Nigeria's Top 20 Websites and the Social Revolution

Compiled by Ike Onwubuya

The table below shows the 20 most visited Nigerian owned sites according to web traffic. This excludes Google, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube and Twitter and the likes as though they more popular in Nigeria, they are foreign owned.

Rank	Site	URL	Type	Global Rank
1	Nairaland	www.Nairaland.com	Discussion Forum	914
2	Vanguard Newspaper	vanguardngr.com	Newspaper	1745
3	Punch Newspaper	punchng.com	Newspaper	2321
4	Linda Ikeji Blog	lindaikeji.blogspot.com	Entertainment Blog	2490
5	GT Bank	gtbank.com	Banking	3367
6	Konga	Konga.com	Online Shopping	3447
7	Jumia	Jumia.com.ng	Online Shopping	3266
8	Naij.com	Naij.com	News Portal	3473
9	Vconnect	Vconnect.com	Search Engine	6408
10	Information Nigeria	informationng.com	News Portal	4072
11	JobberMan	jobberman.com	Jobs	7028
12	Bella Naija	bellanaija.com	Entertainment Blog	5632
13	Sahara Reporters	saharareporters.com	News Portal	5644
14	OLX.com	olx.com.ng	Online Shopping	7623
15	The Nation	thenationonlineng.net	Newspaper	7179
16	Ladun Liadi Blog	ladunliadi.blogspot.com	Entertainment Blog	9343
17	Interswitch	interswitchng.com	Payment Processing	10076
18	This Day	thisdaylive.com	Newspaper	8691
19	Pulse	pulse.ng	Entertainment Portal	11530
20	Dealdey	Dealdey.com	Online Shopping	11082

Analysis from Alexa on 18/02/2014

A quick look at the sites tells you a lot of what you need to know about Nigerians. We love to gist, we love to jollof (entertainment), we love information (gossip??)  and we love to shop especially if it is foreign.

Seun Osewa

It should come as no surprise that the top site Nairaland is a discussion forum. It combines the two essential ingredients that most Nigerians crave, to be informed and love a good argument or debate depending on what part of the divide you are. This site, simple in design and execution, is fast becoming one of the most popular brands for the internet savvy Nigerian youth. It is usually the first port of call for a lot of people to get a feel of what is happening in Nigeria. The fact that its contents are user generated gives it the added edge of making the user have a sense of belonging. However, the site belongs to Seun Osewa who in my opinion is one of the top 10 young Nigerian entrepreneurs of the last decade. He has taken a very simple concept of a discussion forum and made it a massive Nigerian brand. If there is a drawback, it is that he may suffer from the Twitter effect of being a popular brand but you just wonder where the massive revenue the site deserves will come from.

  

There are also 7 Newspapers or News portals in the top 20 constantly feeding our voracious appetite for information. Vanguard newspapers with its constant updating and discussion forums head the news list. While it may not be the most widely read print media, it sure is pulling its weight online. Great to see Punch is holding its own and The Nation has made big strides in the few years its been in existence. Omoyele Sowore’s Sahara Reporters with its brand of in-your-face investigative journalism probably deserves to be higher than its 13th position, but it is definitely holding its own against the traditional media houses. Just goes to show we love a good controversy. Information Nigeria and Naij.com are also high ranking news portals

The most interesting websites on the Top 20 are the online entertainment cum gossip bloggers. Linda Ikeji comes in at a very respective 4th place proving even more popular than established names like GT Bank and ThisDay newspapers. With the  likes of Uche Eze of Bella Naija, Ladun Liadi and others, they have taken Nigeria Entertainment Blogging to the next level. They provide a service so appreciated by Nigerians, the celebrity gossip lifestyle that makes programs like “Keeping up with the Kardashians” a great hit with the youth of the country.

It is not all about news and gossip though, online retailers like Konga, Jumia, OLX and Dealdey shows that e-commerce is the next growth industry in Nigeria. We have a love for shopping especially if its foreign made and these sites bring to the doorstep. This generation of Polo Ralph Lauren wearing, Chelsea supporting, Hennessy drinking upwardly mobile young Nigerians will ensure that these site will definitely hold interest, only time will tell if these interests will translate to spending real cash. Konga and Jumia especially will need this to pay back their massive start-up investments. For those of means, they have Interswitch as the payment processor of choice.

Other sites in the top 20 include Jobberman which is the premier job board, VConnect as the search engine.

It is very refreshing to note that apart from the established businesses like newspapers and bank, most of the other sites are owned by very young entrepreneurs. Seun Osewa of Nairaland, Linda Ikeji, Uche Eze of Bella Naija, Sim Shagaya of Konga.com and Dealdey, Ladun Liadi, Ayodeji Oyinlola of OLX Nigeria, Ayodeji Adewunmi of Jobberman and Tunde Kehinde of Jumia amongst others are all under 45 in fact most of them are under 35. This represents a lot of positivity for the Nigerian youth as it shows that with a little creativity, innovation and hard work success can be achieved.

Omoyele Sowore

Sim Shagaya

Linda Ikeji

Governing by prayers

"Prayers Answereth all things" is a popular mantra in Nigeria. The average Nigerian will pray about 5 times a day. The Christians will in the least pray in the morning when they get up, at night before they go to bed and once every mealtime. Muslims observe the Salat or five daily prayers. The anointed Pentecostal will even say a short prayer to enable him have the strength to say the main prayers. To say Nigerians are very prayerful people will be stating the obvious.

The main beneficiary of the prayerful Nigerian is the Nigerian Government. Nigerians will rather put their faith in prayers than hold their government accountable. The Nigerian has a prayer to counter almost every failing of the government. For bad roads, we pray for journey mercies. For poor security, we cover ourselves, houses and properties with the mighty Blood of Jesus. For unemployment, we pray for breakthrough. For our bad schools, we pray for exam success. For poor healthcare, we pray for divine healing. For anything we missed, we pray for our country Nigeria.

These days our prayer warriors and marabouts have taken on the roles of commissioners and ministers. We depend on them to fill in the gaps when government officials siphon project monies to Swiss bank accounts. This however amounts to double taxation, as prayers do not come cheap in Nigeria. Prayers for breakthrough and prosperity can cost as much as 10% of your meagre income in the form of tithes. If you require spiritual healing and insurance from your neighbourhood native doctor, you will have to factor in the going rate for a black he-goat, white cockerel, kolanuts, alligator pepper and a bottle of Hennessey or black Label. No modern native doctor worth his salt will accept aromatic schnapps or ogogoro. Everybody has gone foreign these days.

No matter how much Nigerians pray, it looks like they know there is a limit to divine intervention. Have you ever heard anybody pray, “God, please let there be electricity in my house for the next three days”? Electricity seems to be the yoke that breaks the prayer camel’s back. Even the greatest of prayer warriors and miracle workers have still not been able to invoke the first prayer “Let there be light”. Generator and candle sellers do not need to do prayer and fasting because they know that no prayers fashioned against their business shall prosper until the government does the right this and Lights Up Nigeria.

Baba Iyabo cutting Banana

Nigeria's best known farmer General Olusegun Obasanjo cutting bananas on his recent visit to Rivers state

People must be scared of Baba when he is holding a machete as the man in white next to Governor Amechi is dragging his agbada and the woman next to him is using style to dodge herself and tap current.

Native doctor’s charm kills pastor, one other accused of witchcraft

By SUZAN EDEH

BAUCHI — An unholy alliance between a family and a native doctor has allegedly claimed the lives of two people in Zwall village of Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State.

The family of Adamu Goni and a native doctor (names withheld)  agreed to administer charms on four members of the family, including a pastor, over their alleged involvement in witchcraft.

The family, it was learnt, had been worried over calamities befalling its members, so it sought solutions from a native doctor.

The startling revelations were made inside the shrine of the native doctor, a development that almost prompted angry youths to lynch him.

Trouble started when the native doctor administered his charms on four  members of the family who were suspected to be involved in witchcraft activities.

The purpose of the charm was to  compel them to confess their involvement or not.

It was gathered that of the four that were administered with the charm, the spell affected two who, however, still refused to confess their involvement in witchcraft, a situation that subsequently led to their death.

A security source in Bauchi said two members of the family lost their lives as a result of the charm given to them by the native doctor.

He said: “Two members of the family including a pastor of an ECWA Church who refused to admit to witchcraft involvement died after the native doctor administered the charm on them.

“Eight  suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident and are helping the police with valuable information.

“The native doctor was also arrested by a police detective who disguised as someone needing spiritual help.”

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/02/native-doctors-charm-kills-pastor-one-accused-witchcraft/#sthash.6ESSgv0g.dpuf

I am innocent of the murder of my girlfriend 23 years ago – Convict Adepetu - Vanguard

By OLAYINKA AJAYI

Following the circumstances surrounding the death of Miss Ranti Moradeyo , the late girl friend of Olushola Adepetu, which led to life imprisonment of Adepetu,  family members of the convict are yet to come to terms with the incarceration of their son 23years after,  as the circumstantial evidence used by the trial judge of the High Court in Oyo State was alleged  to have been inconclusive and not well investigated by the police, whereas the family of the deceased believes justice has been done.

*Olushola Adepetu…I can’t ask for forgiveness for an offence I didn’t commit

In an encounter with the coordinator for Centre for Justice, Mercy and Reconciliation, CJMR, a Christian prison ministry based in Ibadan, Pastor Hezekiah Olujobi, whose NGO is championing the cause of Adepetu’s freedom, he lamented how injustice in Oyo State for a while has caused the convict to remain in prison for this long.

“I strongly believe that there is injustice in this case. If someone is claiming that he is innocent of a crime for over 23years and nobody cares to listen to his own side of the story, I think such person will be drowned in the ocean of injustice.

Olushola Adepetu’s cry over his innocence was what drew my attention. I know as a lay man that there are lots of questions surrounding the judgment which I have been trying to probe, after all the essence of publishing law reports is to show public how justice is being done”, Olujobi stated.

The pastor added, “When you write a letter for prerogative of mercy, you must agree that you committed the offense and you should be pardoned,  but Olushola  insists he cannot ask for forgiveness for what he has not done, stressing that he is a victim of injustice”.

The coordinator of CJMR went on, “Going through the judgment even as a lay man, there are so many unanswered questions. When you ask an accused person to write a letter indicating that he should agree he had committed a crime he knew nothing about because he wants to gain his freedom and he insists he will never do such a thing; that means he knows what he is saying. I have known him since 2007; he insists he did not commit the crime”. He said elder statesman, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, intervened on the issue when he wrote an appeal letter to Oyo State governor on behalf of Adepetu praying for prerogative of mercy in 2009.

“Alhaji Jakande, a former governor of Lagos State, wrote a letter to erstwhile Oyo State Governor Otunba Alao Akala in respect of Adepetu. We are aware of Jakande’s letter to Governor Ajimobi as well”, Olujobi stated.

“My interaction with the Attorney General of Oyo State, however, revealed that he had a pre-conceived notion that Olushola Adepetu forged the letter of Alhaji Jakande and that he cut the breast of the late girlfriend for ritual purposes. I was so shocked hearing that because he never told me that Alhaji Jakande was intervening on his matter and he never told me that any part of the body of the deceased was missing.

“I told the Attorney General that I would carry out my investigation and, without Olushola Adepetu’s knowledge, we went to Lagos to confirm the authenticity of the letter from Alhaji Jakande. Baba told us that he was the author of the letter and he wrote another letter through us to the governor and the Attorney General.

Then we attached our report to the letter and forwarded it to the Attorney General and the governor which was the clearance of the first allegation. On the second allegation, I went to the court registry to obtain the Certified True Copy of the case file which contained the police and doctor’s reports which never said anything about any part of the deceased missing and the police that evacuated the corpse of the deceased never said that any part of the deceased was missing as well.

“After we submitted our findings, eight people were commuted from death-row to life imprisonment in October 2013 and they did not attend to Olushola Adepetu’s case. Also on January 1, 2014, five out of those committed murder with evidence were pardoned and their case files had not even gone to the Court of Appeal. It clearly shows that there is political interest in state pardon. I am not against their being pardoned, but if some people committed an offense with strong evidence five years ago and they were pardoned, why can’t someone that had been imprisoned of a crime without concrete evidence for 23years be pardoned?

“My findings show that the governor and the Attorney-General are not the problem; they were only acting on information presented to them. If they have been misinformed, it is my duty to let the public see the facts of the matter and it is evident that the governor sometimes can be misled. In 1979, Chief Bola Ige, as the Oyo State governor then, was misled to sign the execution of two brothers when their judgment was yet to come out from the Court of Appeal.

When the judgment came, they were discharged and acquitted; meanwhile they had been executed. Where there is proven perversion of injustice, it is my duty to speak out”.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/02/innocent-murder-girlfriend-23-years-ago-convict-adepetu/#sthash.K0oGoHmM.dpuf

How Nigeria loses out on the Value Added on petroleum products

Riches are not in resources but in the value added to resources. 

 Nigeria's main export is crude oil and she exports about 2.5m barrels a day. This sells in February 2014 for US$102 a barrel which is about GB£63

If we make a very basic assumption that all Nigeria’s Crude is exported to the United Kingdom in a given year.

From a barrel of Bonny light crude after refining you can get a 73 litres of Petrol, 40 litres of diesel amongst others. In the UK the current average price of Petrol and Diesel is about GB£1.30 so the selling price on a barrel for both is £147 (113 x £1.30) of which £90 (61%) is Tax accrued to the UK Government In the course of a year assuming all remain equal and the Nigerian government receives all the proceeds for oil. Nigeria will receive £58bn (2.5m x £63 x 365) a year from crude oil and the UK government will receive £82bn (2.5m x £90 x 365) from as revenue in Taxes the same oil that Nigeria produces. 

 I understand this is a very crude calculation and it does not take into account production costs, costs of sales, fluctuating prices etc but it does illustrate that when it comes to petroleum products, the real profits are in the refined products and ultimately government taxes

Nigerians and that Anti-gay legislation

You will notice that majority of Nigerians who are against the anti-gay legislation live outside Nigeria while majority of those who are for it live in Nigeria. It's not a coincidence. We are all Nigerians and still have our own private misconceptions about homosexuality based on religion and culture. However living in countries where it is allowed has shown that it doesn't change the price of garri in the market. It has not affected my own life in any way. The fact that 2 men or 2 women can have the same rights as me has not affected my own life in any way. I have worked with many gay people and come to understand that the one thing that is different between us is who we decide to share our bed with.




For many Nigerians who are ignorant, gays actually do eat, sleep, breath, cry and laugh like the rest of us. I guess the point am trying to make is that you don't have to even like or approve of the homosexual lifestyle for you to think its wrong for it to be criminalised. If we believe this is against our religion, let us leave it to God to judge. If your church accepts gays and you don't like it, change your church. If you see gays on Tv and you don't like it, change channels. If a gay is your boss at work and you hate it, change jobs. If gays move into your street and you don't like it, change houses. If your culture starts accepting gays and you hate it, change your name from Tayo to Tyrone. It's all about choice.



Being against the anti-gay legislation does not make you gay. It shows you are tolerant and can accept people who are different from you. If Nigerians could be more tolerant of each other, our society will be a peaceful and progressive one.