SOME business centres and cyber café operators within Enugu say they are currently recording low patronage from members of the public, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

A correspondent of NAN, who visited the hub of business centres at NIPOST Headquarters along Okpara Avenue on Wednesday, observed the operators scrambling for a few number of customers.

In some cases, they have to quarrel among themselves in the struggle to win customers.

Similarly, the same scenario played out at the upper Edinburg Street, where the hubs of cyber café are found in the state.

NAN reports that the case of cyber café operators is pathetic as they have little or no single customer.

Miss Eunice Uche, a business centre operator in NIPOST Headquarter axis, said that patronage had continued to drop since most companies and government offices had invested in procuring computers, printers and other accessories.

Uche said that many people use their phones to make, use and store electronic typed copies, expressing regret that the way of handling text copies had greatly reduced patronage.

‘‘Today, we barely survive on students typing and printing projects and term papers that run in to tenths of pages,’’ she noted.

Mrs Chika Obiora, another operator at WAEC Bus-stop in Independence Layout, corroborated Uche’s position.

She said that for over two years now her business had witnessed low patronage even as many lawyers prefer to have their documents in soft copies rather than hardcopies or photocopies.

Obiora, whose shop is close to the state High Court, said that some lawyers had employed typists or do it themselves and then print within their offices.

‘‘Business has not been rosy at all; it is all struggle and recently the high cost of petrol contributes to our frustration,’’ she said.

Mr Obinna Nwobodo, a cyber café operator at 24 Edinburg Street, Enugu, also spoke in the same vein.

Nwobodo said the business had continued to dwindle as internet and easy-to-type large phones were already taking over the jobs individuals do at the cyber café.

He noted that the power surge caused by irregularities in power supply had continued to damage most internet linked computer sets.

Another cyber café operator in Agric Bank in Independence Layout, who simply gave his name as Chinedu, said that many cyber café are closing down.

Chinedu lamented that some cyber café shops had been converted to drinking bars in the state capital.

‘‘Agreed that cost of data was not high again, but the increasing cost of fuel and printing paper is something to worry about since we only rely on those students especially those conducting researches to get bulk sales.

‘‘It is these researchers that are still keeping us in business since individuals could browse, send and receive mails and even attach documents through their cell-phones,’’ he said.

A social critic, Mr Sebastian Offor, said that business centre and cyber café businesses had been overtaken by development in Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

He observed that this development was making the once booming business to be less profitable.

Offor, who is a sociologist by training, said that just as speed trains had come to replace locomotive trains; personalised android, I-phone and tablet phones had come to replace business centre and cyber café for most individuals.

‘‘Even some professionals are using their phones to bring typing and internet solutions to their offices since today you can easily share data; get and run your own printers and scanners.

‘‘It is left for those who are still in these businesses to think outside the box, to find other businesses they can attach to their shops in order to continue to retain their shops rather than to permanently close shop,’’ Offor said. (NAN)

– Mar. 28, 2018 @ 16:48 GMT |