Digitron:
Finally Enugu Diagnostic Center is ready,

After all the fuss??

Digitron:
Finally Enugu Diagnostic Center is ready,

Wonderful!

Let the government now beam its search light towards the ICC; International Conference Centre. That edifice has been abandoned for too long.

slimthugchimee2:


Why always the green and white....


Red and black should be appropria...........oh wait, hell no, let them not try it oh

Don't mind these useless south east governors. They want to be more nigerian than other nigerians. Can you believe painting ugly green white green on the brand new enugu state Secretariat. Thank God, okorocha have changed that in imo state. Until he tore down practically all the decaying imo state government buildings, almost all of them was decorated with green white green. Very very childish thing to do of painting national colours on everything.

Ofuzo:

Don't mind these useless south east governors. They want to be more nigerian than other nigerians. Can you believe painting ugly green white green on the brand new enugu state Secretariat. Thank God, okorocha have changed that in imo state. Until he tore down practically all the decaying imo state government buildings, almost all of them was decorated with green white green. Very very childish thing to do of painting national colours on everything.

Very childish and useless. But truly the govs, especially Okorocha are all rogues and gatekeepers..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc9FcblLO1s

FINALLY,

Enugu Centenary & Golf City now selling!
I must buy a home there. It promises to be the few places to live inside Nigeria with facilities almost equal to a home abroad.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFEJPEDsdJQ



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-nIk4INT6Y



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW_5Wey9a04

Inside the first building to be completed in WTC estate

Trees trees trees, why dont our planners always add it....just one or 2 tree at the middle as a round about would have been best

The finishing and landscaping isn't complete without the greenery and flowers.

arinzeejikonye:
The finishing and landscaping isn't complete without the greenery and flowers.

I don't know why it's so hard for these cheap contractors to appreciate that flowers and trees convert a concrete, prison looking structure into a conducive home environment. They will spend the same amount in construction, due to poor finishing without flowers,Paint color, their structure always look mediocre meant for a cheap hood.

They should go to Abuja and see how luxury flats are built and the environment lavished with flowers. Hopefully, they will still plant flowers and make the flats look like luxury apartments after they beef up the environment with flowers and trees.

Right now, the fact they will finish the area without any consideration to plant flower and trees to beautify, makes the concrete structure very very ugly. Another ugly concrete crap.

Cjrane2:


I don't know why it's so hard for these cheap contractors to appreciate that flowers and trees convert a concrete, prison looking structure to look like a conducive home space.

The fact they will finish the area without any consideration to plant flower and trees to beautiful the concrete already makes the structure very ugly. Another ugly concrete crap.

Unfortunately, Nigerians in general have extremely low standards for each other.

For example, so many governors travel to developed countries and some even have multiple homes there. But for some reason, when they build a project in Nigeria, the project looks like something a caveman built. You begin to wonder if that governor has mental illness.

Cjrane2:
FINALLY,

Enugu Centenary & Golf City now selling!
I must buy a home there. It promises to be the few places to live inside Nigeria with facilities almost equal to a home abroad.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFEJPEDsdJQ



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-nIk4INT6Y




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW_5Wey9a04

Amazing. Gutter gutter everywhere. Build highways, and they build gutter. Build roads, and they build gutter. Build street, and they build gutter. Build housing estates, and they build gutter. Build anything anywhere and they build gutter. Gutter, gutter, gutter everywhere. Nigerians don't know what a drainage is! They build gutters and call it drainage! Very very shameful thing.

Cjrane2:


I don't know why it's so hard for these cheap contractors to appreciate that flowers and trees convert a concrete, prison looking structure into a conducive home environment. They will spend the same amount in construction, due to poor finishing without flowers,Paint color, their structure always look mediocre meant for a cheap hood.

They should go to Abuja and see how luxury flats are built and the environment lavished with flowers. Hopefully, they will still plant flowers and make the flats look like luxury apartments after they beef up the environment with flowers and trees.

Right now, the fact they will finish the area without any consideration to plant flower and trees to beautify, makes the concrete structure very very ugly. Another ugly concrete crap.

There's one word for planting trees and flowers. The one word for it is LANDSCAPING. Igbos are the worst offenders of this. Igbos absolutely don't do landscaping in their building and construction. This is why the south east is the most ravaged erosion geographical area in the entire world.

Ofuzo:

There's one word for planting trees and flowers. The one word for it is LANDSCAPING. Igbos are the worst offenders of this. Igbos absolutely don't do landscaping in their building and construction. This is why the south east is the most ravaged erosion geographical area in the entire world.

lack of landscaping is just one of the reasons for erosion not the main reason.. some of these sweeping statements people make can be quite funny

Erosion, imo, is a mix of deforestation and the oil beneath us being drained from facilities at the coast. Boreholes also play a part.

Our soil type can't sustain treelessness. It's supposed to be a forest

asha80:
lack of landscaping is just one of the reasons for erosion not the main reason.. some of these sweeping statements people make can be quite funny

It's actually THE MAIN REASON, something like 95% reason. You can only say what you just said if you have never travelled to developed western countries. Landscaping is just another word for LAND MANAGEMENT. Having lived abroad for more than thirty years, it's obvious to the naked eye. It hit me like you hit somebody with a sledgehammer when I came back to nigeria after being away for about 10 years. It's sooooo obvious it's unbelievable. Landscaping is nothing but the assigning of every available inch of land a job. That is to say that every available inch of land is designated for something. There's no place you go to in america where you see a piece of land just sitting there doing nothing. So, what you see when you go to a housing estate on a big expanse of land are houses. The houses have paved driveway that leads to a garage closed or open. The front, sides and the back of the house is covered with green lush grass. There could be something like two trees in the back and two trees in the front. Of course, the roads are paved with drainages. The drainage systems in developed countries are not GUTTER. On both sides of their roads, you will see holes. The holes are collection points for rainwater. Whenever it rains, the rainwater will flow into those holes. When it enters the holes, it goes into PIPES which usually empties into ravines or wooded areas in the suburbs, or canals if it were in the cities. Western countries do 100% landscaping which is remarkable, especially countries like the US that is slightly bigger than west africa. There are highways in the US that is more than 3000 kilometers long. When they build roads, they plant grasses on both sides to give it a pleasant look. They also plant trees on the median strip and also on both sides of the road. Do you know that those grasses are cut and trimmed on a regular basis, to make it not look bushy, on this 3000 kilometers road. They also plant grasses and trees on millions of miles of their highways, roads, streets and parkways. My friend, I hate to break it to you, but nigerians and most of africa are 200 years behind in practically everything as opposed to what's obtainable in developed countries. I mean, in every single thing. Trust me, I'm not joking. If you lived abroad for a long time, like say 10 years, and you came back to nigeria, the first thing that hits you is how ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY DISORGANIZED the whole place is. Words have nothing to describe it, plain and simple.

Ofuzo:

It's actually THE MAIN REASON, something like 95% reason. You can only say what you just said if you have never travelled to developed western countries. Landscaping is just another word for LAND MANAGEMENT. Having lived abroad for more than thirty years, it's obvious to the naked eye. It hit me like you hit somebody with a sledgehammer when I came back to nigeria after being away for about 10 years. It's sooooo obvious it's unbelievable. Landscaping is nothing but the assigning of every available inch of land a job. That is to say that every available inch of land is designated for something. There's no place you go to in america where you see a piece of land just sitting there doing nothing. So, what you see when you go to a housing estate on a big expanse of land are houses. The houses have paved driveway that leads to a garage closed or open. The front, sides and the back of the house is covered with green lush grass. There could be something like two trees in the back and two trees in the front. Of course, the roads are paved with drainages. The drainage systems in developed countries are not GUTTER. On both sides of their roads, you will see holes. The holes are collection points for rainwater. Whenever it rains, the rainwater will flow into those holes. When it enters the holes, it goes into PIPES which usually empties into ravines or wooded areas in the suburbs, or canals if it were in the cities. Western countries do 100% landscaping which is remarkable, especially countries like the US that is slightly bigger than west africa. There are highways in the US that is more than 3000 kilometers long. When they build roads, they plant grasses on both sides to give it a pleasant look. They also plant trees on the median strip and also on both sides of the road. Do you know that those grasses are cut and trimmed on a regular basis, to make it not look bushy, on this 3000 kilometers road. They also plant grasses and trees on millions of miles of their highways, roads, streets and parkways. My friend, I hate to break it to you, but nigerians and most of africa are 200 years behind in practically everything as opposed to what's obtainable in developed countries. I mean, in every single thing. Trust me, I'm not joking. If you lived abroad for a long time, like say 10 years, and you came back to nigeria, the first thing that hits you is how ABSOLUTELY AND COMPLETELY DISORGANIZED the whole place is. Words have nothing to describe it, plain and simple.

i have lived in glasgow for 2 yrs and understand what you are trying to say but i also agree with what ofodirinwa wrote here especially the bold becasue evn far back reading books about igbo land the writers seem to always hammer on 'poor soil' of igbo land..some parts of igbo land started experiencing erosions as far back as 1940's far away from human settlements..how do you explain that?yes landscaping culture amongst igbos is an issue but not the 90% of the issue that caused erosion issues in the south east..

Ofodirinwa:
Erosion, imo, is a mix of deforestation and the oil beneath us being drained from facilities at the coast. Boreholes also play a part.

Our soil type can't sustain treelessness. It's supposed to be a forest

Erosion, imo, is a mix of deforestation and the oil beneath us being drained from facilities at the coast. Boreholes also play a part.

How true is this?

Can a geologist or is it geophysicist in the house throw more light on this.

asha80:
i have lived in glasgow for 2 yrs and understand what you are trying to say but i also agree with what ofodirinwa wrote here especially the bold becasue evn far back reading books about igbo land the writers seem to always hammer on 'poor soil' of igbo land..some parts of igbo land started experiencing erosions as far back as 1940's far away from human settlements..how do you explain that?yes landscaping culture amongst igbos is an issue but not the 90% of the issue that caused erosion issues in the south east..

If you check the heaviest rain-forest belt of the world, parts of Igboland to Central Africa and IndoChina areas have the highest rainfall. It makes sense that there areas are not left without vegetation cover else the whole land will be washed off.

Our people rarely understand the principle of runoff leading to erosion and the need to prevent runoff on bare earth surfaces. Anywhere there is a flood plane with a concrete base to prevent leaching and runoff, will eventually turn into a big erosion site over a few years of the same thing repeating.

Each time we see flood water as brown or reddish in our clime, somebody's land is being washed off somewhere along the path of that flood water.

Landscaping isn't just for aesthetics, it is to protect the very land where your building stands. I truly wish our people will understand the nature of their environment and plant more trees.

Cjrane2:


If you check the heaviest rain-forest belt of the world, parts of Igboland to Central Africa and IndoChina areas have the highest rainfall. It makes sense that there areas are not left without vegetation cover else the whole land will be washed off.

Our people rarely understand the principle of runoff leading to erosion and the need to prevent runoff on bare earth surfaces. Anywhere there is a flood plane with a concrete base to prevent leaching and runoff, will eventually turn into a big erosion site over a few years of the same thing repeating.

Each time we see flood water as brown or reddish in our clime, somebody's land is being washed off somewhere along the path of that flood water.

Landscaping isn't just for aesthetics, it is to protect the very land where your building stands. I truly wish our people will understand the nature of their environment and plant more trees.

i agree with what you have said especially the bold however you also see some places with erosion without human settlement nearby...this is where tree planting and not leaving large swaths of land without trees

asha80:
i have lived in glasgow for 2 yrs and understand what you are trying to say but i also agree with what ofodirinwa wrote here especially the bold becasue evn far back reading books about igbo land the writers seem to always hammer on 'poor soil' of igbo land..some parts of igbo land started experiencing erosions as far back as 1940's far away from human settlements..how do you explain that?yes landscaping culture amongst igbos is an issue but not the 90% of the issue that caused erosion issues in the south east..

Poor soil? What do you mean by poor soil? Igboland does not have any poor soil, regardless of what anybody said in the 1940's. The problem of igbo soil is because we have a tendency to pull out grasses and shrubs that holds the soil together whenever it rains. If you leave the land bare which igbos do a lot, after five hundred years of rainfall, without the grass and shrubs to hold the exposed land together, it will begin to erode. That's why YOU WILL NEVER EVER SEE A BARE LAND ANYWHERE IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES. As a matter of fact, it's ILLEGAL in the US to leave your land bare. You must either cement it or grass it. You can never leave it bare. There's no piece of land anywhere in the US where that piece of land is not designated for something. YOU WILL NEVER SEE ANY BROWN ANYWHERE IN THE U S LIKE YOU SEE ALL OVER NIGERIA. Green grass in developed countries are what they use to prevent erosion. When you drive around the US, all you see is green, mostly green lush grasses. Go and watch tekno miles music video "where" to see what I'm talking about.

Cjrane2:


If you check the heaviest rain-forest belt of the world, parts of Igboland to Central Africa and IndoChina areas have the highest rainfall. It makes sense that there areas are not left without vegetation cover else the whole land will be washed off.

Our people rarely understand the principle of runoff leading to erosion and the need to prevent runoff on bare earth surfaces. Anywhere there is a flood plane with a concrete base to prevent leaching and runoff, will eventually turn into a big erosion site over a few years of the same thing repeating.

Each time we see flood water as brown or reddish in our clime, somebody's land is being washed off somewhere along the path of that flood water.

Landscaping isn't just for aesthetics, it is to protect the very land where your building stands. I truly wish our people will understand the nature of their environment and plant more trees.

Exactly. Landscaping is just LAND MANAGEMENT. If you don't manage your land very well, it will ultimately erode. Erosion simply means to erode. Land if not well protected after years of rainfall will start to erode. There's is one simple instrument that is used to prevent that. GRASSES. I have carefully watched building and construction in developed countries. In one case, I saw them build a HILL with excess sand that was excavated during construction. The simply piled the excess sand in a spot. They then sprayed the excess sand with grass. After a few days of watering the grass, the roots of the grass took shape. They then planted trees all over it and boozaa, you have a man made hill strong enough to withstand any snow and rain. The one single instrument that was used to achieve that was GRASS. It's like when I talk about DRAINAGE. Nigerians see gutter, and call it drainage. Gutters are not drainages. The only way gutters can be drainage is if you deploy them in a hilly place. Enugu city quickly comes to mind. Gutters will be OK in enugu city Building gutters in flat places like aba or owerri is a JOKE. All the water does is just sit there because it can't drain. Anything that cannot drain should not be called DRAINAGE. IF ANYBODY WANTS TO KNOW WHAT A DRAINAGE SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE, THEY SHOULD GO AND WATCH THE CONSTRUCTION VIDEO OF EKO ATLANTIC. Maybe, there's a drainage system in abuja, but other than eko atlantic, I've never seen any drainage system anywhere in nigeria, definitely not anywhere in the south east.

Ofuzo:

Poor soil? What do you mean by poor soil? Igboland does not have any poor soil, regardless of what anybody said in the 1940's. The problem of igbo soil is because we have a tendency to pull out grasses and shrubs that holds the soil together whenever it rains. If you leave the land bare which igbos do a lot, after five hundred years of rainfall, without the grass and shrubs to hold the exposed land together, it will begin to erode. That's why YOU WILL NEVER EVER SEE A BARE LAND ANYWHERE IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES. As a matter of fact, it's ILLEGAL in the US to leave your land bare. You must either cement it or grass it. You can never leave it bare. There's no piece of land anywhere in the US where that piece of land is not designated for something. YOU WILL NEVER SEE ANY BROWN ANYWHERE IN THE U S LIKE YOU SEE ALL OVER NIGERIA. Green grass in developed countries are what they use to prevent erosion. When you drive around the US, all you see is green, mostly green lush grasses. Go and watch tekno miles music video "where" to see what I'm talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFAF18L5wQ

Watching Teknos' video brought home the enormity of the challenge we face not just in the SE, but Nigeria in general. You hear Governors talk of how they want to build the next Dubai in their states yet they can't get the basics right first!

I'm happy i'm not the only one banging on about the lack of trees and equal lack of a consideration for aesthetics in our cities and towns.

asha80:
i have lived in glasgow for 2 yrs and understand what you are trying to say but i also agree with what ofodirinwa wrote here especially the bold becasue evn far back reading books about igbo land the writers seem to always hammer on 'poor soil' of igbo land..some parts of igbo land started experiencing erosions as far back as 1940's far away from human settlements..how do you explain that?yes landscaping culture amongst igbos is an issue but not the 90% of the issue that caused erosion issues in the south east..

I may be wrong but erosion is not primarily caused by lack of vegetative cover.The entire Orumba North and south,Aguata and parts of Nnewi are ravaged by erosion and these are thick tropical locations with massive and expansive vegetation. The area of my town suffering from fromm erosion actually had bamboo and palm plantations in the entire areas yet erosion prevails. I am inclined to believe,aside the lack of vegetative cover and poor drainages in some instances,dislocation and movements of the earth crust cause erosion too.

Xander85:
Watching Teknos' video brought home the enormity of the challenge we face not just in the SE, but Nigeria in general. You hear Governors talk of how they want to build the next Dubai in their states yet they can't get the basics right first!

I'm happy i'm not the only one banging on about the lack of trees and equal lack of a consideration for aesthetics in our cities and towns.

Thank you my brother, for posting that music video. That's exactly what am talking about. All you see in the video everywhere you look is green. Lush green GRASSES all around. You see what I mean when I say "wooded" areas. Most of those wooded or forested areas that surrounds their suburbs are where the rain water that collects in those holes that go into pipes are emptied out. You did not see any gutter or any exposed or bared BROWN land anywhere while he was cruising around. Something I'll talk about later is what materials they use in building and construction. A close up look at the buildings on that music video will reveal another SHOCKING situation where most nigerian houses are constructed with BLOCK AND CEMENT. Not so much for most if not all buildings in civilsed countries. When I say that nigeria is 200 years behind, I might have understated the situation. They might actually be three hundred years behind most civilsed western countries.

Ofuzo:

Thank you my brother, for posting that music video. That's exactly what am talking about. All you see in the video everywhere you look is green. Lush green GRASSES all around. You see what I mean when I say "wooded" areas. Most of those wooded or forested areas that surrounds their suburbs are where the rain water that collects in those holes that go into pipes are emptied out. You did not see any gutter or any exposed or bared BROWN land anywhere while he was cruising around. Something I'll talk about later is what materials they use in building and construction. A close up look at the buildings on that music video will reveal another SHOCKING situation where most nigerian houses are constructed with BLOCK AND CEMENT. Not so much for most if not all buildings in civilsed countries. When I say that nigeria is 200 years behind, I might have understated the situation. They might actually be three hundred years behind most civilsed western countries.

I used to watch a programme (on discovery channel i think it was) EXTREME MAKEOVER..HOME EDITION. What struck me was how they build their houses in the US: they use wood, panels, metal, plywood, etc, instead of the blocks and cement we use in Nigeria. Spyder may know better about the cost implications of the two choices, but i think a house built with blocks and cement would be more expensive.

Even if this is the case, i'd still prefer good old, trusty blocks and cement to flimsy wood and panels. I would imagine (given the ferocious tropical thunderstorms we have in southern Nigeria) that it's not beyond the realms of possibility for such a house built of wood to be blown away in a thunderstorm while i'm tucked up in bed, leaving me shivering, drenched and exposed to the elements! With blocks and cement i can sleep soundly with two eyes closed!

Another thing is FIRE! Watching news reports of forest fires in the US, i notice how easy it is for the fire to quickly take hold and burn down their houses to cinders, esp' in dry places like California. Now if the building were built with blocks and cement, it would be harder and take a much longer time for the fire to spread.

Xander85:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFAF18L5wQ

Atlanta, Georgia, i truly miss you. A beautiful city like many others in USA.

The key take away is LANDSCAPING combined with good architecture is what makes a true mansion. When you build the BEST architectural masterpiece without flowers and trees, you have built an ugly concrete jungle. Which is what makes many homes in nigeria look distasteful despite the huge sums used in their construction. EXCEPT in Abuja and parts of Ikoyi where houses are adorned with adequate flowers and trees to beautify them into true mansions.While keeping the environment rich in oxygen and protecting the soil

Xander85:


I used to watch a programme (on discovery channel i think it was) EXTREME MAKEOVER..HOME EDITION. What struck me was how they build their houses in the US: they use wood, panels, metal, plywood, etc, instead of the blocks and cement we use in Nigeria. Spyder may know better about the cost implications of the two choices, but i think a house built with blocks and cement would be more expensive.

Even if this is the case, i'd still prefer good old, trusty blocks and cement to flimsy wood and panels. I would imagine (given the ferocious tropical thunderstorms we have in southern Nigeria) that it's not beyond the realms of possibility for such a house built of wood to be blown away in a thunderstorm while i'm tucked up in bed, leaving me shivering, drenched and exposed to the elements! With blocks and cement i can sleep soundly with two eyes closed!

Another thing is FIRE! Watching news reports of forest fires in the US, i notice how easy it is for the fire to quickly take hold and burn down their houses to cinders, esp' in dry places like California. Now if the building were built with blocks and cement, it would be harder and take a much longer time for the fire to spread.

Wood vs blocks and concrete buildings.

I would have done a detailed comparison and analysed the likely costs of both, but we are thinking of building upwards of 5 or more floors. Our peculiar situation in the South East where we have an increasing population on a small landmass call for high rise buildings if we can have electricity to power the lifts. Wood may not help us much if we move towards this direction.

I buy your ideas about landscaping and greenery totally.

I appreciate all the lessons given here on landscaping. We all should look into it, Starting with our personal houses.

But let's not copy this wooden materials for houses.
I can never live in a house built with wood, no matter how much USA uses it.

horsepower101:
To be totally honest, nairaland is the worst place to discuss igbo development.

If our people had our own forum to keep enemies of progress at bay. It would be easier.

We have so many people trying hard to cause confusion among us.

But if majority of igbos continue to go to nairaland, then we don't have a choice but to stick with it.

just that it's not popular
Biafrasay.com

Cjrane2:


I don't know why it's so hard for these cheap contractors to appreciate that flowers and trees convert a concrete, prison looking structure into a conducive home environment. They will spend the same amount in construction, due to poor finishing without flowers,Paint color, their structure always look mediocre meant for a cheap hood.

They should go to Abuja and see how luxury flats are built and the environment lavished with flowers. Hopefully, they will still plant flowers and make the flats look like luxury apartments after they beef up the environment with flowers and trees.

Right now, the fact they will finish the area without any consideration to plant flower and trees to beautify, makes the concrete structure very very ugly. Another ugly concrete crap.

I think it's time Our House of Assembly pass a law prohibiting building houses without Landscape.

Example, for any building occupying a plot/half plot there must be so so number of tree/s, flowers and so so sq meter of natural grass (lawn).

If it's an estate, in addition to making sure each building has a space for lawn and flowers, there must be a park (filled with so so # of trees, flowers and lawn).

Xander85:


I used to watch a programme (on discovery channel i think it was) EXTREME MAKEOVER..HOME EDITION. What struck me was how they build their houses in the US: they use wood, panels, metal, plywood, etc, instead of the blocks and cement we use in Nigeria. Spyder may know better about the cost implications of the two choices, but i think a house built with blocks and cement would be more expensive.

Even if this is the case, i'd still prefer good old, trusty blocks and cement to flimsy wood and panels. I would imagine (given the ferocious tropical thunderstorms we have in southern Nigeria) that it's not beyond the realms of possibility for such a house built of wood to be blown away in a thunderstorm while i'm tucked up in bed, leaving me shivering, drenched and exposed to the elements! With blocks and cement i can sleep soundly with two eyes closed!

Another thing is FIRE! Watching news reports of forest fires in the US, i notice how easy it is for the fire to quickly take hold and burn down their houses to cinders, esp' in dry places like California. Now if the building were built with blocks and cement, it would be harder and take a much longer time for the fire to spread.

Having lived in the east coast and west coast, I can categorically tell you that California is mostly wood, with some bricks and cement while the east coast and most other regions are mostly bricks or tiles. The richest man in africa is known for one product, cement. But, how many cement billionaires do you have in western countries? Not any, is my guess. The reason is because while cement is 100% of buildings in nigeria, it's probably not upto 30% in the US. I have hardly ever seen a PLASTARD building anywhere in the US. It's either wood, bricks and tiles in the exterior and drywall in the interior. My estimate is that, about 95% of the exterior of their buildings are not PAINTED. Yes, you heard right. I've never seen anybody painting the exterior of their buildings in the US because the bricks and tiles they use can last for 200 years without a DROP OF PAINT. Now, I've seen some apartment buildings and home owners repainting their brick buildings. On close observation, one will notice that the bricks they are repainting are more than fifty years old. I've seen some 150 year brick houses that have never seen a drop of paint being repainted. This usually brings tears to my eyes, because those bricks age so gracefully even after hundreds of years. Ancient Roman caravan routes that were built with bricks are still there, after 3000 years. If you look closely at tekno miles video, you will see those brick houses. But us in nigeria are primarily using 100% block and cement in all our building and construction. The houses are then PLASTARD and PAINTED. As is obvious from traveling around nigerian cities, the paint start to wear off after five years. Can you imagine what nigerian cities look like, with 100% PLASTARD buildings, with paints that are peeling off. Places like onitsha and aba begin to look like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb blast. It's horrible that we built our houses with BLOCK AND CEMENT. It's even more horrible that we don't ORDER HOMEOWNERS TO REPAINT THEIR BLOCK AND CEMENT HOUSES AT LEAST EVERY FIVE, SEVEN OR TEN YEARS so that our cities don't look like shitholes.

spyder880:


Wood vs blocks and concrete buildings.

I would have done a detailed comparison and analysed the likely costs of both, but we are thinking of building upwards of 5 or more floors. Our peculiar situation in the South East where we have an increasing population on a small landmass call for high rise buildings if we can have electricity to power the lifts. Wood may not help us much if we move towards this direction.

I buy your ideas about landscaping and greenery totally.

My comparison is definitely not WOOD vs CEMENT. The comparison should definitely be CEMENT vs BRICKS/TILES.