The King and Abrastisio

Comparison of electricity tariffs in other countries

2010-07-28T23:26:00-07:00

The following table shows the price of electricity per Kilowatt Hour across different countries. This should serve as a quick reference to what other guys like us pay in these countries.

Country	$/KwH	N/KwH
Kingdom of Tonga	0.4570	68.55
Denmark	0.4289	64.34
Italy	0.3723	55.85
Netherlands	0.3470	52.05
Germany	0.3066	45.99
Philippines	0.2880	43.20
Sweden	0.2734	41.01
Ireland	0.2389	35.84
Spain	0.1950	29.25
France	0.1925	28.88
UK	0.1859	27.89
Croatia	0.1755	26.33
Singapore	0.1734	26.01
Portugal	0.1639	24.59
Nigeria (Proposed)	0.1467	22.00
Hong Kong	0.1230	18.45
Iceland	0.1161	17.42
Belgium	0.1143	17.15
Perú	0.1044	15.66
South Africa	0.1015	15.23
USA	0.0928	13.92
Malaysia	0.0742	11.13
Australia	0.0711	10.67
Finland	0.0695	10.43
Canada	0.0618	9.27
Nigeria (Currently)	0.0467	7.00

^{.This data is for comparison only. The validity of the data is not guaranteed.}
^{Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing}

The economy of enforcement

2010-03-20T04:23:00-07:00

Lagos is a mad place. Chaos incorporated. Although that isn't enough to make me do the Andrew Method (run away) . Apart from security and electricity, traffic is the biggest problem we have. It takes X number of hours to move from point A to B. I know that LASTMA was created to solve this problem but they are more interested in shafting drivers than resolving the road logjam. But that is a story for another day or symposium like Abami Eda would say.

Another tangent to this post is that all tiers of government are broke, my dear Lagos inclusive. Fashola is rolling out tax laws faster than Usain Bolt could complete a 100m dash. That itself hasn’t worked well.

Talking about the traffic palaver, even though we have bad roads, 80% (don’t ask for the source of data!) of the gridlock is caused by bad drivers: Danfo drivers picking passengers; vehicles moving against traffic; impatient drivers not giving way at junctions, etc.

It came to me that government could augment its income with loads of law breakers roaming the street. I know LASTMA has gotten away with not doing much because government wasn’t expecting much from them. But say LASTMA has a target of catching 5,000 offenders a day with average fine of 10,000. That is some 50M per day and almost a billion in one month. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration but come on, if LASTMA can generate enough fines to pay for its officers, what is wrong with that? When people know that the cost of breaking a traffic offence is so much, they start behaving and then traffic is better and ultimately there is going to be need for fewer LASTMA officers.

Same crooked (smile) idea could be applied to building codes (those converted shops cause more evils that you can imagine) and to companies messing up the environment. Think of the glee of fining offices that block drainages with N100K or the premises get locked down. When it becomes so expensive to break the law, the government can spend less money unblocking those drainages.

And hopefully, they would have more money to pave the road and a smooth road makes it easier to escape LASTMA in case I get caught. Now, I think you get the point.

Windpower to the rescue

2008-06-28T20:02:00-07:00

Energy crisis has never been worse in Nigeria than now. power stations are comatose, the government is reversing itself in all possible directions and no one knows what is going to happen the next minute.

Earlier in the administration of Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, he pioneered the concept of independent power stations but because these depended on gas from NNPC, it was easy for the laudable project to get sabotaged by the Obasanjo lead government. Also, other power stations built by the Federal Government have met tragic fates from gas supplies.

However, hope is around the corner. Recent technological advances in wind powered turbines have made the cost of construction of such wind farms comparable to what it cost to build a similar gas powered station. A recent survey by Business Week magazines puts the cost of a 150MW at roughly $225 million. So it means if the Lagos State Government could raise $675 million, say from the capital market, it would be able to build a 450MW power station to run the state, free from the shackles of NNPC.

The Nigerian Website Traffc Ranking

2008-05-31T12:54:00-07:00

The most popular Nigeria website is Nairaland as declared by Alexa, the number 1 website ranking site on the internet. it is the 14th most popular destination for Nigerian web surfers.

Among the media houses, Punch newspaper website, www.punchng.com came first at number 19 easily beating Sun Newspapers (The King of Tabloids) at 30, Thisday Online at 44 and the Guardian at 46. Guaranty Trust Bank lead the banks' website at number 32, Zenith is second at number 38 with no other bank hitting the top 100 list again.

The investing public has been getting served financial information at Cash Craft (36) Nigerian Securities (55) and Proshare (65). Trophies or no trophies, we all love Arsenal (35) more than ManU (40) (Chelsea fans, where are you?)

To read more about the list, visit Alexa Nigeria internet traffic ranking.

Investor Delight

2007-07-25T06:58:00-07:00

My long time friend, Ponle Holloway, just released a nifty tool to help those of us who have stock accounts scattered all over the place. It's a website where you can register your stock portfolio and track the performance (or under performance if you are not the lucky type) of your stocks online.

The service is free and it even sends you a daily mail so you might not need to login again unless you want to add or remove entries from your portfolio.

You can give the website a try at www.investordelight.com.

Is this the way it will all end?

2007-07-13T08:41:00-07:00

The get rich quick scheme is not native to Nigeria. Can we assume that the punishment for gullibility or greed would not skip the Nigerians that have thrown caution to the wind and want to reap where they haven't sown. I don't know and I don't really care that much.

Just reading on BBC about the Ponzi scheme in Kenya and how some people have been cleaned out. Also, Central Bank of Nigeria just released a circular about the danger of the wonder banks but people are still pouring their hard earned money into this bottomless pits. I know some people will get paid but those who won't will be the ones to suffer for this.

You can read the story here.

Pennywise HYIB: The king of absurdity

2007-05-23T02:27:00-07:00

Just last week, some dudes came to my office to offer the ever enticing money doubling schemes. I don’t think am being fair in calling Pennywise money doubling or S’ogun D’ogoji because man, Pennywise is something else!

This is how it works. You give them a paltry N2,500 for a slot and over a period of 9 weeks, the scheme will pay out a cumulative of N251,390. Effectively, you multiply any amount you put inside by 100 in 9 weeks. Interesting! [More]

Nospetco accounts frozen

2007-04-27T16:25:00-07:00

Or at least, that is the gist I have been hearing since I got holed up in a company retreat of recent. Actually, the pace of office work has been so frenetic the last few weeks that I don't even have time to look at myself in the mirror. Not only are Nospetco accounts frozen by EFCC, I also heard that the cousin schemes: Sefteg, Wealthsolutions, Treasure Lines also got the deep freezer treatment. [More]

Marriage According to Nairaland

2007-04-19T02:48:00-07:00

I was chatting with one of the few friends I made on Nairaland (before I left) yesterday and she told me she was getting married. Well, getting married is one of those things that have happened to all my friends. But this is different. She told she's hooking on with one of the dudes she met there. [More]

The Greatest Disappointment

2006-12-18T01:59:00-07:00

A Yoruba adage made popular by the legendary singer, King Sunny Ade, says "Akinkaju t'o mo'ja ti'o mo'sa iru won ma'n b'ogun ibo mi lo ni". Meaning a good warrior knows when to advance and when to retreat. And a better warrior even knows whether to go to war or not. [More]

NOSPETCO: A Classic Ponzi Scheme

2006-12-15T12:19:00-07:00

I have always wanted to write about a classic Ponzi scheme that is making raves in Nigeria of recent but never got around to it until this afternoon when I read about what a like minded person wrote about it.

This is the short take: There is a company in Nigeria, Nospetco, who takes a minimum deposit of N450,000 (about $3,516) for a minimum of 6 months and gives you a flat interest of roughly 8.8% every month. Isn't that interesting? [More]

What manner of legacy

2006-11-14T04:33:00-07:00

When Obasanjo was sworn-in in May 1999 he promised to uphold the constitution. Of course, those of us who have been in this country since the last 7 years know he has done everything apart from standing strong for the laws he promised to defend. [More]

Make your vote count

2006-11-06T01:06:00-07:00

The voters' registration exercise has been on for a while now. Even though the project has been fraught with a lot of Nigerian factor, there have been strong clamors from different angles for all of us to register. At least, if we don't vote, we can't get the right people in.

My pastor topped it up in church yesterday that not only should we vote good people in, we should also vote bad people out. And the list of bad people is so long you will need a taxi to get to the end of it. For more information, visit www.projectvotenigeria.org

One more crash too many...

2006-10-29T04:59:00-07:00

We were all rudely jolted by news of another ADC airplane crash in Nigeria today. Damn, how many times will these metal birds fall of the sky before someone starts to do something? It is pretty unfortunate how human lives are just wantonly wasted because some dude is inept and corrupt. [More]

The Nigerian Constitution [1999]

2006-10-16T00:00:00-07:00

For those who are interested in the Nigerian Constitution of 1999, you can download it from this link.

Stella Felix in Space? People can be dumb ass!

2006-10-12T04:18:00-07:00

News have been going around that Nigeria, at last, has hurtled someone into space. In this case, a nubile 17 year old girl called Stella Felix. When I first heard it, I didn't believe it and everyone called me a damned cynic. Duh! [More]

Bill Gates in Nigeria

2006-10-09T03:48:00-07:00

Bill Gates came to Nigeria over the weekend to discuss with "Baba Iyabo" on how to eradicate HIV/AIDS and poverty. For me, what I would love most is if Bill could institute a free tuition technological college in Nigeria. Education, though a slow one, is the best means of eradicating poverty in a nation. Check the poorest countries, and you would see countries of illitrates. But for the HIV/AIDS the solution is simple: Just Zip Up (JZU)

Election 2007: Lessons to learn from others

2006-09-04T03:49:00-07:00

Super geek Pierce Omidyar ain't only about the web. In his article back in 2004, he outlined why candidates running for elective posts should make sure their votes are well counted. The same can't be truer for the elections coming up in 2007. Candidates should have volunteers who would be at every polling booths to tally the votes as they are being counted. That is another good way to counter rigging in the next general elections. [More]

The Nairaland Phenomenon

2006-01-25T13:34:00-07:00

It is unbelievable that this mega Nigerian online community has operated below most peoples radar for so long. But for the more than twelve thousand Nairaland members, it is a towering monolith that keeps growing everyday. Nairaland, an online forum for Nigerians founded by Nigerian webmaster Seun Osewa and could be found at www.Nairaland.com. [More]

The Gbenga Obasanjo Interview

2006-01-10T05:23:00-07:00

nThat Gbenga Obasanjo has stirred up the hornet's nest is no news but have you read the rest of the interviews? Just plain juicy. Read it all at The Nigerian Village.

What manner of Government...

2005-12-21T01:08:00-07:00

I don't know if we have been cursed with the fire brigade spirit. I don't know why it takes disasters to make our government to move. And even when they move, it is so so clumsy. [More]

Obasanjo has a nerd son

2005-10-26T07:50:00-07:00

Seems someone appreciates technology in the Obasanjo's clan. Dare Obasanjo, who works at Microsoft, runs a website and blog.

Yoruba Dictionary

2005-10-05T13:56:00-07:00

For the Yoruba dudes who don't know their left from their right, hit www.yorubadictionary.com to find out what that silly word ;-) means. This work is being sponsored by Dr Adebusola Onayemi of learnyoruba.com.