Hello fellow NLander, this has been bothering for long, I kept thinking does Nigeria software industry has any promising future? because Nigerians does not even have confidence in any thing made in Nigeria or by Nigerian. And most of my friends who are developer are jetting out of the country for greener pasture.

Let the government fix the issue of power supply first.
I bet you there are many budding and undiscovered programmers there being limited by access to equipment and power supply.
We have very intelligent people. The software future is bright.
Dont forget as well we have millions of them abroad who are more than willing to come home if conditions improve.

There's no future, yet.

Go ask any academic scholar, engineer, lawyer, doctor and what have you about the future of their careers in Nigeria , they will answer similarly like any programmer will do.
The reason is not far-fetched, once a country spends over 70% on its recurrent expenditure, then what would be left for development? Think of the economic leakage in the political circle and the redundancy in the civil service.
When most graduates are thronging the streets unemployed, then what do u expect? Our best brains have always been checking out in droves, hence u hear brain drain.
In all, i still believe in this country, its only us that can make it work.

Its a pity our Government are not ready to do anything, most especially the IT sector. But I think its our responsibility to make it the envy of the Government. If we can gain the trust of the international market, we can benefit from the offshore outsourcing just like Ghana is doing now.

The future is with web applications. I bet the owners of NL don't need any power to run it daily. The future is on the web.

I'm tired of hearing about the sorry state of our industry. Please, what can we do? Is there NOT a remedy for the decline we have seen? Should we sit idly by, complain and watch things go awfully worse?

Please I am asking this because I also feel the same issues that have been raised here, but I dont know if I can be of help to our industry. If anyone can come up with SOLUTIONS, I think that'll be good enough.

.NET

Solution: Exercise your genius and make it well known that you are Nigerian.

iGravity:

Solution: Exercise your genius and make it well known that you are Nigerian.

I love your answer so much. @poster, I think Nigeria programmers have a great advantage but unfortunately many failed to realize it. I you are a programmer, just program a software that help people and see how it will sell. Though I must acknowledge the importance of electricity, but let it not be your hindrance but your advantage. Just remain focus and all will be history.

chrisvicch:

. . . Though I must acknowledge the importance of electricity, but let it not be your hindrance but your advantage. Just remain focus and all will be history.

Some things in your previous message have been made bold for emphasis. When I was learning to program, my teacher made us run drills where you code on paper - I was too broke to afford a used computer then. This really helps sbecause you and your friends can work as compilers. You will notice that the better you code on paper, the easier it is on the computer. And development is less time-consuming too because you already kno what to do.

The electricity situation - which I am well aware of - may just be the advantage needed to bring up the gurus. Skill and the relentless dedication to polish it is what yields mastery.

The IT industry has a very bright future but for the software aspect, I think we have to take care of pirates.There is no copyright in Nigeria

Government are not the problem in I.T in nigeria. The problem is the mentallity of people, especially programmers in nigeria. Just think after weeks of hard work to create a software and sfter releasing it, non of your own country programmers can even try to use it and tell you if there are errors that you can fix. Thats not petroniszm atall. So how do you espect a person to stress he's/herself to create something that no one may use. I know some people will say that the person should create something usefull and people will use, but as a fellow country man you dont have to wait till its usefull, instead you should try to use it and then tell the programmer the problem with the software or program so that he/she can fix it and make it more usefull. But here we dont do anything but complain and talk alot of unnecessary things that dont help to improve are programming skills. Im speaking out of expirience, i spent months, day and night creating my own programming language, compiler and virtual mechine for game programming and gave it free, i spent days using it and fixing errors alone and post it here hoping other people will use it and tell me about errors that i havent fix yet, but nobody even tried instead people from other part of the world are the once that help to tell me about few errors that i havent corrected yet, its not ecouraging atall. My idea for create th softwares came from here when i realize many people wanted to write games but could not all the necessary libs for it, so i decided to create a programming languge for game programming with all the necessary functions and procedures needed for gam programming and no one here can even try to use it and tell me, see you havent added that or this, also add this or that or fix this or that, nothing from my own fellow programmers here. Its very dis-couraging. I just hope our metallity will change and we can start helping each other achieve something in the world of software, games and other programming because nothing can become perfect if not corected and a programmers can not correct all the errors in a software unless other programmers or users point some out. My software is Gamers VM and i just release a new version a few days ago at my website- www. Gamersvm .co.cc -i need to stop hoping people here will try it and tell you to try my software and give me pointers in making it better.

Ogim:

Government are not the problem in I.T in nigeria. The problem is the mentallity of people, especially programmers in nigeria. Just think  after weeks of hard work to create a software and sfter releasing it, non of your own country programmers can even try to use it and tell you if there are errors that you can fix. Thats not petroniszm atall. So how do you espect a person to stress he's/herself to create something that no one may use. I know some people will say that the person should create something usefull and people will use, but as a fellow country man you dont have to wait till its usefull, instead you should try to use it and then tell the programmer the problem with the software or program so that he/she can fix it and make it more usefull. But here we dont do anything but complain and talk alot of unnecessary things that dont help to improve are programming skills. Im speaking out of expirience, i spent months, day and night creating my own programming language, compiler and virtual mechine for game programming and gave it free, i spent days using it and fixing errors alone  and post it here hoping other people will use it and tell me about errors that i havent fix yet, but nobody even tried instead people from other part of the world are the once that help to tell me about few errors that i havent corrected yet, its not ecouraging atall. My idea for create th softwares came from here when i realize many people wanted to write games but could not all the necessary libs for it, so i decided to create a programming languge for game programming with all the necessary functions and procedures needed for gam programming and no one here can even try to use it and tell me, see you havent added that or this, also add this or that or fix this or that, nothing from my own fellow programmers here. Its very dis-couraging. I just hope our metallity will change and we can start helping each other achieve something in the world of software, games and other programming because nothing can become perfect if not corected and a programmers can not correct all the errors in a software unless other programmers or users point some out. My software  is Gamers VM and i just release a new version a few days ago at my website- www. Gamersvm .co.cc -i  need to stop hoping people here will try it and tell you to try my software and give me pointers in making it better.   

What is the URL of your site? You need to provide:

- a valid url,
- your vision:  what is you future vision? to make it a global platform for desktop gaming? mobile devices? Is it os? How can people join the team? etc
- documentation: And explanation of each class and method, overview of the architecture, setup instructions, known bugs and concise examples.

If you do not provide that information how do programmers get setup? I noticed an example you posted but what environment dose it run in? what IDE did you use?

Did you create the software from scratch or hack an existing os project?

Are you a lone programmer looking for testers?

provide all of the above information and your project will grow, remember to create a successful OS project you need to create a community around your project.

Everything you mention i already provided at my website, i took the time to document everything with examples for each. The website is valid, the reason i seperated the characters is because, everytime i post the website as one word www.gamersvm, it gets cut into half. Thats why i always write it like this www. gamersvm .co.cc just join it as one word. As for the community i have to get at least some interested people before starting that.

www.gamersvm/ for more info.

Visit www.gamersvm.co.ccfor more info.

The future of Nigeria startups is about to take a new turn. From funding to application development and testing. Visit cchub.com.ng for details.

It is indeed sad to hear all these things really. I had posted on NL sometime ago that Software Developers industry is the worst felt, unorganized, most marginalized, most malnourished etc. in Nigeria.

Just so you know, I think computer programming is one of the most permit me to use the word "malnourished" industry in Nigeria. My humble opinion and stand to be corrected.

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=574165.msg7402005#msg7402005

Dear friends, we can change the present and fashion a new future for ourselves and posterity.

Like I believe and have always said, we DO NOT NEED the government for any of the solutions. These are things we can do for ourselves.

Believe me by the time we start to make progress on our own, the government or any other agency, corporation, individual etc. would ask us how they can help.

All we need to do is to come together and with one voice say enough is truly enough.

Till then we would continue to be doing the same thing and expecting different results.

As a little contribution to our ailing sector, any software developer who can not or does not have access to power should indicate. We can make arrangements for at least 8hours of power supply everyday between 9am - 5pm.

Government are not the problem in I.T in nigeria. The problem is the mentallity of people, especially programmers in nigeria. Just think after weeks of hard work to create a software and sfter releasing it, non of your own country programmers can even try to use it and tell you if there are errors that you can fix.

I don't agree with you totally. Nigerian may be individualistic but I have gotten bug alerts my from app users. I didn't find out if they were developers, but they sure were Nigerians.

Am not a techie but i think ONE critical area some of our programmers miss is that it goes beyond the software or programme or whatever. You need a good business to make it all work and make MONEY. You guys need to partner with business men who can provide the power and what not for you to do your thing and also the marketing and admin and accounting and legal and, I hope you get what am driving at.

A good software without a good business to sell it will languish, a soso software with good business will get into enough hands to generate income and make improvements. Windows wasn't that great when it first came out but it was good enough with a seriously good marketing muscle. Lets dump the "I can drive myself" attitude and get serious, except you guys don't want to make jillions from you talent like googles and facebooks and apples of this world.

And for those waiting for government to "supply electricity first" you are not yet ready to do BUSINESS in nigeria, if you want to write programmes as a hubby you are free to wait but if you want to run a software BUSINESS then better arrange your power and start unless the potential gain is not worth the hassle.

make una no vex na business i sabi not computer

The future of the software industry depends on we the programmers. I believe we need to forget about money(very hard thing to do when you have bills to pay) and try to innovate more.
Most software companies in Nigeria develop School management software or hospital/ hotel management software which in my opinion wont get the country anywhere.
We need a way to attract the big boys(microsoft, google, yahoo, oracle) to Nigeria as they are in india and the only way to do this is to develop things that would get their attention.

^^^^


Exactly, although before you attract the big guys, you need to garner the small and average one and like someone said, how about programmers partner with business and marketing professionals? For instance, I believe that the average Nigerian business man wants to learn how to keep his books, manage his inventory, everything involved in the normal business. Electricity or not, small level accountant will manage their books online and offline, a whole lot can be done from just the average business perspective.

hello guys,
need guys who can write a software n its sumfin i wish 2 start soon. jus get in touch n lets start sumfin. thanks
geegbenga@yahoo.com or 08027664708 n 08062993223.

programming no bi just talk talk. you write and see the results right away, most nigerians are not for anything that one can see the results.

we are good in banking, finance and grammar!

I think, for now, people must survive, learn, watch, and wait.
One day something will change. Things can never stay the same.

About associating with a business man, i do agree to some extend, i mean as a programmer we dont know much about the world of business, but remember that all business man will want to see prove that what they are investing in will not drop the next day. In nigeria we all know that business men are impetiant and like to get returns af their investment the next day.
Software is not something you can release today and start making money tomorrow, it takes time.
Creating inovative software is the only way of I.T developement we need but an inovative software is no good if nobody recognizes its potential and this is nigeria.

I just like to say I am happy aboout this discuss because I am a passionate Nigerian who has been programming for almost 20 years now and I can tell you a lot about Nigeria's software Industry and I think i got suggestions that can help us all. I will start with a few.

1.  If we must make a difference, we must put away some of the worms that have held us back. First we must be trust worthy. Nigerians are not trustworthy. Anytime you try to do a business with a Nigerian, he or she always tries to swindle you one way or the other. Nigerians dont like to share and they are unnecessarily competitive instead of being complimentary. The software revolutions in other countries started with trustworthy collaborations.
2.  We must look beyond immediate profits and have a long term vision. That might mean doing something temporarily that can sustain you while you pursue your vision.
3.  We must be willing to share and we must appreciate and respect those who share and give them their credit where necessary. Nigerians never give credits for things they use and they are always very ungrateful. The average Nigerian does not know how to say a heartfelt thank you.
4.  We must be honest about what we do. We must sign MOUs and contracts where necessary. Nigerians hate signing contracts and always try to subvert the ones they have signed. They always try to take more than their share of a deal and without putting much into it.

I am not saying all these to bash Nigerians, I am just talking from experience. I have about 5 software products I have developed and several organizations have used across the country and I know what I suffered over the years to sell and implement them. I was taking advantage of several times, majorly because I didnt have much business experience initially. I was also taking advantage of by partners who were always very lazy but wanted to always collect their "cut". From government to private sector, everyone wants to collect their "cut". So we must try to put all these aside and emerge as a new crop of Nigerians who are willing to change their country.

Forget about NEPA and all, they cant stop you if you are serious. A man with a laptop does not have a problem with electricity. I have 2 laptops and a desktop and work from my laptop mostly. All you need is a UPS and a car battery and you can work as long as you like while NEPA can charge your battery  in between. You can also get a small generator to charge the battery if NEPA  is off for a long time.

I am willing to collaborate on projects with serious guys. I am about to release 3 new revolutionary mobile products and already have partners in cote d'voire and Kenya. There are a lot of opportunities out there and I can answer your questions freely on how to go about developing your software and marketing for Nigeria. You can also attend my online free seminars for those who are new to programming and once a month "small fee" seminars in Lagos on java and mobile/web applications development for those who wont mind paying a small fee.

Dear friends,
We have successfully registered Software Developers Association (SDA) and secured a domain name www.sda.com.ng (nothing there yet.)

I would like to use this opportunity to thank everybody both software developers etc. for the positive and constructive feedback towards making this a reality. Without your contributions this would not have happened.


Some of the Aims & objectives(extracted from The Constitution - ARTICLE 3) are:-
1. To empower software developers to achieve their potentials through funding, training and retraining.
2. To develop and encourage software development in Nigeria through awareness creation, encourage project development and creativity.
3. To promote a digital knowledge economy through software development.
4. To eradicate poor infrastructure in Nigeria, inadequate funding, inadequate facilities and tools for software development.
5. Effective collaboration of technical know-how, availability of resources, to combat poor or low quality of products and poor sales due to any or all of the above.
etc.

Like we discussed and all agreed here https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-574165.0.html it is a community project and voluntary. It would only succeed if like minds work together for common objective.

I would also like to use this medium to ask Seun to please if possible create a child forum dedicated to SDA pending when the official website comes up. This child forum would be used to deliberate and discuss issues, meeting schedules, project timelines etc. and also collaborate on developing a web portal for the association.

We would be glad to answer any questions/queries you may have.

Thank you.

^^^If you really want to do anything meaningful, just make it a really open project. I have been a member of many associations and it has never worked because of many issues i dont want to list here. I am a member of Nigerian Linux user group, Nigerian FOSS proffesionals group and several others. But most of them never worked because of the Nigerian factor. But I have worked better with the African groups I belong to, because of the modus operandi they have adopted. For example, if you want it to work, it should not be an arm of Nairaland. At some point, conflict of interests will occur, because Nairaland is a personal business. So it should be a completely different organisation and should be as transparent as possible and guided by best practices in collaboration so everyone can contribute and be able to benefit from their ideas.

Just to add that there is a software development center being organized by the government but it has been left idle and fallow for a long time. We could take advantage of it and everyone can benefit.

@ediclove. Thank you for your contribution. The association would carry everybody along and like I said, without the support of ALL and dedicated members, it will NOT succeed.

Kind of you to mention the "Nigerian Factor". Membership into the association is voluntary and every member MUST adhere to the rules and guiding principles of the association. Those are not my rules nor anybody's but "The Association" rules as certified by CAC and other regulatory bodies.

It is not an arm of Nairaland and never would be because they are different entities setup to do different things. What we are doing is to leverage on the forum(NL) to reach out to other people as this is Nigeria most read and used forum. We are politely asking and soliciting the support of Seun so that getting information out would be as fast and productive as possible. Remember without NL you wouldn't be reading this from me so let's give honour to whom honour is due.

When we(All of us) build the association's website and other communication medium, we can use them to collaborate etc. while moving our ailing industry forward.

Let me know if there are other issues.

^^^ Thanks for clarifying. Just to add that my statement is not intended to "dishonor" Nairaland. Just saying it as it is. I love Nairaland and thats why I am here but we should never mix sentiments with what we do. Thats why oyibos are more successful than us. So once again, thanks for clarifying.