I have always enjoyed vacationing in Nigeria for I can be totally care free and I try to take things they are: no complaints, ranting about all the bad stuff except when I talk to my family in private, we discuss everything. I am not planning to move now though but I am so looking forward to another Naija vacation!

@Afam: LOL...I knew you were a real joker for a long time and I know you know what I mean! If I only lived within driving distance to Naija, I would visit very often regardless of how good / bad things are in the country!

Why must I live the comfort and move to a society that does not care about her citizens. A place where people swindle the sweat of pensioners and still boast around town.A place with zero transportation, zero roads, zero infrastructure, etc. It is moving from a lawful society to a lawless one where everything is more or less a crap.

Always nice to see this qq over and over again....

I think it's always a difficult decision to make....

Was in the States for almost 4 years before heading back to Naija....

Was quite fortunate though....as I was head hunted to come back to work here....

Naija is a lovely place if u have d means to make a living.

If u are coming for ur service year (NYSC)...den u shldn't have a problem...

Suggest u use d time to rack up some professional certifications....

A younger friend did dat in 2011....

U will be shocked at d level of accomplishments d friends u left have achieved...


If it's to come stay...like others suggested....make sure u have funds...I suggest u get a job before taking d plunge....

Test the waters....have an exit plan...

As far as I'm concerned....d problem with most returnees is that they've conditioned their minds to a certain level....

Very wrong....I did bikes a lot when I first arrived 'cos my car had not come in...

Cared less who was watching....knew what I wanted....

Humble urself and be street smart....

...Above all pray hard....

On a side note....I know several Nigerians in their 40s in d States who really want to come back but are tied down 'cos of mortgage et al....

Besides....they are scared they can't meet up with their colleagues who they left behind....

Your car,
Accommodation,(rented, or owned)
Source of income(well paying job or a business with full potential,)
Enough cash to live on,
Generator(not noisy ones)
Location,should be Lagos or Abuja,
I was in Nigeria for 3 month for holiday and i think i can't cope with it. a
i think its better for u to go for holiday and see how is like over there.
I was nearly beating up by a solider just because of collision.
WARNING------ DON'T GO TO NIGERIA WITHOUT ENOUGH CASH

afam4eva: Moving back wasn't easy considering what i was in the news concerning Nigeria. In 2010, i decided to take a leap of faith and i finally moved back to Nigeria from Cotonou

Super LOL

MOVE BACK OR DIE TRYING IN EUROPE.

mbulela: not this story again!! Have we not had enough of this?
OP, kindly use the search button. This has been played out severally in the past on this forum.

Things change on a daily basis.
Important "events" of yesterday that would affect that "decision making", may have ceased to exist today! (Like there was a time when "internet access" was a major consideration in moving back since my business would very much depended on it but that case is no longer valid today!

On the other hand, some years back "security of life" was not a major issue in making a relocation decision back home but today, with "Boko Nonsense Bombs" all over the place, one has to think twice before relocating especially when l intend to set up a business moving "refrigerated Beef" from the North, down South where demand is guaranteed!

Thus, Topics like this would ever be relevant and current.

Cheers!

Lastpage!

Temistatics 007: you took a flight abi?

LOL, he paddled a canoe across the Atlantic.

The question is, why are you coming back? And what do you bring?
Houses, cars etc are fine but again without a plan it is nothing. Being back 5 months and starting a new business, all is well. Dropped my American accent sha, except in government or private offices but be humble and extremely focused for it to pay dividends

One probably will need to do away with the sense of entitlement one is used to in the west because you may even be pushed below your survival threshold
Its seems the best route is the Nysc but the scheme has lost its relevance and needs to be tweaked a bit to reflect current realities.

If u dont take the risk, you will see yourself dying in another man's land, i only spent two years in U.K, iam back in Nigeria and coping.

Coming back to Nigeria for my NYSC next month. So, just want to know how people cope without steady light, fast internet and things like that in Nigeria..

Just got back from Europe in december after having completed my MBA program and I can tell you I am enjoying every bit of it. Although, I am currently doing my NYSC. All I can say is have a plan, be focused and beware of scammers/fair weather friends, they come in diverse forms.

I will never ever think of moving back to Nigeria to resettle after all this years abroad. My experience the last time was unbearable for my safety and that of my family i will never make such decision again.
This might not go down with some people back home but i hope my opinion counts to those who care. Nigeria is my country and i am satisfied with were i am now. I will always visit when time permits me to do so and will always put safety first before any other thing.

991: For me, it was really difficult at first(because i didn't come with too much money) but as years went by I was able to adapt and now am well settled married and doing greatly well. my first 6months was like hell, spending spending and spending without income, I was missing everything about yankee life, I was with family and a few friends but still felt lonely all the time, I was afraid of investing my little capital wrongly or being conned, as a single guy then I was missing my yankee babe. but everything started changing when I invested a little in transport biz and was getting daily income, gradually my income increased and I got an apartment, bought a private-car and then got a wife(no long relationship, just made a choice, pay the dowry and do the traditional wedding straight)......long story shaa
but am really comfortable and happy having settled down here in naija, even if you offer me a free visa to any country now am not interested. Nigeria is the best and sweetest country to live in, though a higher level of personal mental and habitual refinement is needed, otherwise you become like others who complain about everything around them.

Congrats bro. It is quite heartening to hear this success story of coming back home, sweet home!. I feel happy for you and wish you even greater success, ameen.

I will come back and give my own view tomorrow. Cheers.

991: For me, it was really difficult at first(because i didn't come with too much money) but as years went by I was able to adapt and now am well settled married and doing greatly well. my first 6months was like hell, spending spending and spending without income, I was missing everything about yankee life, I was with family and a few friends but still felt lonely all the time, I was afraid of investing my little capital wrongly or being conned, as a single guy then I was missing my yankee babe. but everything started changing when I invested a little in transport biz and was getting daily income, gradually my income increased and I got an apartment, bought a private-car and then got a wife(no long relationship, just made a choice, pay the dowry and do the traditional wedding straight)......long story shaa
but am really comfortable and happy having settled down here in naija, even if you offer me a free visa to any country now am not interested. Nigeria is the best and sweetest country to live in, though a higher level of personal mental and habitual refinement is needed, otherwise you become like others who complain about everything around them.

To some, the fear of coming back to Nigeria is the genesis of wisdom.

Being back in the Country, after working and giving almost all my salary to the Queen of England for some years, was not a funny one.finaly came back early this year, just before the subsidy brouhaha, and to be frank, the Country Nigeria might not be a perfect place, but I'm not complaining one bit.

My brother, thank you for your courage, its not easy taking that BOLD move.

Was thinking of ivesting in that transport business too I came across your post here on NL.
I would really appreciate your adive to this regrad. My e-mail is danielekason@yahoo.com kindly drop me a few lines, then we can catch up from there.

My regards to the family.

I am half in (Abuja) and half out (Hull City, Englan). Its ok! Atimes it could be off beat.

afam4eva: Moving back wasn't easy considering what i was in the news concerning Nigeria. In 2010, i decided to take a leap of faith and i finally moved back to Nigeria from Cotonou

I am laughing....just fell off the cushion
Cotonou abroad? Guy you funny die

I went back home in 2003 when an uncle wanted me to head a company he was going to set up. after i arrived . six months down the line he still had not set it up he eventually told me he had changed his mind . i was gutted . i decided to job hunt rather than go back. i went for a few interviews. I eventually landed a job in port harcourt. about a year after i arrived. I worked there for about eight months . I resigned due to fact that my salary was never paid on time empty promises were made to me. I got another job about two months later.I was happy with my job but the only thing that the whole place me uncomfortable due to the deterioring sense of security. This was the period of high levels of kidnapping and crime. Due to nature of my job i had to wine and dine with militants on two occasions i had a gun pointed to my head i even had death threats to my life .It was a very terrifing experience for one who had lived in the u.k. most of my life. It got to a point i needed tablets to sleep. it was at that point i decided it was time to come back after five years(2008). The only good thing that come out of my five years there was i met my wife while working in p/h. The truth is when i arrived back here it was a huge relief . dont get me wrong i love my country and i will still go back one day but not any time soon.I have been back twice on hols since i came back. my advise to anybody planning to go back. Have a plan before you go and be very security conscious.

Pozzy: Coming back to Nigeria for my NYSC next month. So, just want to know how people cope without steady light, fast internet and things like that in Nigeria..

Guy naija have upgraded as we have good internet services providers,the good thing is that you can always swap from one provider to another.
As the electricity get a generating sets as they come in different sizes and at cheap rates,many are fuel efficient.

Moved back some years back
,Invested in crude oil deal and lost huge amount of money and am still struggling to come out of that lost but Nigeria is a better place if you have the right connection. Anything and everything you put into the market generates money,all you need is planning,determination and creativity.
I have since falling in love with Naija especially my Lagos despite the hard times and I have had offers in the last few years to go back to abroad but nothing seem to move me to think of leaving this great country,I love the hustle and bustle of Lagos.
Abuja is a great place but way too boring for me,Lagos rocks as you have to be at your very best intellectually every single second to scale through each day in Lagos and that's why we are smarter sharper than people in other parts of the country.
For anyone coming back home from abroad I think business is your best option and not to job hunt because those jobs to me pay peanuts and you will never be contented with the salaries as your mind will keep comparing it to what you were earning abroad in the same period of time and that will certainly unsettle you.
You need to have a long term investment plan whereby you put profit as the least on your scale of preference because that's the only way you can grow your business. There are many businesses you can do from home especially using your friends abroad to run import business,you can import just anything and sell to retailers and receive your money in a very short time.
I have tried so many things from oil and gas to importation of laptops,mobile phones as well as other products and I must say they are lucrative here if you have the funds and the right people.
For someone coming from US or Canada used car business has a very huge market in Nigeria with a profit range of 200k to 400k per car and you can get these cars at very cheap rates in the US or Canada.
most of the cars sold here are accident cars with good mileage and maintenance history in the US/Canada which they buy at very cheap rates,ship to Nigeria and have them fixed and sold at the same price of normal used cars.
You can also become a distributor or agent to companies in China,UK or US to help sell their products here,they all know the huge potential of the Nigerian market and are always looking for trustworthy Nigerians to work with.

For me I am still climbing but I am happy in Naija,I now have a wife and a lovely daughter whom I love so very much though still thinking of relocating to Canada in the next 6 years because of my wife and kids but I'll still spend much of my time here in Nigeria.

.

Everybody's experience would definitely be different. Just try to identify which is your 'heaven' and which is your 'hell' between Naija and wherever you reside. It will always be better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell. Wherever you find yourself, just be good and remember all you need are RICE and 7ps.
RICE - Resources,Ideas, Contact, Expertise.
7Ps- Proper Planning Plus Prayer Prevent Poor Performance.

I moved back from Europe in 2010 october. The first few months was rosy as i was still living from the money that came back with me. Then the savings started going south and i buckled up. I joined a scrap metal business and i had to squander another one million naira before i learnt the trade and its secrets. Now everything is smooth and i am never going back to live in another man's country unless there is war in Nigeria.

Don't MOVE!

Glad to read that Nigeria is not a hell hole as people try to depict. Transportation biz is lucrative, but what might work for one person may not work for another person. Still, an interesting topic.

Ndipe: Glad to read that Nigeria is not a hell hole as people try to depict. Transportation biz is lucrative, but what might work for one person may not work for another person. Still, an interesting topic.

That is the whole point

ZUBY77: I moved back from Europe in 2010 october. The first few months was rosy as i was still living from the money that came back with me. Then the savings started going south and i buckled up. I joined a scrap metal business and i had to squander another one million naira before i learnt the trade and its secrets. Now everything is smooth and i am never going back to live in another man's country unless there is war in Nigeria.

You can always stay in Nigeria during the war. Remember you made the initial money that set you up in Nigeria in another man's country?

First, the down side of Nigeria. Its economy has predominant characteristics of a third world's. It is No. 35th on Transparency International's rating on the list of the world's most corrupt nations. It used to be No. 1. Thanks to the EFCC and ICPC. NITEL has now completely collapsed. Where NITEL failed, mediocre local independent telephone operators dominated by Indians are carting billions to the banks and their banks in India. NEPA is tottering.

The road networks are in a very, very dilapidated condition. The transportation system in Nigeria is in a big mess. Travel by road in Nigeria has seized to be a thing of joy. By air is expensive and froth with danger of air crash due to the preponderance of molue aircraft in the air. Still, it is expensive. A forty-five-minute flight to Abuja from Lagos costs between twelve and fifteen thousand Naira, ($90-$130) depending on the airline.

Crime is climbing because of joblessness, particularly among young school leavers. Politically motivated pen robbery is still with us. Economically induced robberies are on the rise too. Banks are now robbed in broad day light. You cannot open your favorite daily any morning without reading about a robbery incident here and there. Because it is not an election season, assassinations are on the wane - it looks like.

In spite of all, this is the best time to start thinking of relocating to Nigeria. Nigeria is changing. This is very fast. You begin to notice this at the airports - your first points of entry. The air cooling systems now work most of the time. The conveyor belts work too, most of the times that I have seen. Power systems at the airports fail intermittently but not as they used to do.

The people you meet either at departure lounges or on arrival halls are beginning to imbibe the culture of courtesy. Trolleys, though for hire are now available for the jaded traveler to cart away his luggage. Even the toilets are manned by professionals who say hi to you before use and after. (Some times they hide the tissue papers and make you pay for service.) Inside the airports, touting has been kept at bay. There are banks with ATM machines competing for the business of the Nigerian traveler, at most Nigerian airports now. Modern communications gadgets are on display at every nook and cranny displaying wares, arrival and departure times.

Before you relocate, make sure you have the wherewithal to get back to where you are relocating from - just in case. The reasons are too many. But the first you would notice is how far high on the economic ladder your mates have climbed. And as you know, economic progress has a twin brother climbing the same ladder - social mobility. Your contemporaries have moved and they did so slowly but sure-footedly while you were gone. Your mates dine at the most expensive restaurants and drive the latest model cars - not on credit.

Your mates have bought up properties in the choicest areas of the land. Your mates are to be found in, Wuse II, Asokoro and Maitama areas of Abuja. Your mates have occupied the choicest areas of Lagos, particularly the picturesque sites of Lekki, Victoria Garden City - fancifully called the VGC. Of course, your mates now use their Ikoyi and VI previous homes as offices. It is no more fanciful to say I live in Ikoyi or VI. There are new places of abode in the land - from Kaduna to Port Harcourt and from Enugu to Maiduguri, and your mates have taken them up while you were gone.

If you left over ten to twenty years ago and you are planning to be back, know that you have become unemployable. You have to be self-employed for a long while. Be sure you have enough resources to keep you going through the period it would take you to re-acquaint yourself with your "former" home. Things have really changed - changed for good for those who did not jet out and somehow changed for bad for those of us who took the next plane and left the country.

In Nigeria, your mates in the public and private sectors of the economy, particularly the banking and oil industry, have become highly placed. Most earn the equivalent of between 200,000 and 300,000 dollars a year plus other incentives to wit. There was an advert recently placed in one of the papers for a job opening which warned those not earning twenty million Naira and above, per annum, in their present job not to apply. Most have built their own houses in Nigeria. Most have more than two cars in their drive way. Most live in homes that smack of opulence, with every modern gadget ranging from large sized Plasma TVs to Microwaves.

Most have genuinely saved enough to send their children to some of the best educational institutions over seas, including to the Ivy Leagues. Most are share holders in most of the emerging markets that have been liberalized during the eight boom years (and counting) which we that left, have missed. Most of them have savings in liquid cash that run into tens of millions. Most have invested in the now, very lucrative Nigeria stock market. You would marvel when you have a snippet of what amount of shares your mates now hold. You would shiver in self pity.

If your mates joined politics, they have occupied the choicest of political positions in the land and made new friends that will be hard to dislodge. If you happen to have showed off to them in your hey days of "returning" from America, be rest assured they have not forgotten. They call us mercenaries in politics. It is now their turn to show you, that you can't have it both ways. They have built a barricade and insulated themselves from out side interests - you the returnee being an outside interest that must be dreaded. If you have real or passing interest in politics, you must show it with extreme caution. They would like to invite you to political meetings and discussion only to put you to size.

While not accepting everything they say, when making your presentations, or contributions avoid using phonetics. Avoid such phrases as "if it were in America or Europe." They do not like to hear that. One of them surely will remind you "this is Nigeria" to the embarrassing applause of others, there present. They see Nigeria now as a trophy. They labored for Nigeria while you were gone. They suffered the June 12 crises together while you were gone. They suffered the Abacha era while you were gone. While you were gone, you probably had returned on one or two occasions only to scurry out soon after complaining of incessant heat, erratic power supply and mosquito bites. At the airport, you must have been caught criticizing everything in sight. They have not forgotten your new borrowed accent and the phonetics that do not rhyme.

That you need a shelter to live in Nigeria if you planned relocating to Nigeria is an understatement. There are many ways to do this. It's either that you have managed to build something for yourself in the city you would want to relocate or you could find an affordable apartment. With the kind of money we make overseas from genuine everyday livelihood, it is almost next to impossibility that you could build yourself an abode commensurate to what you are used to. If you find yourself in this position, don't worry, if you endured the pains and worked hard and kept a low profile in order not antagonize your former friends, within five years your will build your self, your dream home.

You need to feed well. This too is an understatement. Avoid going to the supermarkets to get your food - raw, processed or cooked. Buy from the local sellers at the nearest mammy market. Go to the supermarkets and shops to buy the essentials. At the malls, you will find that while you spend a miserable amount to buy your essential needs, Nigerians who are not been tos, buy up anything in site both the ones they need and those they do not need.

This people have so much money. How they make it, you will find out if you endured. Closely related to this is your phone habit. It is very expensive to use the telephones in Nigeria. As you know, telephone calls in the western world are taken for granted. Here, while it's beginning to happen as if it is for granted, it is very, very expensive. To Nigerians who are not used to such freedom of expression, they are spending millions everyday to make phone calls - to satisfy their newly found phone freedom. If you are not mindful, telephone bills may cut into your feeding pattern. If this happens, before long, you will become an object of gossip. You will lose your complexion and weight and they will notice.

You need clothing to cover the body you have labored to nurture while you lived abroad. This also, is an understatement. Nigerians pay too much attention to dressing. Your dress mode can shut the door at you or open the door for you. Avoid casual dressing, particularly when you are going to meet with the Nigerian big man. He knows the stuff you're wearing and could place you based on that. Be simple but neat if need be occasionally be flamboyant. Express yourself. Speak good English, where there is a need, do not use slang such as I wana or I gonna….

Do not lend money. Give out only that which you could afford to lose. Beware of relatives and the extended family system. If you manage to set up a small business, never employ those closely related to you. They will ruin you.

You would need to dry clean. Dry cleaning here is too expensive. You pay as much 300 naira (about $2) to dry clean an inner vest. Think then of what it would cost to do a bunch of laundry. Think seriously of having a washer and a drier installed - wherever you may decide to live.

You must have at least two good cars. That car of yours, which you price so much, is not fashionable in Nigeria. Here some people drive the next year's model before they become common in Europe or the Americas. How they make such money to pay upfront is still the mystery I am struggling to unravel. The roads are so bad and the drivers so ill-trained that if you drove yourself, and not being used to their adversarial/confrontational pattern of driving, your car and you would, in a very short while be a sorry sight. They hit you and beg you. They hit you because you are conscious of driving rules and apply it. They, who do not apply simple driving rules, rule the highway in Nigeria. In a society not used to insurance, and where vehicular laws are not implemented, begging has replaced insurance coverage. Even passer bys would chip in to ask the offending reckless driver to beg you and get on with his life. If they beg you, you must accept. That's your only recourse.

To this end, you must have a good mechanic as a friend. He will introduce to you, a good panel beater (your (n) used car will always need to be panel beaten back to form after constantly being bashed by ill-trained Nigerian road users. Most Nigeria drivers, I hear, buy their drivers license) who will in turn introduce you to a vulcanizer and an auto electrician, here, fancifully called a rewire. You need a vulcanizer because the roads are bad. Flat tires occur very often here than usual. Of all the auto-related experts you will work with, the rewire should be the one you must dread. He is not well trained in the operation of modern day computer induced auto cars. His method of rewiring has set many late model computerized cars ablaze.


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PART 2 - courtesy of NigeriaWorld


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"Fallen Cherubs, to be weak
Is miserable, doing and suffering;
Though the field be lost, all is not lost;
To reign is worth ambition;
Better reign in hell than serve in heaven" -
Satan reassuring his colleagues - the fallen Angels in "Paradise Lost" by John Milton
his second part is addressed to a reader simply known as Lola. Lola a Nigerian lady in her early 30's had in her reaction to the previous article asked me to come up with the up side, side of returning to Nigeria. Lola, the up sides are many. I have enumerated some of them in the previous essay, though somehow with a tongue in cheek. Read the essay again, you will see embedded in it some facts that should gladden your heart. And that had been what they -your former mates - have been scared of.

That if they allowed you into Nigeria to re-enter from the top where they are right now, rather than serve out their sanctioned mandatory pupilage upon you, you would sooner than later surpass them in everything. They are in a kind of undeclared social-psychological warfare with you. In war as in love, all is fair. They would not want to give you access to enjoy an economic/social soft landing. After all, when you were the toast of the whole downtrodden community of the dark days of Nigeria's past, they sat at the receiving end, derided, dejected, rejected, sulking and hopeless.

They have this inner belief that, your traveling out had conferred on you a leverage that they will never, ever overturn, left on their own. They know that what they are, you could be but what you are, they may never, will be. Let's not say it's envy. Let's not say it's jealousy. Let's call it sibling rivalry. They are banking on their present upturned economic and social opportunity to see if they could sustain their leverage over you. Are you going to sit idly by and surrender to self pity?

They kind of now know that your traveling abroad (if traveling is part of learning) has opened wide, your world out look. They know that you have learned and garnered new work ethic that if properly nurtured, harnessed and deployed will make a mince meat of all they think they had labored for while you were gone. They know that if you went ahead to become a United States citizen, that your dual citizenship would help you in times of emergency - when you could jet out to get that unforeseen cardiovascular surgery that may be inevitable at old age.

They will not tell you that Nigeria is changing; they will hide from you the fact that a country with a burgeoning population of as many as 150 million people is a veritable garden for economic progress. That Nigeria will never, ever be a push over again in the field of big economies, at least in Africa, not matter whatever economic or social index/parameter you use. They will not let you know that our politicians have suddenly found it lucrative to hide their monies inside the country rather than outside of it. They do not want you to know that because of the fear of the EFCC, those who loot the country's wealth are beginning to diversify - right here in Nigeria. And that internally driven diversification has a multiplier effect on the economy. They are building industries, manufacturing concerns, trading of world class standards and the trickle down effects are happening fast

Lola, they will not let you know that the last administration rehabilitated all the teaching hospitals in Nigeria. That there exist now in Nigeria, a thriving health insurance scheme and that, most intricate surgeries, are now performed here in Nigeria. They will not let you know that Nigeria's middle class who was nearly obliterated during the unending years of military rule has resurrected. They will not tell you that American and European car manufacturers have opened up markets here. And that the era of driving tokumbo cars are beginning to seem like something of yesteryears in Nigeria. Do you need them to tell you that crude oil has been selling at over 60 dollars per barrel for many years running? Or that Nigeria's foreign reserve has hit an all time high of nearly 50 billion USD? Lola, don't be fooled, a boom of no mean imagination is sweeping across your beloved country. Only those present now will live to tell the story. No time is too soon to return and any time could be too late.

And so, Lola, flash back to when you first entered the United States. Didn't you see opportunities lying everywhere to be utilized? Before you began to eat Burger King and KFC and dine in good restaurants, had you not been very conscious of the fact that from whence you came was manifest hardship? Had you not ignored all social distractions to concentrate on improving your life and the lives of members of your family back in Nigeria? Have you forgotten Lola that you did three menial jobs a day to make up for the corporate America that was out of reach to you then? Had you not shunned every social event to concentrate on the mission of making it in America so as to return home soon? If you combined school with work, did you not excel to the applause of your colleagues? If you had garnered and imbibed such lofty attributes and social values, relocating to Nigeria will be some how easy for you. Lola, as a lady, did you not learn, in America, how to wash your car yourself, change tires at times and do some minor repairs in your apartment? When relocating, have behind your mind that while it may not be easy, that there are opportunities here that will compare if not surpass with what you met as a newly arrived immigrant into the United States.

Your new work ethic is your strength. Have a bank account with one or two strong banks. Because you will be self employed, the banks are there to offer you loans without running your credit history. They will offer you loans based on face value - mostly on moral suasion. They only, some times, ask for a matching fund as collateral. If you have a completed building with a certificate of occupancy to back up your claims, the better! There are two or three banks that I know that would offer you loans to buy household needs. There are those that will offer you loans to buy land and there are those that will loan you money to buy cars and car accessories like tires. Lola, believe this, there are banks in Nigeria that will loan you money to invest in company stocks/shares. And because of the present boom in the stock market, most people who borrowed to buy shares have had abundant happy returns. This is the predominant face of your new Nigeria.

Check out this teaser. As recent as March of 2006, the stock of Zenith Bank sold for 16 Naira a share. I thought I was doing a favor to my bank manager who I was seeking a favor from then. He begged me to buy his bank's shares. I bought, to please him a paltry number 10,000 shares at 16 naira per share. By June 2007, the stock of Zenith bank sold at 68 Naira per share. Although it has since retreated to its present value of 46 naira per share, think of what would have happened to me had I borrowed to buy, as (others did) as much as 100,000 Zenith bank shares then? Do you know that this has been one of the greatest secrets of success in modern day Nigeria?

Do you know that most of those your mates I talked about in my previous work, bought as much as 500,000 shares of Zenith. Do you know that I know one of them who borrowed money from one of the banks I mentioned above to plough into Zenith banks stock in March of 2006? Do you know he has finished paying both principal and interest and is now sitting comfortably atop of millions of Naira - the present value of his stock with Zenith Bank? Lola, how many years would you have worked in America to save as much? Think of it that Zenith Bank in August of this year declared a dividend of one naira per share and one bonus share to every 4 shares held.

If you have lived abroad (in the US for example) for over twenty years and worked gainfully for fifteen of those twenty years (and it could be more), then there is every tendency that you have saved a lot through the mandatory contribution of social security. That if you were savvy enough, you would also have invested in 401 k. That if you bought a house within (during) this period and have not cashed out or partially cashed out, that the equity inherent in your home would help start you up, handsomely in Nigeria. If you contributed into the American Social Security system, you kind of have a stable economic cushion right there. Re-locate. Relocate without fear Lola. When you attain the social security reaping age, all you do is saunter into the American embassy office nearest you every month end to begin to chop money in dollars, while living in Nigeria.

Lola, if during the same period, you got married, bore children; these children should be ready for college by now. I know, from personal experience that because of our children, most Nigerians would not venture relocating. Me, too, I'm this dilemma. That is why I have not completely relocated. My children are of school age and their welfare and future became a major point of disagreement between my wife and me when I planned to re-locate. Now, we have found a middle ground. I go back to make money while she stays there with the children to see if I would succeed or not. If I fail, I return, if I succeed, they return. It's a good middle ground deal, I think.

Lola, hope I answered your question - to the best of my ability.



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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Godson Offoaro is a fellow at the Washington Institute of World Politics. He is a poet and author of two books: "Zik - the Last Campaigns" released in 1994 by Spectrum Books and "America From the Sidelines," released February 2003 by Publish America, USA. His collection of Poems, titled "Down Lagos Marina," is now with a publishing company.

Currently Offoaro sits on the Boards of Black Charities of America, Afrilife International and Africa AIDS Watch. He is the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Eastern Union Corporation, USA.

A member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and Nigeria Institute of Personnel Management, Offoaro immigrated to the United States in 1990 with his wife. They have three children. His hobbies include singing, soccer and cooking. He prepares Goat Head (Isi Ewu) and Suya, - better than the professionals.