The growth of internet is so overwhelming that virtually all Nigerians now use Internet, some people depend solely on it to make a living. Internet usage is one of the criteria to measure the growth of the community, the higher the users the more developed the nation is because it makes life more comfortable and easier.
Internet used to be an alien in Nigeria not until 1995 when it was first tested in Obafemi Awolowo University.
During this period, its usage was oblivious and its effects were not felt in the society due to the ignorance and non-acquaintance of the citizens then. But over the years it has grown sporadically that every household in Nigeria now use the internet in one form or the other. Internet now has 86,219,965 users in Nigeria, about 47% of the total population of the country and 3,424,971,237 in the world.
The use of Internet started in the United state in the attempt to build a robust via computer network back then in 1960s. The Internet is the global system of interconnected
computer networks that use the
Internet protocol suite to link devices worldwide via electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies.
Presently, the internet is the largest source for information of any kinds, both positive and negative information are available on the internet. Also, internet is expensive but easily accessible unlike its early days, when it was not common. The use of internet is now deficient of discipline. Discipline in the sense that it now tolerates irrelevances and seems to be baleful. It now looks as if the bad effects of the internet outweigh its good.
Truly, internet has made life easier in all ramifications especially communication and information dissemination. These two are the keys to development in any society.
Anybody with an internet enabled device can now access these two at his or her finger tips.
The internet is now a life changing entity in Nigeria because virtually everyone makes us of it and the lessons from it are put into actions. It is the base for research findings and other day to day activities. However, internet has been mismanaged especially in Nigeria, Nigeria has the highest number of ranking in internet crime, the popular “yahoo yahoo” where Nigerian youths tend to circumvent foreigners.
Though, the cost of internet is very high here in Nigeria unlike other neighbouring countries where internet is free. The cost of internet in Nigeria makes the standard of living in Nigeria high because it adds to the cost of production of most private companies. With this high cost, people still strive to afford it because it has become the tradition of Nigerians especially the students.
The future of internet in Nigeria is promising because as the cost increases yearly so also its population increases. As the population increases the use of internet becomes viral. Every aspect of an average Nigerian life is based on the internet, it is used in some schools, hotel and malls to attract customers and improve the brand. In the nearest future, internet will be everywhere in Nigeria.
However, discipline has to be inculcated in the use of internet to avoid misuse especially among the teenager. Awareness should be made to sensitize them on the positive use of internet to make the best of it.
There are lots of Internet business models but two are very popular in Nigeria: E-commerce and Blog Advertising.
E-commerce
This refers to trading of goods and services on the Internet. A few years ago, Nigeria’s first e-commerce companies emerged. This business model solves the following problems:
Convenience: You can order for a wide range of products from the comfort of your home and have them delivered to you in days.
E-commerce businesses offer various options to choose from. Also, in aiding customers to reach their target product on time, e-commerce companies provide a means of sorting through the large collection of products.
Discounts: This is another interesting feature of online retail stores. Many products are sold at lower prices compared to prices sold at brick and mortar stores (i.e. stores in physical buildings). Also, if the product is sold directly by the company, you can be assured of both good quality and low price.
The e-commerce market in Nigeria was valued at 1.3 billion dollars. This can be easily grasped when you consider the number of Internet users in Nigeria. The data below is a statistics for e-commerce in Nigeria.
Table 1: E-commerce statistics in Nigeria
| Absolute market size (USD) | Sales per citizen (USD) | Growth (%) | Number of Internet users | Internet Penetration(%) |
| 210,080,000 | 1.50 | 25 | 67,101,452 | 37.59 |
Nigeria’s e-commerce is growing rapidly, riding on the success of the Internet. It is still young in Nigeria and is expected to grow in coming years.
According to Mr. Oluwaseyi Adepoju, “Business is changing & its high time brands knocked on customer’s doors with the best offer, with E-commerce the knock is polite “@Oluseyi_Adepoju”
Blog Advertising.
This type of Internet business doesn’t sell anything. It offers its clients visibility to their customers.
A typical example is the Linda Ikeji Blog. When a website offers content that is valuable or entertaining to the public, it draws followers. For the Linda Ikeji Blog – a blog that had an average of 250,000 page views per day back in 2014 – this has been the case.
The owner, Linda Ikeji, generates revenue by posting company’s adverts on her blog. The revenues are as follows:
Why would companies spend so much on a blog? Thi
Monthly revenue from Direct Adverts: 19,500,000 naira.
Monthly revenue from Adsense: 12,237,000.
s is because they want to sell to the already existing market: the regular blog visitors. These visitors rush to the blog daily to catch the latest gist and gossip. This is because the information from Linder Ikeji’s blog is always current since the company has sources on the entertainment and celebrity circles.
Nigerians have totally embraced the concept of online business. It is competing favorably with brick and mortar stores (stores with physical presence). Also, online advertising is eroding the profits of paper adverts.
With the availability and convenience in e-commerce as well at the ready audience in the case of blog advertising, it is safe to say that online business is the business of the future in Nigeria.
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