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The Year Ahead 2020

President Buhari in the cockpit of a plane

Introduction

Welcome to a New Year!

With most of December fading away, a New Year can finally begin.

In this post, I intend to look at happenings in the country as they occurred this week.

One thing last year showed was that bad governance will kill everyone.

Without much ado, here is what went down in Nigeria in the past week.

JAMB Registration

I sincerely believe that in 2020 it is possible to design processes and systems without the need to “See Somebody”.

Sadly, the nature of government agencies in Nigeria make processes unusually harder than they need to be.

It’s like Nigerians want to win the “Sufferhead Olympics”.

For some reason, JAMB made the use of the National Identification Number compulsory for the examination.

The result of this policy is shown below:

JAMB Candidates at NIMC office. Image Courtesy of the Punch Newspapers

In the resulting chaos at the NIMC offices around the country, people started bribing the security agents to allow them in.

That is the effect of badly designed systems. When they break as they often will, you need human interference to keep them working.

Instead of the government asking the banks to handle this process, they insisted on creating bottlenecks for corruption to thrive.

A sad reminder that in Rwanda all processes are digital. They have a system called IremboGov which is a portal for all government processes.

When the clamor got too much, JAMB would rescind the decision making all the stress for nothing.

Increase in Electricity Tariffs

When I wrote my Top 10 Predictions for 2020, I frankly expected that taxation and inflation would increase.

However, I didn’t see why electricity tariffs would increase for electricity.

Word on the streets is that NERC has approved increase in electricity tariffs.

The comic below is from the Punch Newspaper:

A cartoon on the NERC increase in Electricity Tariffs

Regardless of the measures put in place, service delivery will not improve.

I have no confidence in the ability of the current administration to deliver on this.

Loan to Deposit Ratio at 65%

To stimulate growth in the economy, the CBN increased the Loan to Deposit Ratio to 65%.

Banks have been fined for failing to meet this ratio.

Personally, I won’t borrow money from a bank to invest in this economy.

Conclusion

As the year gets into full swing, I would advice everyone reading this blog to refrain from investing in the Nigerian economy.

You can send your funds offshore.

Policies are now implemented in Nigeria with no thought as to their consequences.

Such a system of governance makes political uncertainty a reality.

Do have a great week.

Bad governance will kill everyone.

Categories
Uncategorized

Compound Amount using Monthly Compounding

Compound Interest Formula

Introduction

I live in Lagos, Nigeria the poverty capital of the world.

This year, I decided to study Financial Mathematics.

I am an Engineer with a BSc in Systems Engineering from the University of Lagos.

My decision to study Financial Mathematics stems from the knowledge that to solve a problem, I must thoroughly understand it.

Programming with Python

Whilst reading the book An Undergraduate Introduction to Financial Mathematics I realized that the formulas where jumping over my head.

Besides, its been a long time since I have done any Mathematics.

So I decided to write the compounding formula as a program. You can find the program below:

# Print out the purpose of the program
print("This program computes the compound amount using monthly compounding")
print("Reference: An Undergraduate Introduction to Financial Mathematics (Page 3)\n")

# Ask the user for the principal amount
principal = float(input("Please enter the principal amount: "))

# Ask the user for the rate as a percentage
rate = float(input("Please enter the rate: "))

# Ask the user for the number of years as a decimal value
years = float(input("Please enter the number of years as a decimal value: "))

# Compute the compound amount (Page 3)
r_n = rate / (12 * 100)
nt = years * 12
factor = (1 + r_n) ** nt
compound_amount = principal * factor
print("\nThe compound amount is:", round(compound_amount, 2))

In doing so, I have a ready made program that I can use to solve the exercises in the book without having to use a calculator.

Conclusion

The essence of code is to replace human rigour and tedium.

In creating this program, I had to study the formula and come up with my own program.

Now I understand the formula.

You can also find it on GitHub.

Categories
Make Money Online

10 Ways to Make Money Online in 2020 in Nigeria

A jar of coins

Introduction

The year 2019 has come and gone with its heartbreaks and failures.

As we start a new year, I encourage everyone living in Nigeria to consider how they can make money online.

A lot of predictions have been made concerning the economy this year. None of them end well.

The best way to protect yourself is to find a way to make money online.

This post will look at 10 ways to make money online in Nigeria.

I shall testify to things that I have heard and seen.

1. Start a Blog

If you live in Nigeria, you would have heard about Linda Ikeji.

Linda Ikeji would give credence to the blogging industry in Nigeria with her success as a blogger.

Initially starting out of a blogspot account, she would pivot to her current block after running into some trouble with Google.

Blogging is a viable means of making money online in Nigeria.

In addition, it opens up offline opportunities.

To start a blog, you should consider buying a web domain and hosting.

You can get these from Namecheap.

2. Start a YouTube Channel

Fisayo Fosudo runs a YouTube channel where he reviews gadgets.

TechCabal did an interview with him early last year.

The beauty of starting out with YouTube is that you don’t have to start out blind.

They provide education via the YouTube Creator Academy.

3. Write for the Opera News Hub

If you are a writer, you should consider the .

With 163 million active users in Africa, the is where all the content fed to Opera Mini users and Opera News user is gotten from.

4. Online Freelancing

In Nigeria, one platform that Nigerians make money from is Fiverr.

On Fiverr you list the work you can do and you are matched up with a customer that wants your services.

As time goes on an you build your reputation, you can make money money for your services.

5. Cryptocurrency Trading

Last year, I would learn about Digital Currencies.

With all the dangers ahead of the Nigerian economy, cryptocurrencies are a form of insurance.

Cryptocurrency trading is one way Nigerians make money online.

I have been privileged to meet a few cryptocurrency traders in Nigeria.

They have lost money at various times but have mastered their craft.

6. Affiliate Marketing

The way affiliate marketing works is as paid referrals.

So if I tell you about a product and you then go ahead to buy it, the owner of the product pays me a commission.

A lot of services have affiliate programs.

You only have to search for them.

7. Copywriting

Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing.

The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.

As the world becomes more digital, this is an important skill that will pay dividend.

8. eCommerce

The last 10 years have witnessed the rise of eCommerce in Nigeria.

Jumia and Konga have been through the eye of the needle and provided the industry with important lessons.

At the end of the decade, the entire industry has figured out online payments.

If you want to make money online, you can consider getting an online store and selling your products from there.

Two options to consider are WordPress and Shopify.

9. Create and Sell Online Courses

You cannot talk about online courses in Nigeria and not mention Stephanie Obi.

In a very short time, she has been able to carve out a niche for herself.

There are a lot of platforms to use in creating online courses.

Stephanie has even gone ahead to create her own called TrainQuarters.

10. Social Media Marketing

Platforms like Instagram have spawned entire ecosystems for buying and selling.

Typically, the seller posts the item that the want to sell.

Then a prospective buyer sends them a message and a transaction occurs.

This will get bigger in the years to come.

Conclusion

A new year as begun with the promise of opportunities to make money online.

You would be wise to take the time out to learn how to make money online.

Welcome to a brave new world.

Categories
Book Review

RaphaelJS: Graphics and Visualization on the Web

RaphaelJS: Graphics and Visualization on the Web

Introduction

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are an XML-based vector image format for two-dimensional graphics with support for interactivity and animation.

Vector graphics are drawn on the screen mathematically. They are scalable without loss in quality.

In working with vector graphics, you can write them out from scratch or use a library like Raphaël.

Three books have been written on Raphaël they are:

  1. RaphaelJS Starter
  2. Learning Raphael JS Vector Graphics
  3. RaphaelJS

Yesterday, I finished reading RaphaelJS thus finishing my study of the books in my list.

This post is a review of the book.

Author

RaphaelJS was written by Chris Wilson in 2013.

Chris Wilson is now the Director of Data Journalism at TIME Inc.

Before Time, he was a Senior Editor at Slate News and a Columnist at Yahoo News.

Book Format

The book starts off simple with the basic template for a Raphaël project.

From that point on, once a topic is introduced, the author goes out of his way to create a project with that topic.

The projects covered include:

  1. Braille Generator
  2. Dominoes
  3. Bouncing Ball
  4. Metronome
  5. Choropleth Map
  6. The Animated Solar System

You leave this book inspired to create your own projects.

Conclusion

RaphaelJS is a great read as it will inspire you to create in the browser.

As a new year begins, if you plan to learn Data Visualisation, do look at this book.

Categories
Book Review

We the Living

Introduction

This Christmas was my worst Christmas ever.

The political uncertainty in the country spoiled all my plans during the year and then the border closure spoiled Christmas for the whole nation.

Before the closure of the border in August this year, the price of a bag of rice was N7,000.

By Christmas, the price of a bag of rice had gone to N27,000.

There is a lot of talk about people leaving the country.

I have decided to stay.

When people cannot go forward, they go back to a place where it all makes sense.

I would go back to the past and read We the Living by Ayn Rand.

This post is a review of the book from my perspective as a Nigerian living in Lagos, Nigeria.

Characters and Plot

The Wikipedia entry on We the Living already contains the plot for the book.

The three main characters are: Kira Argounova, Leo Kovalensky and Andrei Taganov.

The book starts off with Kira on a train with her family returning back to Petrograd.

It describes the living standards in the country at the year 1922 and how bad things were in Russia.

The Proletarian are the bottom class before the revolution but after the revolution become pushed up the ranks.

Kira falls in love with Leo but when he falls sick and is nearing death, she has to go to Andrei who is a party member and a member of the secret police and becomes his mistress.

The book take you on a journey detailing how the world around Kira crumbles until finally, she loses everything

In desperation, she tries to escape Russia and is shot at the border.

Nigerian Context

This book mirrors life in Nigeria at the moment.

This year, the government closed the border and the prices of food stuff when up.

The quality of life went down.

Seeing similarities with Russia at the time helps you know that the world moves on.

Impact

During the course of reading the book, I would fall into despair.

However, as the book progressed, I realized that unlike Kira who wanted to become and engineer, I was one.

Unlike her, I wasn’t locked in.

I could travel.

Most importantly, I had the web.

Conclusion

As the future of Nigeria becomes in doubt, most people will be looking for how to escape.

This book showed my how bad it could get but filled me with ideas on how to protect myself in the years ahead.