Buying and running software in Nigeria
Nigerian software has to work on the network and the devices people actually have, and that shapes engineering decisions more than feature choices do. Mobile data is the primary connection for most users, coverage varies, and mid-range Android phones with limited storage are the common device. Small payloads, tolerance for a dropped connection mid-action, and interfaces that stay usable on a slow link are functional requirements rather than optimisations. An app that assumes a stable connection will be judged broken.
Payments are the area where assumptions imported from elsewhere fail hardest. Card decline rates are high enough that a card-only checkout loses real revenue, so bank transfer — typically a dedicated virtual account per customer, settled over NIBSS instant transfer — is usually offered alongside, and frequently becomes the preferred path. USSD remains relevant for users off smartphones. Paystack, Flutterwave and Monnify each handle virtual accounts and transfer confirmation differently, and webhook handling matters because a transfer confirms asynchronously, sometimes minutes later.
Pricing in naira against costs denominated in dollars means exchange-rate movement is a product concern, not only a finance one, so prices are stored in a way that allows revision without a rebuild.
Data protection obligations under the NDPR are specified against the operator's own processes.
API & Payment Integration in Nigeria
Nigerian payment work usually means bank transfer as a first-class path rather than a fallback, since card decline rates make a card-only checkout lose genuine orders. That typically involves issuing a dedicated virtual account per customer and confirming settlement by webhook, which arrives asynchronously and can be delayed. Paystack, Flutterwave and Monnify differ in how they expose this, and reconciliation is designed for late and duplicate notifications.