Does OLX owe Nigerians an apology?

by Clifford Orji

Since the little incident with the Nanny, OLX has come under fire lately for their perceived lack of concern towards issues arising from interaction on the platform. At their media parley yesterday, the Country Manager, Lola Masha, spoke at great length about the company’s attempts at educating current and potential users of the platform. Considering the nature of the platform, should OLX go through such great lengths to defend its position.

In simple terms, OLX is a virtual marketplace or maybe even less than that, it’s like the land on which the market is built. Imagine Tejuosho market, but on the internet. Although a service provider, OLX isn’t a Jumia or Konga. OLX owns none of the products being bought and sold on its platform. You also can’t contact a potential buyer or seller via the platform. All interactions of that nature are done off the platform. Even Tejuosho market lets you communicate with the market women in the market.

“We at OLX are constantly innovating to ensure we deliver the best possible online trading experience in Nigeria. We believe in the Nigerian market and determined to see that the online marketplace thrives. We are very passionate about the value we provide in connecting buyers to sellers and in promoting trade. For us, trust and safety are key factors to the success of e-commerce, which is why we are intensifying efforts by improving measures that will demonstrate safety and help build trust among Nigerians.” said Lola Masha, Country Manager OLX Nigeria

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You wouldn’t boycott all of Tejuosho market because one market woman sold you a bad bag of tomatoes. You’d boycott her stall maybe, but definitely not the entire market. The same idea should apply to OLX. You could avoid that particular seller or even go a step further and report the seller as fraudulent. So why is OLX trying so hard to fix whatever PR damage they believe they have taken? Sure, the average Nigerian is ignorant about how the platform works but isn’t this the best time to educate? It would be a lot wiser for the company to maintain it’s hardline stance and go, “hey, this is what we do so don’t blame us for that”. Better that than this current aggressive PR move.

Currently, the OLX Gives Back campaign is still ongoing, Dan Foster of City FM has listed some of his items on sale on OLX. Some of the proceeds from the sale of those items will be doubled by OLX and given to the charity organisation of his choice. It’s almost like they’re trying to apologise to Nigerians. The whole thing is doing more harm than good. Embarking on this PR offensive only serves to solidify the average Nigerian’s assumption that OLX bears some responsibility for recent incidents when, in reality, they don’t.

Comments (2)

  1. Clifford Orji, back from prison abi? Eaten any H.Sapien beef lately? You shouldn’t be deciding for us. Tell us your facts and let us decide. This is Africa. While we still try to get our heads round who’s responsible for what in the online space, we will continue to blame the hosts.

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