OLD MONSTERS IN NEW STORIES.

This is a story of a public corporation turned privately run monopoly protected by parasitic and mediocre legislation made by previous administrations in Nigeria. They claim to be overhauled but in reality have turned the public power supply sector into a money making venture in the new administration by the same old titans of industry and political thugs.

When the AEDC officials asked me for my electricity bill, I quickly picked the latest bill which read that I had been billed just over nine thousand naira for the previous month and there was an outstanding of nine thousand naira which had been accumulating over the past two months. I too was a victim of the tough times which had visited Nigerians like an uninvited guest who suddenly knocks on your door just when your wife announces that the fried rice and the two pieces of meat you had been hungrily waiting for was ready.

“Oga, we go cut your light!” the pimply faced AEDC stooge with the old looking dirty pliers said indignantly. I could feel the spit in my mouth dry up. The adrenalin began flowing through my veins. The flash backs of the hot nights I had spent chasing away blood starved mosquitoes with the plastic hand fans suddenly pounced from the well of frustration I had not realised was there. I had just moved to a new location in Abuja and was just starting to get into the groove of being newly married. 

“For what now?” I heard myself reply as the vibrations of building rage spilled from my body into my voice.

“Abi you no see say you still dey owe?” He beckoned to a well built colleague of his with a safety belt and red rubber gloves worn were they were meant to be worn. “See this bill O,” the guy said as he pointed to the printed numbers which showed the payment of five thousand naira paid a few days ago in my bid to offset the growing debt which I owed. The guy took a one second glance and made to move towards the fused plastic installations on the wall of the small veranda that is the front of my rented two bed room apartment located on the out skirts of the main city of Abuja.

“Come o, abi una no see say I don pay five thousand naira for  there?” I said blocking the path of the gloved AEDC staff with the safety belt.

“Pay wetin, that one no go stop us from cutting your light oga, we no dey accept part payment for any reason. If no be the full payment, we don get instructions from our oga say make we cut the light!” 

Then I heard a female voice call out to them, “Wetin una dey do for there, make una cut that light make we go jor, you know know say we get other places to go?” Obviously she was the voice of authority. This definitely was the oga that I need to talk to or else spend the next few days without light. I quickly made my way towards her leaving the pair by the meterless fused box.

“Madam I just pay five thousand to una some few days ago, why you dey tell them make them cut light?” It honestly felt futile but I pressed on, “At least give me time make I fit get the money to pay the full bill.” Now I was really agitated and I let it flow out of me freely. How in the world would these people act like money is something we can pluck from trees like a bunch of grapes. If I had the whole sum on me of course I would have paid if just to save me the whole embarrassment of what was every house owner or tenant’s nightmare who did not have a prepaid meter installed yet as they had promised.

“Oga, I cannot accept that money. It shows that you are a bad customer. You know say we dey on target every month. Our ogas at the top no wan know all this talk wey you dey tell us.” Addressing her stooges she ordered, obviously equally peeved at the five thousand I was claiming to have paid “Cut the light abeg!”

“Madam, if una go just install prepaid meter like my neighbours get shebi I no go dey suffer to pay this una ten thousand bill every month wey una dey charge us on top of say we no dey even get light for this area. I don apply for the prepaid meter how many months ago and yet una just abandon us to this flat rate for light we no even use sef.” I was vibrating all over now trying and hopelessly failing to use my anger to hide the fact that I was clearly begging now. Despite the pride which was now slighted with deep embarrassment I knew that I was at her mercy.

“Una don cut am?” She demanded, addressing the pair.

 “Since madam,” they said with smug smiles on their faces. 

“See Oga, make you dey pay all your bill or we go cut am every time you pay part. You know know say na monthly target we get abi? Ohooo....” She hissed leaving me helpless in her wake.

The plight faced by so many Nigerians as a result of the insensitive acts by the AEDC officials has definitely reached unprecedented levels. Gone are the days when a person could pay over fifty percent of his electricity bill and buy a few days grace and have the outstanding paid on a later date. Like predators, AEDC have become like loan sharks who loan you some electricity for a few months. The painful part is that for those who have not been blessed with the grace of a prepaid meter, they are condemned like criminals who have incurred a debt which goes bad by the end of every month. They then go further by insisting that the customers pay the whole sum at whatever units rate the company deems fit to charge. The calculation for the allocation of electricity units which is being acceded to the houses without prepaid meters is a mystery which seems to have no justification. In fact, from the vague explanations some of the lenient staff sometimes give, if there is a vulcanize on your street who uses an electric powered air pump, chances are that you are billed for the use of his machine after all, meters are not allocated to them. We have not even taken into account the illegal connections which many houses are enjoying. Ask around and you will learn that most of the illegal connections have been done by the same AEDC staff!

It baffles the mind then when one thinks of a system which has been callously and thoughtlessly created to put these AEDC marketing staff on a target based system. One may argue that their actions show that they give no consideration to the state of the Nigerian economy or that they impose a load shedding schedule which has the power off longer than supplied. To then  have the marketing staff go round like debt collectors or repo men to strong arm the poor masses who are barely making ends meet to pay top naira at a hundred percent or get disconnected basis for an amenity which they barely utilise, leaves little else to ones imagination. No wonder the staff have either refused to supply the prepaid meters or arbitrarily charge for its installation to make up for their losses! It only stands to reason that if the AEDC staff supply the prepaid meters to customers, how then would the targets be met?! The indiscriminate hike with no clear reason or apology is like a very long thorny stick which has been shoved up the asses of helpless Nigerians. Take it and be silently grateful. For those who have the means to pay for the prepaid meters which are supposedly free, succumbing to bribe the officials are better odds; even if it was just for the reprieve of purchasing units according to what one consumes as against the metered flat rates.

The whole aim of trusting people to create policies which are based on logical reasoning seems to be lost on those in the corridors of power in Nigeria. It is not too much to ask the money crazed policy makers to infuse just a third of the same effort which is expended in creating draconian policies which literary dip fang and claw into the necks of the masses with little to show but a Trojan supply of electricity. The least they could do is to understand the concept of the consumer’s mentality while considering the state of the economy and conceptualise policies which can act as a catalyst to ensuring that both sides of the table are well served. To envision a law which forces the marketing staff to perform miracles in a sector where the powers of the previously state run corporation were brought to its knees in abject failure is not only downright complacent but makes me wish we could compel these so call policy makers to a town hall meeting, strip them of their oversized and fashionably out dated agbada’s and give them a good flogging. You would say that that in itself is equally draconian. But remember the well of frustration I earlier mentioned? Well, all I can say is, that is the extent to which I feel I can get a bit of justice in return.

I can go further to suggest in the end that the system adopted for the AEDC marketing staff is a failed system like every other subsector governing the power generation, transmission and distribution body responsible for power generation in Nigeria. I could further suggest that the target method placed for the marketing staff of the AEDC may very well work for banks, insurance companies and other privately run financial institutions but not for the chimera body which is partly privatised and partly government owned. Washing a rotten egg doesn’t change the smell that will escape once the shell is cracked open. The reason why the rotten egg that is the Nigerian power sector cannot be run like the previously mention privately run financial businesses is that they do not solely rely on one stream of income, revenue or profit. While the banking sector may rely on the monies deposited by its customers by also using the marketing target system on its staff, it further diversifies into other lucrative sectors such as trading in shares and stock as well as on the FOREX platform. The Insurance companies on the other hand do not solely depend on premiums paid by its subscribers and policy holders which are secure by its marketing staff who are also on a marketing target system, on the contrary, they have equally diversified by investing in mortgages and other sectors such as health, travel and other onetime insurable services and saving schemes which provide favourable rates for its policy holders.

However, the reverse is the case for the so called power generating company in Nigeria with the AEDC in charge of distribution. The policy makers from time immemorial (the good old rotten days of NEPA) have sat in air conditioned offices, wallowing in the suppuration that is within and around them while day dreaming of and salivating for the seemingly bottomless pit where lay the thirty shekels of silver that they wring from the pockets of poor Nigerians –and by poor I mean it as an adjective and also as an adverb. Where in lies the diversity? Definitely not when their major source of income is receiving so much attention that not only have they made it cut throat by placing targets on the marketing staff, but the same staff can boldly say that unless the full hundred percent payments are made, they have been instructed to deprive you of the light without any form of compensation but a twisted sense of penal justice for not having all their money fully paid for overpriced electricity which is barely supplied beyond five hours a day.

I understand that I may just be talking for myself for there may be persons out there who will claim that they are lounging in more power than darkness like me. They would say write a petition or go fill a complaint form and let us have our peace. All I can say to them is that the eye of the draconian money grabbing beast knows no friend nor fears no foe. There were areas once which were a haven for uninterrupted power supply in this country.

Today, they are better off living in the stone-age. It is a story of a public corporation turned privately run monopoly encased in amber of parasitic and mediocre legislation and the half bread is better than non mentality we as Nigerian have come to love.

https://wordpress.com/posts/yashimsblog.wordpress.com 

EDGE TO INNOVATIVE INVESTMENT.

To Be First Amongst Equal May Be A Far cry To Some But To Those Who See Beyond Today's Financial Crisis, It Could Be An Opportunity Waiting For You To Turn Into An Advantage That Can Change Your Life.


Here's a thought for the investment savvy people out there. The global economy is already in a state of Flux and trauma. Items for the citizens of underdeveloped countries will only get more tougher to purchase hence their standards of living will dip downwards. As inflation rates keep growing in Nigeria, the security keeps at its current state of volatility and we have this current gerontocratic system of ineptitude and near impotence for game changing ideas and proactive desire for progress.

Many a Nigerian will continue in ignorance (not their fault cause they know no better especially with the decrepit state of our educational system), and our almost inexplicable desire to celebrate remote and out dated modes of activities by this current government will only get stronger as everything I have described above gets worse. Why will it get stronger? [2% of those reading it may ask]. Because nothing turns a man towards servitude and sycophancy (not sure if that is a real word, but it works) better than poverty or if you think your are well to do, then for you, the struggle to maintain that standard already robs you of any desire to do anything else than "hustle" (all twists, adjectives and allegories of the word applies here please). Here's a tip of information based on just one fact for the same investment savvy 2%, "Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew on Monday announced new rules aiming to make it more difficult for United States companies to relocate overseas to lower their tax bills and wipe out the benefits for those that do." -This was culled from the NewYork post this morning and that's what the American congress under Mr. Obama are working on. If this is not a proactive move then I don't know what is. Not only is it a logical move to improve their economy by forcing the wealthy to spend their investment money right there in America, but it also reduces the prevalence of "Anonymous companies" and slave labour as it were.

So, you think you are living the life and maybe you really are (cause we will remind you with our envy) but that state may just be your undoing if you fail to invest. In the end, the Epidemiology of economic compartmentalized division can be summed up with the concept of "the cash flow quadrant".

A progressive state is not a situation that happens to you, it is a condition of the state of your mind. A friend said last night, "you have been cheated if you were not born in the 'west'". By that he means the western hemisphere. That that statement "may" be true (subject to opinion) should not change our state of mind and our quest to search for the best edge in proactive investment to change our lives. To my 2% I dedicate this piece hoping so vehemently that I too am one of them.

Originally posted: Sept 24, 2014.

BY COCK CROW.

Like mirrors we judge what we know nothing about,

Then dream in past tense of days past when our head was lost in the clouds.

Like broken spokes on a wheel we wobble through tomorrow,

Like bees caught in a trap we buzz to all unfortunate ears of our sorrows.

We stare ahead at the past behind wishing that what is behind should have been ahead,

Yet, like beautiful flowers in a dump, we proudly flourish in our bed.

We all need saviours, even the ones named Judas who will kiss our cheeks while we dream of a Peter Who will deny us before the cock crows.

But in the end we are naught but reflections of our childhood dreams, like harvested corn, Cobless in organised rows.

WHERE LIES THE EDGE OF REASON: Nigeria’s space exploration program.

To make a new world is sometimes not the work of reasonable men but rather the effect of the actions of a few unreasonable men. This may be the only way that Nigeria can see past the shambles of its current state towards a future free from the shackles of inherited corruption and cynical mediocrity.

 

The world is full of reasonable men. Nigeria is full of apologists of reason. Whether it is the obviously poor man who stands on the street littered with his own excesses such as pure water bags, Tom Tom wrappers and cigarette butts or the man who sits in his office no different from the former. He drinks his water from a plastic bottle, smokes his cigarette and pops a Tom Tom into his mouth to mask the strong and unmistakable smell of nicotine. Then he disposes of his excesses in the waste paper bin, justified in his self-righteousness that he is positively different from the other man on the street. At least, he has done his part. And quite reasonably too don’t you think? But then the cleaner cleans out the office at the end of the day and takes out the trash. The trash then goes to the overgrown plot at the back of the office and is discarded there regardless of the obvious caveat that reads, “Do not dispose of refuse here, by order.” By the next day the wind blows in its mischievous fury as it heralds a rain storm or the relentless harmattan winds. The disposed trash is then blown into the street and no one is the wiser where it must have originally come from. He never asks how the trash is disposed of after all, he’s the boss and he is reasonably not accountable for his employee’s actions in the course of his duties. His chain of command ends in the trash basket, nothing more! How reasonable.

Just recently, a third world country launched its first space exploration rocket headed for the planet which has been the subject matter of various speculations and curiosity in the astrological community for countless years. That planet has also not been spared by Hollywood who have also exploited such curiosity and made several block buster movies one of which is titled, “The red planet.” And so, on the 5^th of November, 2013, India launched its first ever unmanned rocket scheduled to arrive at its destination in approximately ten months. This launch in itself was quite significant because India was in a race to beat the Asian giant China to be amongst the elite few countries to have ever placed a technological foot –or in this case a technological wheel, on Mars. But then here, we must be reasonable. A third world country, spending millions of dollars to reach worlds beyond the earth’s moon in a race which does not benefit the vast majority of its masses, poor and privileged alike? It would simply have been reasonable if India had just diverted such immense funds and sunk it into let’s say… its growing medical field, the educational sector, infrastructure, social security, food and of course its economy generally. How reasonable, a reasonable man would have said.

But let’s now be unreasonable as the cliché of reason may have been flawed from the onset by reason of the human factor involved. After all, I did say that the world is full of reasonable men. What then would be the gain to repeat to them what they already know? That would only be tantamount to giving an answer to an obvious rhetorical question, wouldn’t it?

I also did mention that Nigeria is full of apologists of reason. But with all our reason, we have created monsters out of our youth who have either seen more comparative advantage in being educated by militants or insurgent terrorist organisations like the Boko Haram. With all our reasonableness, we have succeeded in driving millions of people to seek employment in the lucrative world of cyber fraud and we have even gone as far as popularly nicknaming such self-employed entrepreneurs as “yahoo boys.” Yet, we have always been reasonable. Just as it would be reasonable for us to turn up our noses at India’s rocket launch to explore Mars and in the process beat China to it just like the United States beat the USSR to land on the moon!

And so from here on, I have decided to see what the other side of reason is, the unreasonable side. Or as some may say, that to stand on the edge of reason is to be unreasonable itself! I stand to be wilfully unreasonable when I say that Nigeria should start investing in sending its own rocket to Mars. And by the word investing, I mean heavily so. For after 53 long years of being reasonable, I can without doubt say that we seem to have  found ourselves right back where we started, arguably some even say we are worse off. After being ruled by those who plundered our natural resources for their personal aggrandisement, it seems fair to finally ask, where lies the edge of reason so I may stand on it! We have blamed the colonialists for ever so long. Laid woes and bitten our fingers at their legacy and cursed that providence can bear witness to the current shambles and tatters of what remains of our proudly Nigerian society. In our bid to shake off the shackles of the past, we have turned on each other. Blowing ourselves up in the name of one cause or the other, picking up arms against our neighbour while we vote politicians capable of deadly machinations into the corridors of power where boundaries are unevenly drawn like the face of an old woman. Nepotism hath never seemed more righteous, bribery… familiarly justified in the name of survival. Yet, after listening to this reasoning that seems to have worked as good as using a hammer to slice butter, we grasp on to that same reason and bare our yellowed teeth at any one who dares to upset that balance of familiarity. So as an afterthought, being unreasonable may very well be better off.

But what does it mean to be unreasonable you ask? I could outline a hundred meanings backed by several reasons but that would only convolute the essence of this process. How about being unreasonable by urging Nigeria to follow the example of India? We can say ours is a race against South Africa or some other country where the balance of power presently lies here in Africa. After all if Nigeria decides to invest advisedly just as India did in sending her own rocket to Mars, by doing this, we would have inadvertently caused certain benefits to present themselves as a result of our actions. The benefits of such an endeavour to Nigeria are numerous. Suspend your desire for reason for a brief moment and I will assure you that the benefits of space exploration are numerous as America can undoubtedly testify. For every now and then, we hear bits and pieces of these benefits yet we are oblivious to them. For instance, the creation of the artificial heart is a beneficial result from experiments on space shuttles. One of these experiments was in partnership with a renowned heart surgeon Dr. Michael Debakey. So also the popular hand held “jaws of life” used to cut twisted metal in order to save victims of car wrecks. This piece of technology originated from the system used to separate the space shuttle from its booster rockets. Moving further towards the edge of reason, space exploration creates new job opportunities and helps create a bridge between the public and private sector to partner in major sectors of the economy; the nature of this partnership also extents to the building of mutual understanding as a result of international cooperation among space-faring nations. Other fundamental benefits can be seen in various technological sectors with new innovations, new means to address global challenges, culture and Inspiration of the society especially the  younger generation, economic expansion, new business opportunities as well as creating a deep sense of patriotic  entitlement and national pride amongst the citizens of a country only to mention a few.

While the challenges in the near-term may seem to be a heavy weight to bear especially by a third world country such as Nigeria, India has proved beyond all doubt that it is not an impossible task. Of what purpose is it to dream today –even if convincingly unreasonable, if not to make it a reality tomorrow? Mistakes will be made, in fact, they must be made. Lives may be lost on this journey which is normal when breaking old boundaries to create new worlds. But if the Nigerian youth today, in such a daring and unreasonable venture can see a better future not just for his children but for generations yet unborn, then, we must ask ourselves as Nigerians, how unreasonable is it for us to stand on the edge of reason? I end this with the words of Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet born in Calcutta [now Kolkata], India, short-story writer, song composer, playwright, essayist, and painter who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, “if you shut the door to all errors, truth will be shut out.”

IDENTIFYING YOUR TARGET MARKET VALUE - (TMV).

Not every business can be run on the same principle(s). Each has a unique ideology depending on various factors that stares the  entrepreneur in the face but there is a principle that will never change and that is, identifying the target market value of any business.

One of the numerous problems business men and financial institutions in Nigeria face is the devaluation of the importance of focusing their resources and energies to the accentuation of a target market. Most of the time, they forget that major investments in a growing economy like ours in Nigeria does not necessarily start with the big giants of the corporate world. In essence, the unique circumstance of such growing economies encourages the ideals of investing in the individual. I like to call this concept, “TARGET MARKET VALUE.”

In the bid to maximise their profit making potential, investors in the Nigerian financial world tend to put their hands in to so many brews at the same time. They become the jack of all and masters of none. However, this does not have to be so. There is a simpler way to focus their potential and maximise the same profit they target by simply targeting the individual target market.

How can this be done?
This can be done by re-evaluating their Initial Target Market - (ITM). What Investors need to do is to identify a single sort of market that stands the potential to rake in their maximum profits. An isolation of this market should then be followed by refocusing their best resources towards this market. In other words, this is a similar principle when creating a niche in any industry.

The next step is the “identification of the needs of this target market.” It is not enough to invest in the best sectors of the Nigerian economy giving its volatility and its potential for erratic change. The internal socio-political terrain has seen to this, hence the reason for the irregular figures that keep making the headlines in the country’s GDP. The best way out of this is to identify the needs of the individual with the best investment potential. There is no need to over emphasise that the satisfaction of the need of the target market should be of utter most importance to the investor if he intends to play a lasting role in the vicissitudes of the Nigerian economy. This is where professionalism, flexibility, innovation, perseverance, efficiency and patience will be the most important rungs in getting up the investors pyramid. These key factors open up the market there by creating the distinct opportunity of trust amongst the identified target market. This is important because trust is like a time capsule which has the potential to protect any investor and especially corporate institution so that they may stand the test of time.

Another key factor that the Nigerian investor should use is, “know the budget of your target market.” The best way to convince and negotiate the best investments for both parties is for the investor to know the depth of his target markets pockets and of course the budget his plans to spend on an investment opportunity. This is a negotiation principle. Knowing what an individual or group is likely to concede to is the key to making concessions where necessary that will benefit everyone. This also helps to cover up unrealistic projections. An investor who is aware of the budget his target market has stands the chance of identifying the sort of investment(s) such a target likely has in mind. He can use this knowledge to find out the best possible way to provide such investment to meet the distinct need of his target market.

All these factors will not necessarily come together if the investor is not “willing to adapt.” Adaptability in the Nigerian economy is one of the most essential tools of survival. Adaptability breeds consistency, consistency breeds experience, experience breeds professionalism and professionalism breeds maximised income. All these make up what I call the investors pyramid. In essence, being able to change strategy the instant it is required is important in manuvering on whatever terrain the investor finds himself.

MAXIMISED INCOME
^
^
^
PROFESSIONALISM
^
^
^
EXPERIENCE
^
^
^
CONSISTENCY
^
^
^
ADAPTABILITY


Chart showing the investors pyramid.


These secrets have the potential of making an investor seem like he has the third eye or what some would rather call a nose for the financial market and the most appropriate investment(s). Sometimes the best investments may not necessarily be the most appropriate investments, so the aim here is transforming the most appropriate investment into the best investment.

So we need to change our thinking and be more calorific to the needs of our Target market. We need to improve on our strategies thereby improving on our services. Being efficient as a financial institution in Nigeria is not a myth. A new generation is being born and with it, a new way of thinking with new needs and better dreams. What investors need is to equip themselves better especially in a world where the alliances of technology, investments, and economic growth is slowly shifting towards Asia with China in the fore. It is only a matter of time before the Nigerian economy, it’s potential and untapped resources becomes a decisive ground for who know how to identify what their TARGET MARKET VALUE is and how best they can satisfy that target market and be the investors who will shape the world of tomorrow.

PROCURING THE END-USERS DREAM.

What if I told you that the clichéd saying, "The customer is always right," no longer applies in the Nigerian procurement market. Most managers, procurement offices or consultants at this point will be wondering why a trusted saying that has been borrowed from financial and management mammoths they -more than likely, have only heard and read about in text books would be so suddenly wrong. In fact, they would look at this article and wonder how on earth would I dare try to debunk their age tested conformist philosophy!

Well, I will give you more than one reason why sometimes, it shows a certain level of ineptitude to follow a borrowed philosophy without necessarily knowing just how far you should go in making it into your biblical dictum. I'm sure I must have pricked the ears and egos of most Financial and business managers in Nigeria willing to take their purchasing, supplying and pricing prowess to a whole new level entirely. This article is for people who are tired of watching mediocre decisions which have no significant bite -if any at all, in their percentage of productivity. For business men who are no longer convinced that just following the rules and philosophies that they have been taught eons ago is enough. Such men and women are demanding for more in the exponential market of the Nigerian economy. For them, it is not enough to say that the customer is always right and leave it at that.

What is this secret then? Simple! Procuring the end users dream is a technique that has been taught by most business development procurement trainers by rote. Such persons have never really fully understood the meaning of the letters in between the lines. What I have done is to bring interactive answers and a fresh perspective to the whole conundrum.

The concept here is not simply to say the customer is always right and leave it at that. What you need to do -as procurement and pricing officer, supply staff, financial manager, consultant or business individual, corporate or otherwise, is to find out what the end users demands are. Find out what their desires are their aspirations and expectations in the products you supply to them. This will help you focus on what is necessary and to concentrate your resources and energy on what really matters. Gone are the days when a supplier will simply stock his store and shelf with all sorts of products in a random display that simply speaks of indecisiveness and unprofessionalism.

The simple way here is that there is no one more predictable and easily read then the end user! Their single minded purpose is "UTILITY". All they are after is their satisfaction and nothing more. The nature of that satisfaction is what I shall magnify so as to put a corporeal statistics to the dreams of the end user.

What you need to know is, know your end-user(s). I will help you know how.

1. The Undecided end-user: I am starting with this end user because they are one of the most powerful forces in determining who your future purchasers will be. They are like the clean slates that are waiting to be convinced. They are impressionable and mostly keep an open mind.

2. The Price convinced end-user: They are the sort of end-users who base and make their decisions on the prices of products they require. This group is further sub divided into two. (I) the Best High Price convinced end-user and (II) The Best Low Price Convinced end-user.

(I) The Best High Price Convinced end-user or the BHP end-user -as I would like to call them for easy reference is more on the side of the exotic purchaser. This group not only has a high end taste but they also have the deep pockets to bag the size of their taste. To them, the high price of a product simply connotes its grade quality. They pride themselves in the jaw dropping price tags and would rather flex their huge purchasing muscles in a market with a fixed non negotiable price tag.

Those who fall in this group have this mentality either because they were born with affluence and were never really broken in to the negotiation way and hence have no patience or passion for it as it can make them feel cheap -after all they can afford it. Or, they were born in the have-nots side of life and have managed to change their status. They are compulsively conscious of this. It is especially evident in their light handed display of unguarded spending. This is a sort of statement if you may, against a history they despise or never want to be associated with again.

(II) The Low Price Convinced end-user on the other hand bases his choices on the best lowest price concept. I would like to simply call this group the BLP end-user. The BLP end-users are swayed by the lowest prices. They would rather bargain to       get to this point yet this group still has the same sweet tooth for the same quality of     the BHP end-user. This group is skilled negotiators. It will be important to note that this may be as a result of the shallow depth of their pockets or something that             they may have picked up from one of their parents while growing up. The supplier should be aware that this group also makes up a good -if not the highest percentage of end-users in Nigeria as a developing economy.

3. The Time Tested end-user: This group is more patient then other end-users. They, have a practical nature. They are slow to make a final decision on a product and have the tendency to patronise more than a "Single Source supplier" before they eventually settle down to make their choice. They could be more conservative in nature and are more faithful to the product than to the supplier. That is why the idea of procuring their dreams is a very useful strategy when you must have identified these end-users.

4. The Product Name end-users: This group is a little bit indecisive. They sometimes have no clear idea on what it is exactly that they want. They are prone to being influenced by adverts, propaganda, friends, and mentors and especially by the BHP end-user. They associate their patronage of a product to the popularity of the product, the prestige of the name of such a product and pride themselves that they are also patronising not only the same suppliers as the BHP end-user but the same brands as well. They do not necessarily make up a large percentage of end-users and they can be unpredictable as they may look up to several classes of end-users for an informed choice. Pointing out the popularity of a brand and the class of influential persons purchasing the said brand or product is a good way to convince this group.

5. The Satisfaction end-user: Here is a group whose single minded requirement is their satisfaction. These end users are the most confident of the rest. They are also predictable to a professional supply and procument officer. They desire quality, utility and reasonable prices. They are intermediate spenders. While they are not totally desirerous of the BLP or the BHP, they will not compromise either if they can help it. They are after satisfaction and suppliers will easily loose them if they are victims of buyer’s remorse especially as a result of a supplier who wants to sell inferior goods at the pricing standard of quality goods. They are very stable and make faithful end-users as long as their satisfaction is being sustained.

Therefore, knowing what the end users requirements are before they even decide what they require is the key to unlocking your procurement potential and improving not only on the quality of your supply but boosting your sales. In other words, you would have experienced a windfall and will happily begin raking in a higher income than the competition that has simply refused or just doesn't know how to evolve from the prehistoric philosophies spawned from an ice age of the procurement industry. By implementing this technique and perfecting it into a skill, you would have wittingly taken advantage of the idea that though your customer /end user is right, the fact that you have studied his or her needs and what his preferences are will make you right person in their eyes. They would see you as the sort of supplier whose tastes and vision have created a unique bond which they will never be able to get from any other place or person for that matter.

In the end you would have the lee room to determine your pricing strategy and ultimately you then have the potential to determine the prices of the market around you. No longer will your prices be determined by external factors, but you will become the factor by which pricing is determined.