₦airaland Forum

@ Jimbass

I want anyone out there to share their experience with me and other members of the forum if they have had any experience buying/using a China made borehole (i.e. water-well) drill rig.

While I feel sorry for the Nigerian workers about their situation, the closure of the company is good news to my ears. Why? The company is run by Chinese. I am not surprised (read this: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-05/30/content_604228.htm). This company is responsible for the total wipe out of aquatic life in Ibeshe river in Ikorodu. They have destroyed the livelihood of people that used to rely on the river for their daily bread.  This started a long time ago (Since 70's or 80's or so), and nobody did anything serious about it until recently. In fact, you could see how turbid or cloudy some part of the river is from hundreds of meters (even over 2 km) from above, just by the company's building (the longitude and latitude at the bottom of the picture confirm the true location of these buildings).

Too bad that thousand's of workers are out of work but surely several thousands more have had their livelihood taken away by this reckless company.

Though this post is old but I could not resist putting a response down.

Do not let them fool you. I am neither a Fashola apologist or hater. In fact I admire his approach to problem solving. I am giving this comment based on my experience. I am trained as an environmental scientist/Microbiology, and work as a Geochemist for the third largest firm in the US.

The government does not need a law to prevent people from sinking borehole. The fact that borehole is being sunk in urban and suburban area of Lagos in order to have access to water is a shame by itself. In advanced countries borehole is used only by those in rural area where connection to potable water lines is not economical, and the authorities here come out with regulation as well as a guide on how to install borehole in order to prevent water borne diseases. The most likely threat to underground water quality is when agricultural activities above-ground lead to contamination of water due to release of animal waste on land which may contain deadly bacteria like E.coli. This can often lead to death as in Canada, several years ago.

True that the government need to regulate borehole installation, but it should not be seen as a money making venture because access to water is a right and not a privilege. The fact that government over the years has failed to provide potable water to Lagosians in a city surrounded water is a shame.

Any chance of getting an office there?

What is the cost, ?

Not a good idea for me. At least from my point of view and experience.

Not a good idea for me. At least from my point of view and experience.

Thanks so so much for the pics. Especially for the image of the June 13, 1971 issue of Daily Times.

@davidylan

You said it all.

1stCitizen:

So who is the dunce here? Audu submission is valid. It only need to be presented better. Maybe this is some of what he meant.

The capability of human (Homo-sapiens) brain separate it from other animals. If you take away the human brain and replace it with that of an ape (Hominoid), you would see your so-called human having wild escapade in the full glare of the world. Some do that already. Apart from the strength of the human brain, the ability to feel shame and guilt is also a human attribute. Some of the strength of human brain are divine gift and these further separate human from animals. However, apart from these special human attributes, there are universal animal attributes that are instinctively programed into human (as a more advanced animal). These are the need to satisfy earthly needs and pleasures.

Man like other male animals have been programed through millions/thousand years of evolution to spread their genes (i.e. DNA). The only way to do this is to have multiple sexual partners. Fortunately/Unfortunately for Man's desire to satisfy his pleasure, human through the power of the brain have evolved a more advanced societal organization where pre-determined rules and norms are expected to be followed or obeyed. For example, before puberty boys do not feel the need for sex but once the body undergoes these programmed changes, an average boy would (if allowed) have sexual activity with anything in skirt (except family relations). But as the boys grows, he begin to the understand his environment and the norms of the society he finds himself. Girls goes through the same process too but different societies, in these days and age, has different rules or norms for women. Man and women have been programed by societal influences to do certain socially acceptable "things" at some point in their lives. For example in Nigeria and other African countries, women have been programmed to be more submissive.

So when men sleep around they are only responding to the unrefined instinct from thousands of years of evolution, which is the earthly need to proliferate and multiply in numbers. Unfortunately, the human brain could tell the difference between need and desire, and unlike male animals that usually have sexual activity for breeding at pre-defined period or season in a year, Men usually want to have sexual relationship for the pleasure of satisfying their ego which is also an human "thing".

So my advice to ladies out there, simply help your man discover other things in him that would give him similar pleasure, and which can serve an alternative option for satisfying his ego. Fortunately for our women, society seem to have a large influence on them than men, and they are unlikely to give in to chasing certain earthly pleasure around, except if it is socially acceptable.

Thanks redcliffe for the links.

Nigerians continue to amaze me. In a frightening way though.

Info on Mack trucks

1999 Mack Rd

1998 Mack Rd

@nerdjbc

Thanks for the response. However that is a pretty old post (March 2010).

The Lagos State government does not have the capacity to project what will truly happen with respect to flooding in that part of Lagos. One cannot just come out and say all these things authoritatively without the necessary information to back it up. It is only a guess based on what is already known and expected about global warming. We all know that sea level will rise if it truly get to that dire state. Look, the ice is already melting in the Arctic. If you think it is a "Joke", then you are lucky if doesn't happen in your life time.

Now tell me, in what society would people knowingly (or ignorantly) acquire landed property with the full knowledge of the reality: expected rise in sea level + usual flooding in that area + "unserious" government. This is a bad mix and the outcome would be disastrous when it eventually happen. It seem we do not know the society we are from.

Let our scientist (if they truly exist) come and tell us how sea level has change relative to the land in our own part of the globe. Look brothers and sisters, nobody is out there looking out for you even though they collect taxes, levies, tenement rate. They would steal the money rather than invest it in people and secure a stress-free future.

And did someone mentioned something about why would foreign investors put their money in such area. It is simple. I would have done the same if I have the fund. They would have recouped their investment before D-day. They are not as stupid as we are. Decisions are made based on useful information and they surely have it. And once they are gone, we would be alone with our head.

I am not sure many of the respondents here are familiar with the issue.

A 1997 Mack R-Model

A 1997 Mack R-Model

Its surprising that no one is asking how or what criteria they used in arriving at the conclusion of which city is worst or best. Who generated the data they used, and how many other cities did they used in their comparison. Accept this, Lagos is not the 5th worst city in the world. That one I am sure of for certain.

There wasn't any in the first place.

I am not sure you are aware that it's illegal to deal in elephant tusks. Maybe you may not be aware of it in Nigeria, where anything goes.

Ideally what is the return?

Segun Omole!!! Hope you are not "name-dropping".

@ Jegedeab,

I am specifically interested in your Biogas generation project. Before giving suggestions or input, I am into Bioenergy, and am based in North America where I work with a major oil&gas company. Couple of my scientific publications are available online but a significant part of my work is in oil-related bioenergy project, but there are couple of points. The whole idea is to generate methane using carbon-based materials.

Your biogas equipment is ideal for rural areas and will likely be a hit, but you may still need to improve it.

My advice at this point is that prior to seeking investment in your project you probably still need to improve the technical aspect of the gas generating equipment. Have you had a look at what the Indians/Asians are doing in this area? They have done a lot (and commercialize) in this area and their ideas may help in improving the design, and the materials you are using.

Why use tarpaulin to build the equipment? How durable is this. Have you worked out the biosolid:water ratio for optimal methane production, and how does this influence carbon-dioxide:methane balance. I understand the challenges you may be facing in doing all this but keep doing what you are doing. I really like what you are doing because I've had similar interest myself. I may be able to help in some technical aspects of your work, and maybe someday in the investment aspect (not giving promises though). My e-mail is adeoflagos@hotmail.com, I may be able to forward some technical materials to you, but most of them should be available free online, just use the right keyword for your search.

@Chuks83,

In case you are interested.

Just read your post.

As noted above, Microbiologists could work in diverse fields. Though there may be limitations in terms of what Nigeria could offer you. Have you graduated already?

An emerging area in microbiology that is rapidly expanding at the moment is Petroleum Microbiology which falls under environmental microbiology. As a petroleum microbiologists you will be responsible for monitoring and studying oilfield microorganisms that can cause corrosion of oil/gas pipelines and production installations; microbes that makes sweet oil and gas reservoir become sour; possibly you may be involved in using microbes to recover additional oil from spent oil reservoirs or using microbes to convert non-recoverable crude oil to natural gas (methane). These are emerging areas of microbiology, and at the moment it's (most likely that) only one foreign company offer few of these services to oil and gas companies in Nigeria.

Bioremediation is an area that is rapidly expanding in Nigeria due to widespread oil pollution, and it involves the use of microbes to clean-up oil polluted sites or oily wastes. You may learn more about all these areas of microbiology if you are fortunate to attend a major conference that our group (from the University of Calgary, Canada) will be participating in come April 1-3 2009 in Abuja, Nigeria. You may visit the event website at www.bipog3.com for more information. There will also be short courses on the areas of petroleum microbiology that are mentioned above. And in case you are a graduate student you may qualify for a student travel grant to attend the conference.

Finally, I will advise you to pursue a Masters degree specializing and doing research in an area of microbiology that you find promising.