shopping habits.
Despite the growing popularity of online shopping, the average Nigerian, try as hard as you can, will never shake off the practice of preferring to see, touch and/or experience a product before parting with hard-earned money, thereby justifying the increasing relevance of brick-and-mortar stores in Nigerian e-commerce.
Trust also remains a major issue.
In spite of the large strides recorded in the e-commerce sector, many Nigerians are still understandably reluctant to drop their credit card details online due to the real and ever-present potential of cyber-fraud. Others, who have managed to embrace the e-commerce revolution, are still keen to put their trust in the confidence-inducing personal touch that the patronage of a physical retail store inspires. What about the millions of unreached or under-served Nigerians in the hinterlands, devoid of a reliable internet connection and the basic requirements to embrace e-commerce?
It must be stated here that the e-commerce industry also has the capability to unmask mere hype from substance.
Since Nigerians got bitten by the e-commerce bug, the country has seen several foreign players, many of them backed by angel investors and venture capitalists. These fancy new shoesemerge on the scene by painting a larger-than-life picture of overwhelming boom only to fade away after a while and exit the country quietly.
The scenario is a simple but vicious one: the investors are buoyed by projections of Nigeria as Africa’s biggest market, blessed with a youthful, aspirational population on the verge of cracking the e-commerce conundrum and exploding into a money-spinning investor’s dream.
But what happens?
These foreign investors, for all their good intentions, remain what they are famous for: profit-seeking, short-term oriented business impresarios. Once they get tired of seeing their investments fail to yield the promised returns, the patience wears thin. Once this happens, it is only a matter of time before Nigeria counts the many-faceted costs of another failed venture.
History and statistics have revealed worldwide that, only a truly indigenous e-commerce company backed by its own people has the staying power to stick and stand the test of time, irrespective of the regulatory, operational and industry-specific challenges that may arise. Indeed, only a locally-backed e-commerce company with a realistic business model that is not short-term in outlook, can invest significantly in infrastructure and care sufficiently not to embark on random job cuts, all in a bid to satisfy the cravings of impatient venture capitalists.
Nigeria boasts perhaps only one of such powerhouses in Konga – which recently combined its operations with Yudala, another bold player with a futuristic but realistic e-commerce model which has been widely aped by other global e-commerce companies, Amazon inclusive.
Where an e-commerce company proves itself adept at adapting to local circumstances; when it has the boldness to accommodate or fuse online shopping with cost-intensive offline stores nationwide which cater to the needs of the unreached, thereby bringing the convenience of e-commerce home to them; when a business invests considerably in massive regional warehouse facilities; refrains from retrenchments or down-sizing even in the most harsh business cycles and quietly goes about empowering more Nigerians with employment opportunities through its expansionary and ambitious projects, then you are closer to building an e-commerce giant that can rival the Amazons and Alibabas of this world.
Konga owes it to every Nigerian to remain in business forever…
General News
FG, Netherlands Partner on Digital Migration for NIS

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) strengthened bilateral relations with the Netherlands’ government through an agreement targeted at improving migration governance and border security.
This partnership was confirmed during a meeting at the NIS headquarters in Abuja, which was attended by a Dutch team led by Jurgen Bartelink, Chargé D’Affaires of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria.
The meeting focused on increasing bilateral migration cooperation and came after the comptroller general of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, paid a working visit to the Netherlands.
Under the agreement, the Dutch government pledged to continue supporting technology-driven solutions targeted at boosting Nigeria’s border control systems and improving migration management.
During the Netherlands Embassy diplomats handed over essential operational tools, such as Edison Software licence keys and the Passport Examination Programme Manual App.
According to NIS spokeswoman ACI Akinsola Akinlabi, “The partnership focuses on enhancing bilateral collaboration on migration management and reviewing ongoing capacity-building efforts.”
Bartelink, Chargé d’Affaires of the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria, underlined the Netherlands’ commitment to helping Nigeria’s continuing border security and migration reforms.
Also speaking, Rob Bokhoven, head of international affairs, repatriation, and deportation services at the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, emphasised the country’s strong bilateral relations and announced plans to share a mobile border software solution with the NIS.
Receiving the equipment, Nandap said the delivery of the gadgets would boost West African country’s border security, significantly improve the service’s document verification border management capabilities and support the implementation of Nigeria’s National Migration Policy.
“The engagement will further reinforce the strategic partnership between Nigeria and the Netherlands advancing shared goals in migration governance, border security and international cooperation,” she added.
General News
AfDB Cuts Nigeria’s Growth Projection to 3.2%

Peter Enogb, principal country economist, African Development Bank (AfDB), says the rise in global uncertainty, emanating from increases in global trade tariffs, has slowed Nigeria’s projected growth to 3.2% in 2025.
“Without this level of heightened uncertainty, our projections would probably have been somewhat higher. We’ve reduced our projections for Nigeria. We initially were projecting 3.5% – 3.6% growth in 2025.
“But given the current situation, our models are showing that we’re taking a more cautious approach. So that’s why we produced this and, of course, the main driver is uncertainty in the global economy,” Enogb said.
He said this at the launch of the 2025 Nigeria Country Focus Report (CFR) on Thursday.
AFDB projected that real GDP growth would hit 3.1% in 2026. Following the 2024 consumer price index (CPI) rebasing, with lower weights for food items, the inflation rate is expected to reduce over the medium term to 24.7% in 2025 and 17.3% in 2026.
As imports start to rise over the medium term, the current account is projected to decline to 3.9% of GDP in 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation slowed for the second consecutive month to 22.97% in May. This is down from 24.48% at the start of the year
This is contrary to the World Bank projection that Nigeria’s economy would record steady growth of 3.6% despite the shift in the global trade dynamics.
Joseph Ogebe, head of research and development at Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), also said that global uncertainty had been very high in recent times, resulting from the Trump 2.0 effect.
“And also with the recent war between Israel and the international community, we’ve seen what’s happening to oil prices. Even with the call-off of the war, we’ve seen the effect on oil prices too, which has implications on the fiscal side. So it has implications for the general economy,” he said.
The head of research at NESG said that rather than focusing on just growth, what should be looked at is a strategy called growth with depth.
“Growth with depth means that your growth must be diversified, export-led, productive, and technologically driven,” he said.
Ogebe said that if the Government works towards adopting a strategy of growth with depth, there is a tendency for the government to move towards its goal of achieving a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
The report revealed that the country’s recent policy moves, including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification, and tax reforms, reflect a commitment to long-term transformation.
However, it also pointed out that at about 13%, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest in West Africa, noting that fiscal reforms are urgent.
General News
TikTok Expands Mental Health Support, Unveils Digital Safety Tools in Africa

TikTok has announced the expansion of its global mental health fund to Sub-Saharan Africa and introduced new digital safety tools aimed at improving well-being on the platform.
The announcement was made at the inaugural Digital Well-being Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, with participants including government officials, mental health experts, NGOs and industry leaders from several African countries.
As part of the initiative, three organisations—South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI), and Kenya’s Mental360—were named as the first African beneficiaries of the platform’s $2.3 million Mental Health Education Fund.
TikTok also introduced an in-app guided meditation feature called “Sleep Hours,” rolled out globally to support better nighttime routines for users. The tool is automatically enabled for users under 18 from 10 p.m., with optional use for older users.
According to the company, the move is part of its broader efforts to support mental health, reduce stigma, and increase access to reliable support services on its platform.
The platform is also expanding access to local in-app mental health helplines across Africa, following successful pilots in Europe. The helplines will offer expert support on issues such as self-harm, harassment, and suicidal ideation.
Additionally, TikTok unveiled its first set of Mental Health Ambassadors in Africa under its collaboration with the World Health Organization. The ambassadors include medical professionals from South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Valiant Richey, TikTok’s Global Head of Trust and Safety Outreach, said the company remained committed to creating a safe and supportive space for users across all regions.
The summit featured discussions on online safety, digital literacy, and access to professional mental health resources, with support from local partners such as Spectra.
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