thinking out loud

SOPA, PIPA and the Dying Hollywood

2012-01-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

If you are in the tech business and didn't know about SOPA or PIPA yet then something must be really wrong with you. For the non-geeks SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA(Protect Ip Act) are two legislations proposed by the United States congress and senate to give government the right to seize domain names of companies or individuals they feel are aiding the piracy of American intellectual property.
The idea naturally didn't go down well with people in the tech industry and people stood up against it. Major websites even blacked out for hours to register their protest against governments attempt to take over the Internet. In the end, the idea is suspended.

Naturally the lobby group pushing for the adaptation of the legislation are the ones representing big hollywood studios. This lead me to the realization that hollywood is dying. SOPA and PIPA is a desperate attempt by a sinking hollywood to grab anything they believe can keep them afloat for any time longer.

This point of view is even more aptly articulated by the folks at Y-Combinator. They did not only stop atacknowledging that hollywood is dying, they went as far as offering to fund a good startup idea that will accelerate that death. If you wonder why they are taking such a stand, then know that hollywood will not die a natural death with fighting back and in the process causing many casualties. The faster the demise, the less casualties they cause.

The following is from Y-Combinator's page requesting for startup ideas

"Hollywood appears to have peaked. If it were an ordinary industry (film cameras, say, or typewriters), it could look forward to a couple decades of peaceful decline. But this is not an ordinary industry. The people who run it are so mean and so politically connected that they could do a lot of damage to civil liberties and the world economy on the way down. It would therefore be a good thing if competitors hastened their demise. "

Read the whole article here

I Smell A Revolution

2012-01-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

Not that I have ever been in a revolution before, but the recent protests regarding the removal of petrol subsidy by the Nigerian government smells different from any other protest I have seen in Nigeria before. I thought then, that most be the smell of revolution. I did once posted on this blog that our on-line revolutionaries were just talking and can't do much in the real world. I guess I may be wrong, people are indeed pushing into the real world. It all started when some people in Abuja communicated via some social network technologies to meet at the Eagle Square to sign a petition against the petrol subsidy removal. In less than two hours, more than a thousand people have gathered. And that's despite the fact that most Abuja residents were out of town not back from the new year break. The police made some arrests but the released the people the next day.

Other cities followed suit with massive protests. These include Lagos, Kano, Gusau, Benin, Kaduna, Yola to mention just a few. Today is the fifth day of protests and it seems to be growing even bigger.

The Kano Convenant
The most interesting of all the protesting cities in Nigeria so far is Kano. In Kano apart from the fact that protesters sleep over at the venue of the protest, there was also a convenant that Christians and Muslims will protect each other during their respective prayers. The evil Nigerian political elite have always used religious difference to divide the masses. I think the unprecedented Kano convenant has taken them unawares.

Nigerian Hackers
So far some group of Nigerian hackers have been expressing their anger by attacking some websites and placing messages on the front page expressing their anger with the government. These may not be too legal but the mistake has already been made. The Federal Government has unleashed the devils in many Nigerians. The website to attacked is that of the Federal Ministry of Transport.

Government Playing Tough
The Federal Government has so far declared that the fuel subsidy removal is final and it will not revert. I think the government is being dumb instead of being tough as they think. Closing all options for the masses means the masses will eventually resolve to any means possible to get back at the decision makers. It's not going to be pretty. People are no longer afraid of dying. I heard many protesters urging their comrades to proceed even if they are killed in the process.

The ruling elite seems to be ignorant of history, it seems history is about to made but they choose to be on the wrong side of it.

The best thing the government should do is not to let the protests turn violent by avoiding brute force and listening to the people. Apparently they think that is cowardice.

"Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable"

- J. F. Kennedy

Time will tell.

iTribute

2011-10-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

For most techies Steve Jobs is either a hero or a villain. Personally I consider him both a hero and a villain. In terms of innovation Steve Jobs has literally brought computing to it's current state. From the proliferation of the graphical user interface to the current rage of tablet computers.

On the other hand, I think Steve's business style is ruthless, he is an absolute dictator on how you use his company's products. Though that ruthlessness has paid off considering the fact that apple is now the biggest company in the world in terms of market value.

I have never met or dreamed of meeting Steve, but now that he is gone. It just dawned on me that we really need people people like Steve to be pushing the limits of technology.

I made an impulsive tribute to Steve Jobs on facebook when I heard about his demise. I am reprinting that Tribute below because I felt that it expressed my true sentiments towards Steve Jobs.

I have never been a fan of Steve Jobs, but I have always respected him for defying the norms and pushing the limits of technology. He was ruthlessly efficient and has became a legend in technology spheres. He has left a vacuum that will take teams and not an individual to fill.
Bye Steve Jobs
You will be missed.

This is not just a tribute, it's an iTribute.

No You Can't Be A Programmer

2011-09-30T12:45:00.000-07:00

Often people ask me the question, how do I become a programmer? My answer is always the same, learn programming. Naturally the next question is; how do I learn programming? That is when I pretend to be nice and give them a short lecture on how to learn programming.

In reality the answer I always feel like giving for both questions is; you can't be a programmer. Yes, anybody that ask you how to become a programmer is not a person that is likely to learn programming.

The true programmer-to-be would have found out how to become a programmer on his own. The true programmer-to-be would have found out about the various programming languages and technologies on his own. Therefore he will be asking questions like which programming language do you think I should learn? or how do I create GUI programs on windows?

People that successfully learn to write programs have some common traits;

• They love solving problems
• They love intellectual challenges
• They love learning new things
• They only ask other people when they can't find answers on their own
• They study not only things they are told to study but also things they find interesting.
• They can endure a thousand failures to savour that moment of success.

So if you are the type that is always on facebook but still ask people how to become a programmer instead of Googling it out, sorry you are not ready to become a programmer.

New Players In Space

2011-09-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

China seems to be completing the takeover from U.S.A as the world leading country. There are many factors that made me think so, but the most interesting to me is space technology.
China successfully put man in space for the first time in 2003. After that they had several manned space expeditions and also had their first spacewalk. Today China successfully launched it's first space laboratory Tiangong-1 into orbit. They plan to launch Senzhou-8 soon and will couple with Tiangong-1 to mark the first steps into building their space station which they hope to complete by 2015.

In contrast the U.S.A is retiring it's space shuttle program for good. In the future, U.S.A will have to rely on Russia to convey it's astronauts to space. They are however hoping that American private companies will rise up and fill that gap left in conveying astronauts to space. This will cost the American government about $50 million dollars per astronaut.

Other countries that may be playing greater roles space technology in the near future may include Turkey and Nigeria. Yes, Nigeria. Nigeria has recently lauched it's second and third earth observation satellites namely NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X. NigeriaSat-X signifies major progress for Nigerian space ambitions because it is built entirely by Nigerian engineers.

Many Nigerians argue that Nigeria should suspend it's space program
because it has no impact on the ordinary man's life. I think that is not true, the average Nigerian simply doesn't know the impact of our satellite on his life. NigeriaSat-1 has immensely helped in getting early warning signs of floods but I must admit the relevant government agencies failed to act on the information.

Others argue that we shouldn't worry about space technology when we have things like good health care delivery and stable electricity to worry about. But just because the ministries of health and power are not meeting the expectations of Nigerians doesn't mean that the science and technology ministry should stay back and wait for them. It's like telling a person not to buy a TV or electric iron until we have stable power supply. Developing the various sectors of our national life should be carried out in parallel. Moreover Nigeria spent less on it's space program than it has spent in hosting football tournaments.

I am of the view that Nigeria can leapfrog into the space technology field like China did. All that is needed is a lot of discipline and optimism. A Chinese scientist recently said that three decades ago, the thought of China going into space will sound like science fiction. I hope a few years from now, a Nigerian scientist can look back and say the same.

Muslims And Irrational Thinking

2011-08-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

I received an interesting mail from a friend about the irrational spendings of Nigerian Muslims in the name of religion. This is something that has been bothering me for long because I see people in my immediate environment doing so. The problem is you get accused of being too westernized for stating the obvious. Finally Muslim clerics are also beginning to call against our outrageous annual spending on Umrah (voluntary pilgrimage). I reproduce the content of the mail below.

Dr. Ahmad Gumi on Umrah

Dr. Ahmad Gummi made the following brief comment in an internet forum regarding our misplaced obsession with Umrah and I feel compelled to bring it to the notice of my readers:

In as much as there is a general excitement among the rich Muslims to go on Umra during the fasting period, we need to note that the extra virtue of Umrah in Ramadan is contestable among the scholars because the hadith in question was narrated to apply to specific people at a specific time (Ibn Kathir). Also, the practical sunnah of the Prophet and the salaf did not promote it.

However, the ibadat whose extra virtues are not contestable are:

1. Feeding the poor (remember that Somalians are dying of hunger).

2. Treating the sick (remember that treatable communicable diseases are the number one killer diseases in Africa

3. Promoting education (remember that the number one malady of the Ummah is ignorance)
Calling to Islam (remember that the image of true Islam needs to be corrected)

4. Solving these issues requires money and spending generously on them is BETTER and more VIRTUOUS than to spend on umra in Ramadan or the voluntary hajj.

DR. ALIYU TILDE'S COMMENT:

Despite the incessant calls for spending on the above issues in place of Umrah, Nigerian Muslim elites continue to undertake the Umrah annually. Just some few hours ago, the BBC announced that British citizens have raised $68million (N11 billion) for victims of famine in Somalia, coming second only to the US which raised a slightly higher amount. How much has the Muslim World raised, apart from the anticipated donation from Saudi Arabia? How can we Muslims claim a better moral pedestal than the West?

Where are the Muslim charity groups, including the Red Crescent? We only hear about Oxfam and other charities from the very West that al-Shabab is preventing from reaching the affected areas.

If it were only for our dismal effort, the affected populations in Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and now Uganda would be wiped out. There is an ever ready alibi for our inaction: "It is God who caused the draught and the deaths. If he did not wish it, it would not have happened." Of what benefit would it be to God if He sees infants dying? There is something missing in us. The earlier we start looking for it the better. Can we ever wake up and believe in our capacity to improve on our condition without resorting to blaming God?

I have long ago reached the conclusion that the problem is in our brains. Consider this arithmetic:

If the umrah going Muslims among Nigerians would agree to spend the cost of their umrah on education, many schools would have been built across the country. Not less than N2billion is spent annually, which is enough to build 10 hospitals or 200 primary schools annually. That is 200 hospitals or 2,000 schools – modern or Qur’anic – across the nation in just ten years! In our weird thinking, we feel spending these colossal amounts in quest for a reward on an act of worship whose virtue is even contestable among the scholars is better than using them to solve our social problems. Mhm.

Unless the Muslim World subscribes to rational thinking, it must abandon any hope of solving its problems of poverty, ignorance, disease and backwardness. However, it is not that we are incapable of rational thinking, we are afraid of it.

May God reward Dr. Ahmad Gummi for his nasiha.

I think Muslims all over the world have a responsibility of being fair to themselves before crying of unfair treatment from others.

Introvert vs Extrovert

2011-08-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

The first time I knew the meaning of the words introvert and extrovert, I was in primary school. Interestingly the teacher used me as an example of an introvert and one of my classmates as an extrovert. The unspoken conclusion of the teacher which I took from his explanations is that there are more advantages in being an extrovert than in being an introvert. He suggested that extroverts are go getters and are not afraid of meeting people. Based on that class, I have occasionally tried to stir up the extrovert in me until I realized that the teacher was wrong. I have managed to overcome all the introvert weaknesses he has stated without changing who I am. So, recently I came across an article, Top Ten Myths About Introverts and I realized that what my teacher thought were weaknesses of introverts were actually peculiarities and can be used as advantages. I believe the article has concisely driven home the points about the many misconceptions about introverts and I think those points deserve to be reproduced here

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

I particularly liked where the author said “You cannot escape us, and to change us would lead to your demise.”

Al-Yahoo Bin Scammer

2011-06-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

It's funny how online fraudsters never give up in trying to dupe people their money. I have received many 419 emails before but none was as funny as the one I reproduce below. The scammer seems to target Muslims specifically, talk of niche market.

DEAR FRIEND,

I AM ABU ABDULLAH JAFAR WALID. I AM 44 YEARS OLD.I AM A CITIZEN OF JORDAN, BUT I AM RESIDENT IN CAYMAN BRAC ISLAND LOCATED SOUTH OF CUBA.I WAS BORN AN ORPHAN. I HAVE NO FATHER OR MOTHER, AND I HAVE NO RELATIVES.

I STRUGGLED AND WORKED HARD AND ALMIGHTY ALLAH BLESSED ME ABUNDANTLY WITH RICHES.I USED TO BE A DEALER IN GOLD AND DIAMONDS.I AM NOW OLD AND SICK.I HAVE NO WIFE AND I HAVE NO CHILDREN.I DID NOT GET MARRIED DUE TO A PERSONAL REASON I CANNOT DISCLOSE TO YOU.

FOR 2 YEARS NOW I AM SERIOUSLY SICK AND I AM PRESENTLY IN HOSPITAL. THE ILLNESS GOT COMPLICATED AND I SUFFERED A HEART ATTACK WHICH HAS AFFECTED MY SPEECH AND HEARING.I CAN NO LONGER TALK AND I AM ALSO DEAF. HALF OF MY BODY IS PARALYZED.

I SEND YOU THIS MAIL WITH THE HELP OF THE PRIVATE LAWYER ASSISTING ME. I CAN ONLY MOVE MY RIGHT HAND, AND I AM ABLE TO WRITE LITTLE WITH IT. WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN IS BEEN SENT TO YOU VIA EMAIL BY MY LAWYER AND CARE TAKER.

I HAVE LITTLE TIME SO I HAVE COMMITTED IT TO SPREADING MY WEALTH TOWARDS BETTER HEALTH CARE FOR MANKIND IN THE HOSPITAL WHERE I AM, I HAVE GIVEN THE MANAGEMENT ENOUGH FUNDS TO UPGRADE AND BUILD A NEW CANCER RESEARCH FACILITY. THIS WILL PROVIDE BETTER HEALTH CARE FOR OTHER CANCER PATIENTS.

I DON'T KNOW YOU, BUT MY HEART DIRECTS ME THAT I MUST CHOOSE A TOTAL STRANGER TO CARRYOUT THESE TASK. DUE TO MY CONDITION AND THE WISH OF ALMIGHTY ALLAH I AM CONTACTING YOU WITH THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL CARRYOUT MY INSTRUCTION FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY.I HAVE US$16M IN GOLD. I WANT YOU TO TAKE CUSTODY OF THE GOLD, SELL IT AND USE THE MONEY TO BUILD AN ORPHANAGE IN YOUR COUNTRY. YOU WILL NAME IT ABU ABDULLAH JAFAR WALID ORPHANAGE HOME.

THESE IS MY HEART DESIRE.YOU MUST FOLLOW MY WISH FOR IT WILL GLADDEN THEHEART OF ALMIGHTY ALLAH.

IF YOU ARE READY TO DO THIS AND CARRYOUT MY WISH, THEN SEND ME.

[1] FULL NAMES

[2] PHONE/FAX NUMBER

[3] RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

[4] OCCUPATION

WITH THE HELP OF MY PRIVATE lawyer I WILL BE IN CONTACT WITH YOU.

MY PRIVATE EMAIL IS: walid_jafarabu@hotmail.com

I AWAIT YOUR REPLY.
MAY ALMIGHTY ALLAH {SALL ALLAHU ALAYHI WASALLAM} EXTEND HIS MERCY OVER
YOUR HOUSEHOLD?

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

ABU ABDULLAH JAFAR WALID

ASSALAMU ALYKUM WARAHAMATULLAHI WABARAKATUH

He almost succeeded in sounding like a Muslim but unfortunately he doesn't know that Muslims don't use the words "SALL ALLAHU ALAYHI WASALLAM" to praise Allah. Wow, that's almost blasphemous. You use that after the name of the prophet Muhammad (SAW).

Sorry Mr Walid, any average Muslim can see through you.

In-browser Desktop Apps

2011-03-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have talked about the blurring of the line between desktop, mobile and web apps here and here. I think the developers GTK+ have taken a big step towards that. With the GTK+ 3.2 you can run any (desktop) application in a browser.

Watch the video here

The Black PC Inventor

2011-03-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

As a software developer, I've always wondered why there are almost no famous black people in computer and ICT field. Was it that black people were never interested in that field or were they denied opportunities during the early days of the computers.
Actually none of the above was the case. Actually some black people have made their mark in the IT field but are just never celebrated.

One very good example is Mark Dean, a vice president at IBM. Mark Dean literally invented the personal computer as we know it. He is the architect of the personal computer and holds three of the the original nine patents that all PCs are based upon.

Without Dean's work, people like Bill Gates and Michael Dell will never be where they are today. But yet, the 20th anniversary of the personal computer was celebrated without anybody mentioning his name.

Dr Mark Dean later made history again by leading the team that created the first 1-gigahertz processor chip.

Dr Dean made my past assumption that black people never participated in the computer revolution wrong. In fact it is not wrong to say that he brought about the revolution itself.

MTN FastLink On Linux

2011-01-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

MTN Nigeria now has linux support for their FastLink data service. Though distros like Ubuntu has support for mobile broadband out of the box, one cannot do things like sending SMS or USSD without third party applications. One can now install the FastLink software found in the Linux folder on the modem. The one I tried came with a Huawei E1550 usb stick modem.

Running on Ubuntu 10.04

Wether this is from MTN or Huawei, it's good for us Linux users.

Minutes To 2011 (Quotes)

2010-12-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

It's Friday December 31st 2010 11:28 PM just 32 minutes to 2011. I feel like posting a few unrelated Quotes I came across.

Nobody can give you justice, nobody can give you freedom or equality or anything. If you are a man, you take it.

-Malcolm X

Don't give up, for that is ignorance and not according to the rules of this art...Like the lover you cannot hope to achieve success without infinite perseverance

-Muhammad Bin Muhammad Al-Fulani Al-Kashinawi

You know you are a geek when your car cost $500 and your computer $5000.

-Unknown

Everyday is new year day, depending on when you start counting

-Me

Ubuntu Nigeria

2010-12-30T13:30:00.000-08:00

When I started using Linux around the year 2002, I felt like I belong to an elite group of computer users. Back then I believe there were less than 10 of us in Maiduguri. But apart from feeling important, I also felt a little bit odd, because it's always difficult to tell an average Windows user why I run Linux. Not everybody understands the excitement of exploring something new, different and flexible as Linux. I think it was RedHat 8.0. But 8 years later, now the situation is different, it's not uncommon to see, everyday computer users including elderly people now running Linux. And this is all thanks to Ubuntu. As it's slogan goes "Linux For Human Beings", Ubuntu has brought Linux to the non-techies without taking the flexibility away. Though without concrete data, I believe Ubuntu has seen a great increase in users not only in Maiduguri but across Nigeria. A testimony to that is the Ubuntu Nigeria blog

Vala

2010-10-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Programmers know that choosing a programming language involve trade-offs. You may wish to use language A because it provides feature X but can't live without feature Y which is only found in language B. For example you may wish to use C because it produces native code that runs fast but cannot live without garbage collection which is found in Java or C#.

Based on that I normally categorize programming languages into three broad groups

1- Interpreted languages like Python and Ruby
2- Run-time dependent compiled languages like Java and C#
3-Native compiled languages like C.

Languages like C are bare-bone languages with very little convenience features like strings or garbage collection but they produce binaries that run very fast.

Interpreted languages sacrifice speed for convenience, they are usually very easy to use but run very slowly compared to compiled languages.

Languages like C# and Java tries to give you best of both worlds in that they provide convenient language features and compile to target a virtual machine at the expense of a little speed.

Vala is a new language developed by the GNOME community. It aims to give the best of all worlds. It comes with convenience of languages like Java and C# and compiles to native binary just like C.

Vala is still in development but is pretty mature to be used for many tasks and is available for Linux and Windows.

The language is introduced on the Vala site as follows;

Vala is a new programming language that aims to bring modern programming language features to GNOME developers without imposing any additional runtime requirements and without using a different ABI compared to applications and libraries written in C

Find it at http://live.gnome.org/Vala

Independence Day

2010-09-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Friday 1st October 2010. On that day Nigeria will attain fifty years of political independence. Many argue that there is nothing to celebrate but I disagree. Despite the fact that there are many bumps on the road since 1960, I believe we should look at the brighter side of things instead of perpetually lamenting. We may complain of corruption and bad governance and even argue that Nigeria is a failed state. What we forget is that "Failed State" helped brought an end to apartheid in South Africa and fought for peace in many African states.

Whether to celebrate or not is not the issue, the important thing is that day should not be allowed to pass unnoticed. We either choose to celebrate or reflect. Talking about reflection, I bumped across a copy of the independence speech given by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa on 1st October 1960.

I reproduce it below as lifted from Webtrends Nigeria

Today is Independence Day. The first of October 1960 is a date to which for two years every Nigerian has been eagerly looking forward. At last, our great day has arrived, and Nigeria is now indeed an independent sovereign nation.

Words cannot adequately express my joy and pride at being the Nigerian citizen privileged to accept from Her Royal Highness these Constitutional Instruments which are the symbols of Nigeria’s Independence. It is a unique privilege which I shall remember for ever, and it gives me strength and courage as I dedicate my life to the service of our country.

This is a wonderful day, and it is all the more wonderful because we have awaited it with increasing impatience, compelled to watch one country after another overtaking us on the road when we had so nearly reached our goal. But now we have acquired our rightful status, and I feel sure that history will show that the building of our nation proceeded at the wisest pace: it has been thorough, and Nigeria now stands well- built upon firm foundations.

Today’s ceremony marks the culmination of a process which began fifteen years ago and has now reached a happy and successful conclusion. It is with justifiable pride that we claim the achievement of our Independence to be unparalleled in the annals of history. Each step of our constitutional advance has been purposefully and peacefully planned with full and open consultation, not only between representatives of all the various interests in Nigeria but in harmonious cooperation with the administering power which has today relinquished its authority.

At the time when our constitutional development entered upon its final phase, the emphasis was largely upon self-government. We, the elected representatives of the people of Nigeria, concentrated on proving that we were fully capable of managing our own affairs both internally and as a nation. However, we were not to be allowed the selfish luxury of focusing our interest on our own homes. In these days of rapid communications we cannot live in isolation, apart from the rest of the world, even if we wished to do so. All too soon it has become evident that for us Independence implies a great deal more than self-government. This great country, which has now emerged without bitterness or bloodshed, finds that she must at once be ready to deal with grave international issues.

This fact has of recent months been unhappily emphasized by the startling events which have occurred in this continent. I shall not labour the point but it would be unrealistic not to draw attention first to the awe-inspiring task confronting us at the very start of our nationhood. When this day in October 1960 was chosen for our Independence it seemed that we were destined to move with quiet dignity to place on the world stage. Recent events have changed the scene beyond recognition, so that we find ourselves today being tested to the utmost We are called upon immediately to show that our claims to responsible government are well-founded, and having been accepted as an indepedent state we must at once play an active part in maintaining the peace of the world and in preserving civilisation. I promise you, we shall not fail for want of determination.

And we come to this task better-equipped than many. For this, I pay tribute to the manner in which successive British Governments have gradually transferred the burden of responsibility to our shoulders. The assistance and unfailing encouragement which we have received from each Secretary of State for the Colonies and their intense personal interest in our development has immeasurably lightened that burden.

All our friends in the Colonial Office must today be proud of their handiwork and in the knowledge that they have helped to lay the foundations of a lasting friendship between our two nations. I have indeed every confidence that, based on the happy experience of a successful partnership, our future relations with the United Kingdom will be more cordial than ever, bound together, as we shall be in the Commonwealth, by a common allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, whom today we proudly acclaim as Queen of Nigeria and Head of the Commonwealth.

Time will not permit the individual mention of all those friends, many of them Nigerians, whose selfless labours have contributed to our Independence. Some have not lived to see the fulfilment of their hopes—on them be peace—but nevertheless they are remembered here, and the names of buildings and streets and roads and bridges throughout the country recall to our minds their achievements, some of them on a national scale. Others confined, perhaps, to a small area in one Division, are more humble but of equal value in the sum-total.

Today, we have with us representatives of those who have made Nigeria: Representatives of the Regional Governments, of former Central Governments, of the Missionary Societies, and of the Banking and Commercial enterprises, and members, both past and present, of the Public Service. We welcome you, and we rejoice that you have been able to come and share in our celebrations. We wish that it could have been possible for all of those whom you represent to be here today: Many, I know, will be disappointed to be absent, but if they are listening to me now, I say to them: ‘Thank you on behalf of my Thank you for your devoted service which helped build up Nigeria into a nation. Today we are reaping the harvest which you sowed, and the quality of the harvest is equalled only by our gratitude to you. May God bless you all.

This is an occasion when our hearts are filled with conflicting emotions: we are, indeed, proud to have achieved our independence, and proud that our efforts should have contributed to this happy event. But do not mistake our pride for arrogance. It is tempered by feelings of sincere gratitude to all who have shared in the task of developing Nigeria politically, socially and economically. We are grateful to the British officers whom we have known, first as masters, and then as leaders, and finally as partners, but always as friends. And there have been countless missionaries who have laboured unceasingly in the cause of education and to whom we owe many of our medical services. We are grateful also to those who have brought modern methods of banking and of commerce, and new industries. I wish to pay tribute to all of these people and to declare our everlasting admiration of their devotion to duty.

And, finally, I must express our gratitude to Her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra of Kent for personally bringing to us these symbols of our freedom, and especially for delivering the gracious message from Her Majesty The Queen. And so, with the words ‘God Save Our Queen’, I open a new chapter in the history of Nigeria, and of the Commonwealth, and indeed of the world.

Sources:

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Mr. Prime Minister: A Selection of Speeches Made by Alhaji the Right Honourable Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, K.B.E., M.P., Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Apapa: Nigerian National Press, Ltd., 1964).

A Little Mathematics For Independence Day

2010-08-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

This year (2010) 17 African countries will mark their 50 years of independence from colonial rule. Many people especially in Nigeria think there is nothing much to celebrate. Some go on to call Nigeria names like "fool at fifty". I am not going to argue for or against that point of view but I will try to make a comparison of Nigeria with the United States and see whether we have made any progress in the last fifty years. I picked the U.S.A because people often cite examples with the United States when trying to make a point about how backward we are.

The United States became independent in 1776, that is 234 years ago. If we are to assume both Nigeria and the U.S are human beings and the U.S to be an adult of 40 years old then how old will Nigeria be in comparison.
Using simple mathematics we can apply the following formula

50/234 = x/40

where x is Nigeria's age if it were human.

x =8.54 years

So Nigeria is only an 8 year old child compared to the 40 year old America. For a child of that age, I think we've not done too bad.

Dealing With Piracy

2010-08-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article about Selling Software In China and came across the following statement under the topic "Dealing With Piracy";

"Actually “Dealing with piracy” is a misleading title, because in reality there is no way to deal with piracy. People will crack, copy and use your software as they wish, and they will not even feel guilty about it. Again, let’s not judge, but accept the fact that piracy is simply part of the culture (for some it is piracy, for others it is just sharing) Instead of talking about code scramblers and licensing keys, let me offer here a contrarian (perhaps even controversial) point of view, in the wisdom of “if you can’t fight them, join them”. You should consider yourself lucky if your software gets pirated, because that means that it got traction. For every pirated software there is always a happy user behind it (after all, they chose to pirate your software, and not your competitor’s), and if this user convinces their employer to use your software, then there is a good chance that these companies will be your future clients."

This statement makes a lot of sense to me. Instead of looking at piracy from the constant negative point of view why don't we try to be innovative and tactically deal with, and profit from it. For example, companies like Oracle and Microsoft have made some money in Nigeria because of piracy. The easy availability of pirated copies of their software gets a lot of users for them and these users end up paying for the certifications offered by these companies. Imagine a piracy free Nigeria where users only have access to legitimate copies of these software, definitely there will be very little or no users and almost zero dollars generated from the certifications.

I am not saying piracy is good, but if you can't get through it why not get around it.

Webification Part 2

2010-07-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

By now it is obvious that the web 2.0 revolution will be hinged on some particular technologies. The most important of which are JavaScript and HTML5. These technologies are all available today in most modern browsers and have started to prove that we can build desktop like applications in the browsers. But there is a flip side to the in-browser web 2.0 revolution, what happens if these technologies were made available outside the browser. What happens if modern desktop environments support JavaScript, CSS and HTML5 out of the box? What happens if web 2.0 is brought out of the browser unto the desktop instead of squeezing the desktop into the browser.

Imagine designing your desktop application GUI with HTML and CSS and getting your desktop OS to interpret JavaScript outside the browser. That way web applications can run directly on the desktop. That way all web developers automatically become desktop developers without requiring any additional skills. That way, the line between desktop application development and web application development disappears. The same can also be done on mobile operating systems. Then the dream of write once run everywhere will finally be achieved and above all it will be achieved on open standards.

Imagine having a desktop shortcut that downloads and starts a JavaScript application and runs it natively without requiring any changes. That is the future of software I envisage. The good news is that future doesn't seems to be very far away.

GNOME 3 desktop has a built-in JavaScript interpreter and also supports theming with CSS. The default text editor GEdit allows on-line real time collaboration. The default note taking application let's you drop notes into the instant messaging application allowing easy note sharing.

That may not exactly be the future I imagine, but it's a huge step in the right direction. The future will be such that you can't draw a clear line separating web, desktop and mobile applications.

And that future is almost here.

Webification Part 1

2010-07-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

I've blogged before about my view on the future of software development. I argued that there will be a blurring of the line dividing web application development and native/desktop application development. I clearly disagreed with the argument that everything is going to move to the web. One of my key arguments was that the web was originally a presentation or publishing platform, so hacking it into a processing platform just won't be enough.

But a lot has been happening in the web space. HTML5 looks like it's going to change the game and JavaScript just keeps getting faster in all major browsers. Tools like GWT make it easy to write client side web applications using Java and VisualWebGui allows you to do the same with .NET languages.

Clearly Google is one company that is really pushing for the migration to the web. They have created a market place for web applications and have supported HTML5 on their chrome browser and on android. Given the financial and cerebral power of Google, you can bet they have the capacity to make a huge impact.

So is it time for the Webification of all applications? My guess is still no. Google itself is still actively writing desktop applications like Google desktop search and Google earth desktop client. This is because they know that an all out migration to web still doesn't look feasible.

Obviously there will be more and more web applications written than before, but that doesn't mean all applications will be moved to the web. Google knows that and that is why applications targeting android are written with Java to target the android virtual machine without any JavaScript getting involved.

Nigerian Internet Revolutionaries

2010-07-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

By Internet revolutionaries I am not referring to those people that brought about the Internet revolution but to those people that think they can bring a revolution using the Internet. Many times you come across them in forums or see their comments on blogs and news sites. They talk about how bad things are in Nigeria and how frustrated they are and how very soon those on top will pay for everything they owe.

The ones I am very familiar with are typically found on the political section of Nairaland or commenting to articles on 234next.

First of all, I disagree with their idea of a violent revolution being the solution to our problems in Nigeria. The solution should be built from the ground up and not the other way round.
The solution starts from you, what have you done lately to make things better. Have you stopped shunting in queues? Have you managed to fill that pot hole on the road in your neighborhood? Have you stopped that guy dumping refuse by the roadside. No I don't think so, because all those things happen in the real world and not in cyberspace. To get to the real world, you have to leave the coziness of your room or office and get out to make a change.

But I forgot, just getting outside is not enough because the greater number of the revolutionaries have left the country and plan to come back only when things get better.

Definitely the revolution will come, it will not involve shedding blood but individual efforts coming together to build a better system. But the Internet revolutionaries are going to miss it. They will miss it because it will not be fun as they imagined. They will miss it because they can't risk leaving facebook , twitter or Nairaland for so long as five minutes.

But they will read about the revolution, in fact, they have been reading about it because the real revolutionaries also use technology, but they don't call for bloodshed. They use technology to create positive change. And after adventures in the real world, some come to cyberspace and tell their stories in blogs and forums. They just know that you don't tweet a revolution.

So. What have you done for Nigeria lately?

10 Myths About Linux

2010-07-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have been using Linux alongside Windows as a dual boot setup before deciding to migrate fully to Linux. This decision was prompted not only by the fact that I got tired of managing viruses but also because Linux has evolved to be an easier platform to use. Now the problem I face is when Windows users see me using Linux as my main OS. To my surprise some of them feel offended and often ask why I chose to use an OS that is not user friendly. The interesting thing is that most of them are people that have never used any non-Microsoft operating system. My question is, if you've never tasted a fruit how would you know whether it's sweet, sour or bitter? In reality most of these people have believed and often propagated myths they have heard and believed about Linux. I list ten of such myths and answers for those that believe them.

1- On Linux, you have to use the command line: Nope, you don't have to. Linux have several mature graphical environments that have been found to be more usable than the Windows desktop. Ever heard of GNOME or K.D.E ?

2- Linux is strictly for geeks: The One Laptop Per Child project uses Linux and targets kids and not geeks. Most of the target children have never used a computer before in their lives.

3- It's only good for servers: No, there are many distributions for desktops. One of the most popular is Ubuntu.

4- Linux is safe and virus free because it's not widely used: It's safe because it's well designed and viruses will find it difficult to cause much harm.

5- Hardware support is poor: Every printer I have plugged into my Linux system has worked right away without requiring any driver installation. The only time I installed a driver is to get a certain scanner working.

6- It's Insecure because the source code is available: This argument is caused by ignorance of software building process. Some people think that the Linux source code is available in it's raw form on every Linux system and mistakingly changing a line or a dot will render the system useless. Wrong, the code is built into a binary form for it to run.

7- Free means bad for business: It has fetched RedHat $653 million in 2009. It provides your business good software at no monetary cost.

8- Few applications are available for Linux: Thousands of software are available and a great number of them free of charge.

9- Poor support, hackers and hobbyist are in charge: If you want paid support, then companies like RedHat, Canonical, Novell, Oracle and many more are there for you. Those names don't sound like hobbyists' names.

10- Poor quality because it's developed by amateurs and hackers working across the globe: The open and distributed nature of Linux development means more eyes are there to spot problems and more brains are there to contribute great ideas.

So, don't make any assumption on any software whether proprietary or open source. Get a first hand experience with it first instead of just believing the myths.

Does Startups Have To Be DotComs ?

2010-05-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

I find it really interesting to watch the activities of several technology startup companies across Africa through many blogs that pay attention to such companies. One trend I notice is that almost everyone talking about startups in Africa is basically talking about on-line businesses. The moment you hear "startup" it's almost certain you will hear "web 2.0" or "dotcom" in the same discussion. I think there is more to tech startups than just web based businesses. Some of the technology businesses that changed the course of history were not web oriented. Agreed Google is a glaring example of an excellent web oriented business but how many Googles do we plan to create locally? Microsoft which is the largest software company in the world is still trying to get it's web strategy right.
I am not saying that web startups shouldn't be encouraged but let us not forget that startups do not really have to be dotcoms. In fact very few dotcoms are able to solve real world business challenges in Africa. Let us promote the idea of tech startups in general and not limit ourselves to dotcoms.

FOSS Nigeria 2010

2010-05-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

The second Nigerian free and open source software conference took place from 23rd to 25th of April 2010. The conference was tagged FOSS Nigeria 2010 and it took place and the Center For Democratic Research And Training, Mambayya House in Kano, Nigeria. The main sponsors of the conference are Hutsoft Nigeria limited and the Center For Information Technology (CIT) of the Bayero University Kano. I attended the first conference FOSS Nigeria 2009 last year and have noticed quite some improvement in the organization of the event which shows that the organizers are keen on making it a really great event.

Mustapha Abubakar of Hutsoft

Adrian de Groot K.D.E ev's vice president who was here last year attended this year's event from Netherlands while Frederik Gladhorn a K.D.E developer came from Germany.

Frederik Gladhorn

I am happy to note that this year's event has some participants from the Southern part of Nigeria. I had a brief chat with a team that told me that they are from Ibadan. LPI-Nigeria also sent a representative from Ibadan who conducted the LPI examinations for participants at a good discount. I never got Mr Ola's last name but he is a great guy.

Ola, Frederik, Adriaan and Mustapha at a restaurant.

The range of topics on which talks were given are broad. This range from introduction to K.D.E and Gnome desktops to localizations and open source 3D modelling.

Muhammad Ahmad Abubakar and Abubakar Dala of 3D Formular giving a live demo of blender

Talks were given by the following people

Adriaan De Groot (K.D.E ev)
Auwal Alhassan Tata (CIT, Bayero University Kano)
Frederik Gladhorn (FSFE)
Mustapha Abubakar (Hutsoft Nigeria Limited)
Murtala Kazaure
Ibrahim Abubakar Dasuma (Hutsoft Nigeria Limited)
Abubakar Dala and Muhammad Ahmad Abubakar (3D Formula)

I also gave a talk on making money with free software. I was quite surprised by the way it was received. I noticed some participants taking notes during the talk which tells me that they are keen on implementing some of the ideas I talked about.

This year's event saw the distribution of linux distro CDs (Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Opensuse) to participants. The last day was closed by the presentation of traditional Fulani dresses to Adriaan and Frederik.

10 Years And Just Starting

2010-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

I remember once reading a blog entry by Joel Spolsky that good software takes ten years to get used to. Well I may have written a 10 year old software as well. This year is my tenth year as a programmer. Though I did a bit of programming a little more than ten years ago, I didn't consider myself a programmer until 2000. That was the year me and my team-mates came together to jointly start developing software.

So what have we accomplished in those years?

We have pioneered a software business in the least place you will expect at that time; Maiduguri in the extreme North-East of Nigeria.

We have developed programs that are used by many organizations across Nigeria ranging from corporate bodies to universities to defense institutions .

We have individually and collectively mentored a number of people that went ahead to establish their own startup software business.

We have inspired quite a number of people to start their own technology based businesses.

We have made real friends across Nigeria and beyond that share the same passion for software.

So what has changed in the last 10 years ?

We have moved from sharing a single desktop PC to owning a desktop PC each to working from our laptops and keeping connection through our hand-held devices.

We have also moved from zero Internet connection to paying as high as 14 Naira per minute to always being connected through PC or hand-held.

We are still a team after a decade and the oldest ones among us are just entering their thirties. So when I say we are just starting you know what I mean (bearing any unforeseen circumstances)

I do not know whether my team-mates really remember that we are ten years old now or whether they will be okay with me mentioning their names here (we have an obsession for privacy), but I feel it's important I share this with somebody. Even if it's an anonymous reader of this blog.

U.S.A and the Giant Of Africa

2010-01-31T07:09:00.000-08:00

Recently I'm beginning to get more and more worried about how our government is blowing it's own trumpet too loud. Agreed that we are ahead of many African countries in some sectors of development, but I think it's a bad idea to keep telling ourselves that we are the giant of Africa. The United States also have that mentality, but there phrase is "No. 1" instead of "Giant".
The Americans are ahead of us in that craze because not only the government promotes that concept but even the citizens do. I do not want us to follow the footsteps of U.S.A in self delusion given some disturbing statistics I came across about the United States. Just take time to go through the following

America No. 1? America by the numbers by Michael Ventura 02/03/05 "ICH" - - No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are. An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:

* The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

* The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

* Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).

* "The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).

* Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!

* "The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).

* "Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).

* Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).

* Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.

* The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.

* "The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a "developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.

* Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

* "U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.

* Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).

* The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

* Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

* The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

* "Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

* "Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).

* "Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68).

* The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).

* U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).

* Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).

* Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.

* Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

* As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

* Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.

* One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).

* "Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28).

* "Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).

* Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).

* "Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).

* "The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close. The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

Despite the fact that I think the article's comparison of U.S.A and Europe is unfair given the fact that Europe is not a single country, I still don't want us to end up becoming another U.S.A.

Tech Parks And Forced Innovation

2010-01-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

The Nigerian government at the all tiers must be commended for their awakening to the importance of information technology in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. Despite the fact that it is easy to point out where things are being done wrong, I am inclined to believe that the mistakes are a result of ignorance of both ICT and entrepreneurship. Another factor is the text-book approach the governments are applying to the whole process.
One particular trend that caught my attention is the love for technology parks by governments. Kano state for example has reached advanced stages of setting up their proposed IT park. I also know that Lagos state has a similar project and the FCT has a plan for a technology park. Other states like Cross Rivers and Akwa-Ibom have similar projects. These are all steps in the right direction but are not a guarantee of creating innovation and entrepreneurship.
Innovation and entrepreneurship can only be encouraged but not forced. This is because innovators and entrepreneurs move naturally to the best place that favor their growth and that place doesn't have to be a government built tech park. A perfect example is the Ikeja computer village which is the largest IT market in Africa. This market didn't come to existence through conscious government effort but grew naturally because of several factors that favoured it's growth.
So what should the government do?, I say give us stable electricity and broadband Internet across the country and we'll take it from there.

Nigerian Online Payment Systems

2010-01-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

For some time we've been looking for an on-line payment gateway to integrate to a web project we are developing. So I embarked on a search for a good one that meets our requirements. The most important requirement is that it has to be Nigerian, one might say "Why?". Well, we trust Nigerian because unlike foreign companies we believe they won't freeze our account simply because we are Nigerians.

My search led me to discover some payment systems which I list below.

SurePay from a company called websoft. SurePay is a service which I cannot tell weather I like or not because it is so shrouded in secrecy. The website tells me that as a merchant I can accept interswitch, visa, Mastercard and Etranzact cards payment but refused to show me how. I couldn't get access to their API. They say I need some kind of certification to integrate it to my site and that costs N75,000 plus an activation fee of N50,000. A total of N125,000 before I can integrate or even see the API. So what happens if after paying I discovered that the API is crap ? Moreover both interswitch and Etranzact web payment service costs roughly N150,000 each. I'd rather go for one them since they provide a full online merchant account. So I moved on passing SurePay.

PayLive365 from iDevWorks: I had a lot of hope on this service because I've seen like two products from iDevWorks that impressed me. It's like the engineers over there know their onions. But the problem is that the service is still in Beta and I couldn't even create an account. So I came back after a few days and it's still in Beta, then a few weeks, then a few months and still Beta. The last time I checked, their ssl certificate has expired.

NetNaira from goattale: The first time I came across NetNaira, I fell in love with it, I checked out their API and loved it. This is despite the fact that my customers need a NetNaira account to pay me. So I registered a merchant account and started integration work on our site. They even have a sandbox url that you can use for development and testing. So everything was Ok and we were ready to go live. Suddenly we discovered that you have to pay N10,000 to get activated. Well, that's not too bad we thought. But there is a new rule on NetNaira, you can't have a transaction that's worth more than N40,000. Too bad what we want to sell costs a bit more than that. I still couldn't understand the logic behind that restriction. Netnaira charges commissions per transaction, I'll expect them to welcome high value transactions because it will lead to bigger commissions. Well, maybe it's not for me to understand. So I left Netnaira with a broken heart. We could have had a great relationship.

SoftPurse from SoftCom: The first impression SoftPurse gave was of a service that is well designed and developed. There website design was also cool. Though a merchant only get paid by a client with a SoftPurse account, they allow clients to fund accounts with Interswitch or Etranzact cards. There API is available once you register a merchant account which is free. My only reservation is their choice of API design. They used XML webservices. I personally prefer an API that's based on HTTP POST parameters. That way integration will be a matter minutes instead of days. We went ahead and tried integrating with the existing API but not without some hitches. But we are not giving up on SoftPurse so I got in touch with their lead engineer, Ezra Olubi. Ezra is a great guy that seems to be receptive to ideas. He even accepted our input and made a correction on their integration example. We have now postponed integrating softpurse but we did not shelve it. I think Ezra is one of the reasons why we are carrying on with SoftPurse.

CashEnvoy: I am not going to waste too much time on them cos they've hidden all integration info and require me to send them an e-mail to get it. Sometimes it's annoying how companies scare away potential customers by being unnecessarily secretive.

FasteCash by TechClick Limited: This is also an e-wallet. Meaning customers need to have an account before they can pay merchants. FasteCash seems to be at lost about their actual business model, one minute you get the impression they are an online payment system and the next minute they are a bulk sms service. if you don't believe me, go through their FAQ. But the real problem here is that you need some kind of scratch card to load your account. All the scratch card resellers are either in Lagos, Port-Harcourt or Warri and our lab is in Maiduguri. If you don't understand my point then I suggest you get a map of Nigeria and check the distance between Maiduguri and any of the three cities I mentioned. I know Maiduguri is far but at least get a reseller in Abuja. I have more reasons to go to Abuja than to go to Warri. Though one can load via bank payment, I still say no thanks. We don't want to put our customers through that trouble. We can as well collect bank payments directly. On a positive note, I like the design of their homepage and they have quite a number of resellers but none across the Niger.

ChezolaPay : This is one payment system that got my attention because it got some reviews from blogs that I respect; Timbuktu Chronicles and White African. But the last time I checked, their site has vanished.

NairaPro: I am going to keep it short. No FAQ or API info. Maybe I'll have to register to get them. But at least give me a FAQ.

VTN from LFR Communications: Virtual Terminal Network has all the problems you can get in all the payment systems we passed on. They also have the additional disadvantage of not accepting any of the popular payment cards used in Nigeria. To fund your account you have to load via their bank account. VTN has everything to scare us away, but we are not running, we are planning to integrate VTN as an option. This is for some reasons we took into consideration. VTN already has up to 3000 merchants, a hunch tells us that there are even more non-merchant accounts than that. So there maybe potential customers that already have VTN accounts. Secondly VTN seems to be a mature payment platform judging by the company's experience in online payment even before creating VTN. The same company owns GraphCard. Thirdly, their API is not secret and you do not pay anything for a merchant account.

There are other payment systems I came across during my search but I believe only the ones above deserve any mention. Many are just crap some of the sites are filled with broken links, while some don't seem to understand what a payment system is suppose to be.
I think I must make it clear that the above review was largely based on my personal opinion and the opinion of my team members. So don't just take my word, go check out their sites and judge for yourself.

Future Of Software Development

2009-12-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

Quite often, one gets the feeling that software development is changing from what you know it to be, to something completely different. This is especially when one considers opinions that are daily expressed on the web via blogs, forums, reviews e.t.c

The opinions that I consider strong in many quarters is that of everything moving to the web. Software will in the future live in the browser and the desktop concept will become obsolete. The proponents of that opinion have some good reasons to think in that direction. For example many technologies have turned the browser into a powerful platform and bandwidth is becoming more available and cheaper by the day.

Another school of thought is that of people who think hand-held devices will eventually replace the traditional computer be it a PC or a mac. This group also have some valid points considering the fact that the phone I use today has processor that is faster than that of my desktop 8 years ago.

I do not completely agree with both views, what I think is going to happen is sort of convergence. The line between the different platforms keeps blurring each day. We are now reaching a point that one doesn't care much about which platform one uses but the tasks one is able to accomplish.

Software development will continue to involve the code-compile-run cycles. This is not going away anytime soon. Great software are still being developed with C, C++ e.t.c. And some tasks can not be performed efficiently without going back to those languages.

My problem with the "moving to the web" idea is that I am yet to see any great innovation in the web space. All I can find are multitudes of social networks (facebook, twitter e.t.c) and resource sharing portals like picassa, flickr, youtube e.t.c. Agreed that HTML5 has brought in some new things to the HTML standard but those are not new things to web. It covers some things like video playback that were previously achieved by plug-ins.

Google which is arguably the most successful company on the web is developing more and more desktop applications like Google desktop search and Google earth. This is a clear indication that google has realized that we are not going to have a web only or a desktop only future but a mixture of both and more.

The mobile platform is really a force to reckon with but it can never replace the traditional computer because one needs a normal computer to fully use whatever powerful mobile device one is using. For example you need a PC or mac to synchronize your apple iphone. Moreover, you do not expect programmers to use those devices to develop software even if they are targeting the same devices. Businesses are also not going to replace that computer on the secretary's desk with an iPhone or a Nokia N900 simply because they think those devices are powerful.

So if you are a software developer that develops only desktop software, I say go and learn PHP or ASP.NET now and if you are a web only developer I say go and learn C# or Java now. In the near future only those that know the desktop, the mobile and the web terrain are going to make any considerable impact.

If E-mail is yet to replace snail mail and E-books are yet to replace paper books I do not think the web or mobile platform will replace the desktop in the foreseeable future.

Microsoft Is Changing

2009-11-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

It may be surprising to some that Microsoft, the company hated by almost every geek is gradually turning a new leaf. At least to open source software users Microsoft should be regarded as less of an enemy even if it is yet to become a friend. The latest move by Microsoft is the open-sourcing of the .NET micro framework. The micro framework is different from the compact framework which is a little bulkier. The micro framework targets bare metal devices that doesn't necessarily have an operating system and has a memory footprint of just 300kb.
Many techies still think it's cool to keep attacking Micorosoft, yes I think the attacks have helped in changing Microsoft's direction but I believe it's time now to cooperate with MS in making it a better member of the open source community.

Surviving A Car Accident

2009-10-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

I got shot five times but I'm still breathing Living proof there's a God if you need a reason. -Tupac Shakur

The above were the words of rapper Tupac Shakur, I never really appreciated the deep meaning of those words until now. On tuesday 20th October 2009, Me and friend D.M Wulgo both survived a major car accident. We were going to Kaduna from Maiduguri the wether was cool and wet. Somewhere in Jigawa state a cow suddenly appeared infront of us from the side bushes. Dodging the animal we landed on the slippery mud beside the road, skidded some distance on the mud and hit the edge of a new lane being constructed. The car somersaulted three times before coming to rest on it's tyres. I sustained minor cuts on my hand and the side of my forehead. D.M who was in the passenger's seat had a cut in the head and both us had many bruises on our bodies. We were taken to hospital in Dutse, Jigawa state by volunteers and were treated there and discharged the next morning. By thursday 22nd October 2009 we were home and today friday 23rd October I'm posting on my blog. I think that's a proof there's a God if you need a reason.

Nigeria's Space Ambition

2009-10-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

For some time now, I thought our space program have came to a halt especially with the loss of NigcomSat-1. But recently I came across a report on a milestone achieved in building of NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X (NX). The important thing about NigeriaSat-X this is that it is being built by Nigerian engineers. Read more here

Richard Mathew Stallman

2009-09-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

If you love free software you will definitely know Richard Mathew Stallman a.k.a RMS. He founded the Free Software Foundation and also started the GNU project into which the Linux kernel was inserted to form the GNU/Linux OS. Everybody in Free software world agrees that RMS is a legend but many (including me) do not share all his ideologies . First of all it was the insistence by RMS that Linux must be called GNU/Linux, then the idea that software must be free and being open source is not enough. I think RMS also said something bad at the Gran Canaria desktop summit. I can't really remember but he somehow derived fun in disrespecting women. The latest from RMS is his outlash at Miguel De Icaza the mono project's leader and the founder of the Gnome project. RMS described De Icaza as a traitor to the free software community.

I believe RMS is now not as useful to the free software community as Miguel De Icaza. Agreed RMS and co. were the pioneers and the pace setters but he also really need to understand when to step aside and give room for fresh minds with fresh ideas. We are no longer in the 70s, we do not use mainframes anymore. The computer today is a productivity tool not a research-only machine. We need to see beyond the petty politics and rivalry and concentrate on what is of value to developers and end-users. I think that is what De Icaza understood but RMS did not.
Microsoft remains relevant in the software world not because they create the best software but because they create the easiest-to-use software. RMS! the days of coding everything in C using emacs are over. Yeah you did a great job, Miguel and co. are only building on the foundations you laid, but you should seriously start thinking about retiring. Because these days you are writing less and less code (if at all you are writing any) and talking more and more trash. The days of getting accolades just for hating Microsoft are over.

This is what Miguel had to say in response to RMS

"I want to say that God loves all creatures. From the formidable elephant to the tiniest ant. And that includes Richard Stallman.As for me, I think that there is a world of possibility, and if Richard wants to discuss how we can improve the pool of open source/free software in the world he has my email address.

Love, Miguel."

Sorry Richard if I am too harsh, but we still love our grand daddies even if they grow senile.

Investing In The Dark Continent

2009-09-14T16:21:00.001-07:00

I came across this presentation in one of the many blogs I randomly read. It was a presentation made by Euvin Naidoo at the TED global 2007 in Arusha Tanzania. Euvin argues that Africa offers a great opportunity for investment based on some key factors he outlined. But for me, the most catching part of his 18 minute talk was when he quoted George Kimbell's statement about Africa being the Dark continent as follows;

"The Only Thing Dark About Africa Is Our Ignorance Of It."

Creating the name "Boko Haram" and other half-truths in the news

2009-08-23T10:12:00.002-07:00

After the skirmishes in Bauchi town by the followers of Muhammad Yusuf's sect, their was suddenly a new term created by the International media; "Boko Haram". It's a Hausa statement which literally means "western education is a sin". Not quite sure but I think the name was created by the Hausa service of the BBC. As far as I know Muhammad Yusuf's sect never gave itself a name. They claim that they are the true sunni muslims and any non-member of their sect an infidel. This I know because we once asked a member "Don't you consider us to be muslims ?" his reply was "I don't". This is also shown in their action like not praying in any mosque that is not their sect's.
So because they do not have a name, the people of Maiduguri who are also sunni muslims call them the Yusufiyyah sect, after their leader's name Muhammad Yusuf. I was surprised when every International news agency that reported the incidence kept calling them "the Boko Haram sect" instead of the "Yusufiyyah sect". Later after Muhammad Yusuf was killed and calm restored in Maiduguri, I saw something that really surprised me on france24 tv. On the news bar at the bottom of the screen I saw a news item that reads "NIGERIA: Gun battle follows death of sect's leader". That is what you call a blatant lie. I have moved around Maiduguri on that very day (Thursday 30th July) and their was no gun battle anywhere in the town. A friend later told me that there were similar stories by other international news outlets. Before that, Radio France claimed that there was a lot of mayhem in the Bulumkuttu and Ngomari airport areas of Maiduguri while in reality nothing was going on at that time in those areas. Now I have learnt one important thing, never trust the International media.

"Boko Haram" A view from within Maiduguri

2009-08-23T09:23:00.001-07:00

I think it is very important we set the record straight before it gets written in the history books in it's current twisted form. During the "boko haram" sectarian violence that took place in Maiduguri from Sunday 26th July 2009 to Wednesday 29th July 2009, the people of Maiduguri have been shocked not only by the violence but by the type of views expressed by people far away from the violence. One of such views was expressed on Bala Muhammad's column in the back cover of weekly trust of 1st August 2009. I was particularly attracted to the claim of a member of a certain discussion group that Muhammad Yusuf and his followers never terrorized the people of Maiduguri and that they simply go about their business without interfering with other people's businesses. That person also claimed to be a resident of Maiduguri since 2004.
The first claim is not true. Muhammad Yusuf and his followers have indeed been progressively terrorizing people in Maiduguri. Some of their acts of terrorism are given in the list below.
The claim that he has been in Maiduguri since 2004, I cannot disprove but I have been a resident of Maiduguri since I was born. And that's a little bit under three decades ago. I believe I know Maiduguri much more than he does.

1- Muhammad Yusuf and his followers have for a very long time declared all muslims that do not belong to their sect as infidels, particularly if you are working for the government.

2- They have broken many homes by making their followers chose either their families or the sect.

3- Muhammad Yusuf and his followers have drawn up a list of Islamic clerics to assassinate. This drama has been going on in Maiduguri for months before they finally started the war. In my neighbourhood, student's of a certain cleric who happen to be on the "Kill List" have to organize vigils to protect their mentor from Muhammad Yusuf's followers. Tell me that is not terrorism.

4- After starting the war and taking control of their section of the town the sect members started forcing commercial motorcyclist to submit their helmets and uniforms to be immediately destroyed. And if you are riding a "SAS" branded motorcycle that was distributed by the state governor Ali Sherrif, they take it away and burn it immediately. Tell me that is not terrorism.

5- Everybody knows about the kidnapping of young female students of Islamiyyah schools from across Northern Nigeria to be taken to Maiduguri for their so called Jihad. Tell me that is not terrorism.

While discussing the events on 2nd August 2009 with some mechanics at their workshop, one of them angrily said "How come nobody cares about what we think". It's really annoying when somebody living comfortably in Abuja, Kano or Kaduna starts comparing Muhammad Yusuf's sect with the Niger-delta militants (MEND). MEND never ask youth to chose between MEND and their families or draw up an assassination list of respected clerics or kidnap young girls from their parents in the name of freedom fight. In fact MEND is an armed agitation group not a religious sect. You can give MEND amnesty and hope to meet their demands but you cannot give a religious sect amnesty and hope they discard their beliefs.

One more thing, the people in Maiduguri do not really care that Muhammad Yusuf was killed extra-judicially by the security forces. Guess what ?, in this particular situation we trusted the "Jungle Justice" much more than we trusted the Judiciary. Don't blame us, we've seen what war is like and can't afford to take any chances.

James Watson

2009-07-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

Remember Dr James Watson who claims that Africans are inherently backward and that they can't be as good as the rest of humanity ? I wasn't really surprised when I heard that because many non-Africans believe the same. The surprising thing however is how some Nigerians actually believe and try to defend that statement. This tells how much damage the Americans/Europeans have done and are still doing to our minds. Reasonable people never took Watson seriously because there are facts in our daily lives that tells you that the average African person is gifted.
For example, almost everybody in my locality speak more than one language. While I speak three languages, some of my siblings speak six and a lot of people I know speak four languages. You can find a few that speak seven to ten languages.
How many languages can Watson speak ? Maybe he only sees the world as it is expressed in English.

Mono:The Monkey Doesn't Bite Anymore

2009-07-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

I was told that Mono literally means monkey in Spanish. It is also the name of an the open source implementation of the CLI and associated technologies popularly known as Microsoft .NET. The Mono project was started by Miguel De Icaza who still leads the effort. Mono allows you to run programs written for the Microsoft .NET platform on Linux and Mac OSX. But the project has a good number of enemies in the open source world, I prefer to call them the anti-Mono people. Most of them think that it is dangerous to include an implementation of a technology originating from Microsoft into Linux distributions. They think Mono is a trap set by Microsoft to later on capture Mono infected Linux distributions through patent litigations. I must confess that I am partial on this issue and have taken a side a long time ago. I am for Mono and I believe I have outgrown my "Geek adolescence" in which bashing Microsoft is a virtue. Mono is no more a threat than other technologies that are part of many linux distributions e.g ntfs-3g, samba e.t.c. I now believe in creating good technology whenever possible. Some of us Mono supporters argue that the anti-Mono crowd should develop a better alternative to Mono instead of making a lot of noise. Well, there is no need for that now, big bad Microsoft will be applying the Community Promise patent licensing to both C# and the CLI. This was announced by Peter Galli and I quote him

"The Promise applies to developers, distributors, and users of Covered Implementations without regard to the development model that created the implementations, the type of copyright licenses under which it is distributed, or the associated business model. Under the Community Promise, Microsoft provides assurance that it will not assert its Necessary Claims against anyone who makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, imports, or distributes any Covered Implementation under any type of development or distribution model, including open-source licensing models such as the LGPL or GPL"

So if you still think Mono is dangerous on Linux, you really need some new arguments.

Yahoo Boys And Western Hypocrisy

2009-07-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

Everybody agrees that Internet fraudsters or yahoo boys as they are called in Nigeria are doing the most damage to Nigeria's image abroad. I'm also among those who agree but regrettably without any statistics to back our argument. Fortunately real statistics is proving us all wrong. According to Farooq Kperogi's column "Notes From Atlanta" in Weekly Trust of 4/7/2009, if statistics are anything to go by, then Internet scam should be termed "American Scam" and not "Nigerian Scam". Figures from the Internet Crimes Complaint Center shows that 76% to 87% of all Internet crimes reported from 2001 to 2008 were committed by Americans.
In 2008 only 7.8% of such fraud was committed by Nigerians while America and UK has 66.1% and 10.1% respectively.

As a whole scam e-mails which Nigerians are known for, constitutes less than 3% of overall on-line crimes. This has decreased from 15.5% in 2001 to less than 3% in 2008. So why is the western media making so much noise about "Nigerian Scam" and keeping shut about the "Massive American On-line Crime" ?
I agree with Farooq that Nigerians especially those in the west have not help matters also. They always try to emphasize the bad image of Nigeria maybe to justify their self exile in the west. I think our journalists are also doing a lot of damage. It seems they concentrate on reporting mainly the corruption cases in Nigeria. I'm not saying there is no corruption, but can't they find somethings positive to report in a country of 140 million people, At least to maintain a balance ?.

Imagine the insult most of us were subjected to by having our on-line transactions stopped (especially by American companies) simply because we reside in Nigeria. Maybe the Nigerian Minister Of Information is not crazy after all, we need to re-brand Nigeria.

African News More Independent Than America's ?

2009-06-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

Ethan Zuckerman when asked about his thoughts on the impact of blogging in Africa gave the following reply

"I don’t think blogging in Africa has had the same huge effect as it has in say North America yet. The reason for this is that in North America, blogging has largly been a response to the lack of good independent news sources. In Africa I believe this is less of an issue as there is less corporate ownership of news media."

The full interview is here

The Last Frontier

2009-06-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

I find the act of referring to Africa as the "last frontier" by the western media really hypocritical. Forgive my ignorance if I don't understand what that means. But anybody with a decent knowledge of history knows that the west owes its development to the exploitation of African material and human resources (slavery). The phrase "last frontier" makes it sound as if the west came in contact with Africa only a few years ago. It will be more appropriate if some details are added to that statement making it more specific. An example I saw somewhere was "Africa, the last infotech frontier". Now that's not bad. But one that I find quite repulsive is the title of a certain book that goes "The Last Frontier: The White Man's War for Civilisation in Africa". Now I've not read that book but the title is certainly an insult to African civilizations.

A Different Africa Please

2009-06-21T17:09:00.000-07:00

We all get tired of hearing the same old stories about Africa. You know, what you get from CNN, BBC, VOA e.t.c It's always war, hunger, corruption, diseases, not good, bad, worse, worst ....
This post is not about any of that or the fact that one can often trace the root of the problems to the so-called developed world. This post is about how the Internet allow us to see the other side of Africa and get stories from Africans. Not Africans being paid by the western media to carry out western propaganda in local African languages but everyday Africans that want to tell their stories and express their thoughts using the Internet. Instead of reading about hunger, corruption and diseases it's a great relief coming across words like hope, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. This is the required spirit to define the new Africa. The following are some the African blog sites I find particularly interesting.

Africa unchained
Timbuktu chronicles
Whiteafrican

African Business Directory

2009-06-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

www.africanbusinesscontacts.com is an on-line directory for African businesses. So if you own or run a business in Africa, please register it there. I discovered some Nigerian firms there that I didn't know existed before. Go register now, maybe your next big customer will find you through this site.

smetoolkit Nigeria

2009-06-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

nigeria.smetoolkit.org is a website dedicated to small and medium sized enterprises in Nigeria, I checked it out to see if there is anything useful for a person like me. Me and my colleagues run a software company that I believe falls into the S.M.E category. Unfortunately the site has no software in it's category of businesses. What a shame.

Am I African?

2009-06-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

While growing up in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Most of my view of the outside world was shaped by what I see on TV. It should be noted that back in the 80s the internet doesn't exist and we do not have quick access to books and magazines from other parts of the world like we do now. So one's world view is largely determined by what he sees on TV. Back then we used to watch a lot of hollywood movies on the state television. The most interesting thing is the type of Africa I see in the movies. The Africa they show us is a land of savages and heathens that can kill one another over a piece of candy. Judging by the type of environment I grew up in I was quite sure that I wasn't African and my country was not in Africa. At least that was what I thought as a kid, because I've never came across the type of Africans I see on TV either in my town or any other town I've visited. When my older siblings told me that we are Africans I didn't believe it and thought it was a joke. I only realized and accepted that after being taught so in school. The question that then came to my mind is that if we are the Africans then who are those savages I saw in the movies ? It was later in life that I realize that those were the imaginary Africans that the movie makers wish were a reality.
The fact remains that as a result of such movies a lot of Africans were made to believe that though we are now civilized, our fore-fathers were once savages and were only civilized after coming in contact with Europeans. In reality the reverse can be argued to be the truth. I come from a part of Nigeria that was once a great Empire with a known history of more than two thousand years and a written history of more than one thousand five hundred years; the Kanem-Borno empire. We had great architects, scholars and poets when Europe was in the dark ages. We fought our wars not with sticks and bones but with Muskets, Catapults, Swords, Spheres and Horses. We produced great mathematicians, physicists and doctors we had well laid out systems of diplomacy that successfully averted wars. Savages don't do that. We built great cities and had built up cavalries of hundreds of thousands of horses. To the west was the great Malian empire and later the Sokoto caliphate. To the south were also great kingdoms like the Benin kingdom. And contrary to what some historians will want us to believe we were dark skinned people with strong curly hair then as we are still now.
So when does the problem with Africa started?, the problem started with the stealing of Africans from Africa up till today with the stealing of African resources from Africa. The wars, hunger and diseases will continue in some of Africa as long as the west still manufactures guns and needs our gold, diamond, oil e.t.c.

Leaving the politics aside, one notices that African historians have celebrated our great emperors and warriors but have given little attention to our scholars; so I'm mentioning here one of the many African scholars that I believe need to be celebrated. Back in the 1700s he provided several formulas for constructing odd-order Magic squares which is invaluable in the world of statistics today. He hails from Katsina of present day Nigeria. His name is Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Fullani al-Kishnawi. More about him here

Getting Out Of The Browser

2009-05-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

If you hang around the programming threads of Nairaland.com you will notice that majority of the programmers are web developers. The reason for the preference for web/PHP development by Nigerian developers varies a lot. But one argument that keep recurring (especially on Nairaland) is that PHP is pretty easy to learn and get up and running with.

I've done a little bit of web development with PHP, but most of my programming experience is in developing standalone programs (compiling source code to binary the old fashioned way).
Based on my experience with both web and standalone app development I am of the view that, contrary to popular assumptions, developing standalone programs is much easier.

I find it really difficult (though not impossible) to maintain an elegant code when mixing PHP and HTML. Though there are ways around this like templates but that doesn't compare with coding in C++ or C# in terms of maintaining an elegant and clean source code.

Another major frustration one gets is in maintaining state. Because the web is a stateless environment, one needs to use tricks like hidden fields or cookies to pass data across different pages. The same can be achieved in conventional programming using public variable or passing values through method parameters.

Debugging PHP applications is like running backward up a hill. Apart from the absence of a debugger (as far as I know) one cannot use the old trick of printing to console. Because there simply is no console but a web page. I know that the Zend Studio comes with a debugger but one has to cough out more than $1000 to buy it.

I remember talking to a web developer friend telling him about the Firebird open source database management. I told him that the Firebird engine can raise events which you can handle in your client application through a call back function. Suddenly my friend became lost and asked me to explain again. After explaining for the second time without him understanding me, I remebered that my friend is strictly a web developer and doesn't know what events or callback functions are.

He doesn't really know how much he has been missing by living all his developer life in a web browser. When I compare him with most of my team mates who can develop both for the web and non-web platforms I see them like super heroes that can get in and out of the browser at will.

What most web-only developers do not know is that it doesn't take much to get out of the browser. With their existing PHP skills picking up a language like Python, C# or Java will be much easier than they imagined. It should not be forgotten that the web was primarily design to be a presentation medium and that any other functionality is an after tought. This therefore makes it very difficult to squeeze some solutions through a web browser.

I think the right thing to do is develop web apps for problems that are based solved by web apps and standalone apps for problems that are best solved by standalone apps. But how do you know when to use what ? You need to experience both worlds. So if you are a web-only developer try getting out of the browser for once. I bet you'll never regret it.

FOSS Nigeria 2009

2009-04-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

To must of us free software users in Nigeria, there is a general assumption that Nigeria is a Microsoft territory. Many average computer users here have never heard of alternative operating systems and office suites apart from windows and MS Office. A few times I came across people that ask me "what type of windows is this ?" when they see my beautiful Gnome desktop running on Linux.

So you see what I mean by Nigeria being a Microsoft territory. Thanks largely to the wide availability of pirated Microsoft software. My assumption was that there a few of us free software users spread across the rest of Nigeria and a larger number clustered in Lagos. But that was to change soon.
In mid January my team received an invitation to attend a conference tagged FOSS Nigeria 2009. So what is FOSS Nigeria 2009?, one might ask.
According to the organizers it's the first Nigerian Free and Open Source Software conference. It took place from 6th to 9th February 2009 at the Center for Democratic Research (Mambayya House) in Kano. It was organized by Hutsoft Nigeria limited collaborating with the Center For Information Technology (CIT) of the Bayero University Kano (B.U.K).
Hutsoft Nigeria Limited is a start-up software company founded by some friends. One of the co-founders, Mustapha Abubakar is a K.D.E enthusiast and has been contributing translations to the K.D.E project. Quite naturally K.D.E guys kind of dominated the conference. When I say K.D.E guys I mean including some of the guys you see on the K.D.E blog. Two of them made it to the conference. Adrian De Groot who was introduced as the vice president of K.D.E e.v (whatever that means) and Jonathan Riddel who was from Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu Linux). Gnome's Stormy Peters was invited but didn't make it, although she sent her speech to the organizers which was printed and distributed to the participants.
The opening session was attended some important figures within Kano state. These include Dr Bashir Galadanci (commissioner for Science and Technology of Kano state) and Prof Attahir Jega (the vice-chancellor of Bayero University Kano)
Unlike most Nigerian IT conferences which were normally dominated by suit wearing executives this one largely has jeans (and sometimes kaftan) wearing geeks and a few important personalities in the Nigerian IT ecosystem.

Hutsoft's Ibrahim Dasuma

Jonathan Riddel

Adrian De Groot of K.D.E e.v

Talks were given by the following people
Dr Bashir Galadanci : Kano state commissioner for Science and Technology
Ibrahim Abubakar Dasuma: CEO of Hutsoft Nigeria Limited
Adrian De Groot : Vice-President K.D.E e.v
Mustapha Abubakar : Hutsoft Nigeria Limited
Jonathan Riddel : Canonical
Auwal Alhassan Tata : Center for Information Technology (CIT) Bayero University Kano (B.U.K)
There were also representation from Information Technology Association of Nigeria (ITAN) and the African University For Science and Technology.
The conference was attended by many B.U.K students a lot of whom were astonished by the possibilities free and open source software has to offer. A lot of them told me that they wouldn't have stuck with propriety software if they previously knew well about open source software. Before the end of the conference many participants installed various distributions of Linux on their laptops. Some of them were even brave enough to wipe out there Windows installation and replace it with Linux.

The last day of the conference was capped with a social event at Gidan Makama a museum located close to the Kano Emir's palace.

Koroso Dancers

There was some traditional Koroso dancing and lot of barbecue meat. One thing is clear about all these; FOSS Nigeria 2010 should not be missed.

NEIS 2008

2009-04-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

This may be a little overdue to blog about, but it's always better late than never. The Northern Nigeria Economic And Investment Summit took place in Abuja from 6th to 9th October 2008. It was organized by the Conference Of Northern Nigeria Chambers Of Commerce Industries Mines And Agriculture (CONCCIMA). It's a response to the economic backwardness of the Northern Nigerian region as a whole.

My team participated in the event as part of the ICT group. The ICT group is formed by all the ICT companies that participated in the event. We were all lumped together by the organizers of the event. Companies in the ICT group are Viatech, 3D formula, Cerebro Systems, SDDS, Walfam and Frontier Systems.

The conference turned out to be more interesting than I initially expected. I attended most of the plenary sessions. There were really interesting talks by a lot of people (some of which I previously only used to see on TV). People like Aliko Dangote, Dr Mansur Ahmad of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), professor J.D. Amin of Nigerian Universities Commission took part in the plenary sessions.

Sadiq Modibbo of Frontier systems gave a talk on behalf of the ICT group.

Dr Barth Nnaji of Geometric Energy also sent a representative. Geometric Energy is the company that built the Aba independent power plant in Abia state. According to Mr Nnaji they are currently trying to replicate that project in three Northern cities of Kano, Kaduna and Katsina under a project name K3.

The event ended up looking more like an All Nigerian Economic And Investment Summit and less about Northern Nigeria alone. As somebody stated at the event, you can't discuss a section of Nigeria in isolation from the remaining sections.

Based on the large number of southern Nigerian business men and women at the summit it became obvious that unlike our politicians, our entrepreneurs are relatively free of regional and ethnic bigotry.

After all it's the same money that is spent all across the country.

MTN 3G and Linux

2009-03-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

If you have subscribed to MTN Nigeria's 3G internet service and want to use it with your linux box then this might help you to get things working. Note that the following procedure is not restricted to MTN 3G alone. It can be used to connect to other networks' 3G or gprs service.

I am using ubuntu linux 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) with the Huawei E170 usb modem supplied by MTN Nigeria.

If you are also using ubuntu 8.10 then things are a bit more easier. The following steps are what you need to do.

1- Right click on the network icon on the top panel and select "Edit Connections" this will bring up the network connections window

2- Select "Mobile Broadband" tab

3- Click on "Add". A wizard (druid in linux) will come up

4- Select Nigeria from the country list and you will get a list of mobile operators in Nigeria.

5- Select MTN , click "Next" and "Apply"

The next time you left-click on the network icon on the panel you will get a list of connections. Select the one you just created "MTN" and you will be connected.

Now you are ready to start surfing.

If you are not using Ubuntu 8.10 or you still can't browse after connecting then the following steps might help.

I am assuming you have a program called wvdial shipped with your distro. If it's not there then you will have to install it.
To check wether you have wvdial, open a terminal window and type wvdial . If you get any other message apart from "wvdial: command not found" then you have wvdial on your system.

Now you need to edit the wvdial configuration file located at /etc/wvdial.conf.
type sudo gedit /etc/wvdial.conf
this will open the configuration file in gnome's text editor with write previlege. If you are not using ubuntu/gnome open it with the appropriate method on your distro. But you need to open it with root privilege so that you can have read/write access to the file.

this is the configuration on my system

[Dialer Defaults]
Phone = *99#
New PPPD = yes
Stupid Mode = on
Dial command = ATDT

[Dialer MTN]
Username = web
Password = web
Modem = /dev/ttyUSB0
Baud = 460800
Init2 = ATZ
Init3 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ISDN = 0
Modem Type = Analog Mode

put the following configuration and save the file. If you want to know more about the configurations then check the wvdial manpages or google for more info on wvdial.

Now in the terminal window type "sudo wvdial MTN"

A series of messages will pass over the console screen.
If you got a message "CONNECT" followed by some IP addresses then you are on.

Open your browser (firefox in my case), uncheck the "Work Offline" option under the file menu and browse away.

Interswitch and web merchants

2009-03-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

If you lived in Nigeria in the last 4 years you must be familiar with interswitch Nigeria or at least the ATM cards they issue through most Nigerian banks. Now interswitch and the banks have done a great work in providing those ATM services. And they made life a lot easier for us. interswitch also has an online payment gateway which they call interswitch webpay. This enable web merchants to accept payment from any interswitch card holder.

Think of the possibilities here. The last time I googled for the statistics there are approximately 17 million interswitch card holders and 10 million internet users in Nigeria. But there are only 200 web merchants that accept interswitch payment. Why are Nigerian web merchants not jumping on this opportunity? because interswitch won’t let them.

First of all the entry fee of integrating interswitch webpay interface to your website is just too outrageous. One has to pay N150,000 (one hundred and fifty thousand naira) per site. I thought that was just an initial price and will eventually come down, but three years has passed and it’s still 150 grand.

The second and the most annoying reason is the technology interswitch is using. When last did you hear of Java applets ? As far as I know java applets is an obsolete technology now. Well that’s what interswitch is using. Your customer’s browser must have sun java plug-in for them to pay you through interswitch. That means downloading at least 26 megabytes (if they don’t already have java run time+plug-in) simply to make payment on your site. With the type of Internet speed most widely available in Nigeria, I think going to a banking hall and paying into an account will be much faster. Even if you have the plug-in, the webpay applet is extremely slow to load which makes the processes considerably painful.

Recently there have been advertisements in national dailies by interswitch about their new improved chip based cards called “verve”. I do not know what pain this new cards solve but I’ve never heard any cardholder complain that his/her card is magnetic striped and he/she really needs a chip based one. instead of bringing new cards that do essentially what the old ones do interswitch would have changed it’s webpay interface to something that is supported by browsers out of the box. html+https anybody ?