₦airaland Forum

4dor:
Lmao @ I will never understand. Let me tell you my story.

After loosing my job and was unemployed for a while, I had to drain my savings and got some money from my mum and I moved to the UK for my PG. At the time most people said I should have invested that money in a business but I was convinced that a degree in Software Engineering was what I needed.

When I got there I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I kept my head up worked in the evenings at M&S did Security on weekends, paying my rent and other bills. I graduated with a good grade, was top 3 in my set and from that point my movement has been forward. So my brother, I understand maybe even more than you or have you ever travelled to a sleepy town for a security job that entails working for 12 straight hours? It was tough, yes but looking back it was the best decision I made for my life.

You did not read my posts previously. I said all over it that PG study route is the way I recommend people to come. That some have even returned to 9ja with certificates, doing good jobs. Are you not just confirming my advice not to come anyhow?

As for me, do not try comparing. If you have worked hard in a meat processing factory all night, and spent the next day from lecture to lab to clinicals, then you can be in a better position to compare. Years long. Longer than MSc or even PhD length.

You came with a BSc in the bag already. We started from the beginning up to the level we got today.

kretoz:
Please pals, I heard health workers make it easier in USA, but my cousin a Dr who married a Nigerian guy who lives abroad and who has been there for 6 yrs came back and she doesn't plan going back, her presence shattered my idea of traveling out, please can someone clarify me cos I don't know how to ask her what happened since she looked malnourished and stressed out

My dear, she has to pass the killer medical exam (board certification/licensing exam actually) called USMILE. It should be called UCRY really.

MOST foreign trained doctors MUST take & pass it. Only few people deemed to be exceptional talent/of expertise get a waiver. A former prof, an acclaimed cancer expert was one of them. He used to work two weeks in UK & two weeks in USA per month. His USA pay doubled the UK pay.

USMILE is a three step/stage licensing exam. The first step alone, the basic science that underpins medical practice is 8 hours long, with around 280 questions in blocks of 1 hour tests. All taken in one day. From the UK, students took the exam previously by end of year 2 in medical school. Being increasingly practice centered, taking it in year 3 is better now.

Step two is a 9 hours exam testing more of clinical skills, communication/interpersonal skills, spoken English, etc. Spoken English can be a major barrier for many foreigners with a heavy accent.

Step 3 takes two days. The final clinical stuff.

The most brilliant people do fail it. Some fail it twice even. A smart girl I know failed the nursing equivalent. An experienced UK nurse.

Good preparation is key.

4dor:
How come most of the people you know have negative stories? Looool

Because most people actually begin with negative stories. Even myself. But most never get a chance to pursue their dreams because they just strive to survive daily.
As written in several posts here already. Beginning as a teenager as I did have a certain leeway to later cope better: enough energy, to try to adapt, and still have time to spend donkeys years in school, while working alongside. Falling asleep in class, lab, etc sometimes.

But seeing a 39 years old man/woman planning to abandon fairly ok life in 9ja is heartbreaking.

We Africans always talk of grace & individual luck, etc. The West that we're talking about do not live their lives by chance. It is concrete planning decades ahead that makes the society work. Not because each person here has three heads or spend the whole day in church. Concrete planning. Both state & individuals plan seriously.

You will never understand though. Just try it yourself first. Experience is the best teacher.

Tyche:
Damn phucking unnecessary

Very necessary because he made a mockery of a painful bereavement in the family. The first and senior son/child of a family with 3 kids of his own, all still under 11 years old and a wife left behind. When his dad died a few years earlier, he was now virtually responsible for the whole family back in 9ja.
Yet this guy here decided to mock us, that it all never happened. He said that repeatedly. I do not know him from anywhere, he does not know me. Just because he has cheap data to talk anyhow.

Our SW people will soon come and justify this.

They will say Edo, Bayelsa, Lagos & Akwa Ibom with the lowest recruits now previously had hundreds recruited before.

They will even say Lagos does not even need to have any SSS employees sef.

You really wonder when people will admit their mistake.
Na wa o.

Na small small e dey start.

When too many people have suffered too much and lost fear of bullets, revolution starts.

Sticking head in the sand, fear of death and over-religiousness is current taming Nigerians.

But with time, it will all end.

Wait o. If this boy had graduated as the best student in South African university, say best MSc graduate in Robotics, Paediatrics/Neonatal medicine, Geophysics, LLLM, Accounting, Philosophy etc, would there be a crowd welcoming him everywhere?

Some years ago, there was an Edo boy who graduated as the youngest medical doctor ever in South Africa, he did not get an invite from Edo State governor. I think he was 20 or 21 years old then. He cleared virtually all the graduation prizes.

With our misplaced priorities, how can we grow?

justwise:
20yrs is for those living here illegally

5yrs for those holding spouse visa or work permit.

10yrs used to be possible through education but the home office has effectively closed down the long study route

Wow! 5 years for spouse visa, with a UK spouse? Na wa o. And EU spouse remains 5 years too?

All the other categories were always going to liable to change at anytime.

bebe2:
W ooohh , it's 20yrs

I heard marring a British citizen is 10yrs.

I was surprised o. It was those in the game who told me last year.

I just wanted to politely ask if they have put papers in.

To be honest I do not know about the British marriage one. 95% of people I know used the EU marriage route. Only God knows what will happen to new ones after Brexit.

Even some were failed EU marriage cases. But never officially had legal stay, so did not qualify for 10 years mixed legal-illegal stay.

Seanjay:
i think that is common with all of them, i have an aunt(my moms immediate sister) in UK also shes been there for the past 30yrs and she had two kids there and live fine she is even a nurse in the UK have, 3yrs ago i was processing my travelling the to the Uk on my own jeje oo and unfortunately for me she came home and was spending money upadan and claiming the boss then my dad was still alive and shes close to.
So my dad so her that it even good that shes around that have been processing uk that may be she can help so she told my dad that no problem that she is going to help and after a week or two she left for the Uk and next i will saw was a call from my aunt that i should go to UK embassy in Lagos Island to make inquiries about what it will take me to get a visa (i was so surprise that this is coming from someone that had been coming in and out of Uk for the past 30yrs) but just to do what she asked i went there and i gave her the feedback(concerning invitation and sponsorer, account details and other things) about the invitation she said our two daughter can file that for me i was happy, but to my surprise she told me to wait for a while that i cant come now that it one party that us ruling and they have strict rule about immigrant and so on, but still promise to see what She can do and that she will get back to me, na so she take do till now. after have relaxed and had used the money i wanted to use for the processing for something else, so last 2yrs my dad died so my aunt started calling me again to sympathize with me and told me that she will fulfill the promise she made to my dad but up till now i still de naija, me wey don de jeje de process my things on my own i dont even first travel comot naija go disvirgin my passport na so she take shatter my dreams.... The Funnies Part She Can Call For Africa And Assure She Is Going To Help But Thats The End You Wont Hear Or See Anything Again... May Be Them De Fear True True Say If You Come You Go Excel Pass Them And You Will Be Dragging BreadWinners With Them..


AND WHY IS IT THAT IT EVERYONE YOU ADVICE THAT IS REGRETTING SO NON OF THEM IS DOING WELL AND STILL ALIVE? AND BESIDES YOU ARE ALSO LIVING IN THE SAME COUNTRY AS THEM WHY THOSE THINGS NO HAPPEN TO YOU ABI NO BE FROM HERE YOU SEF GO THERE ABI SHEY NA THERE DEM BORN YOU? WHY SO MUCH DISCOURAGE FROM YOU STILL WHILE YOU RESIDE THERE COMFORTABLY, LIFE IS ALL ABOUT RISK AND LUCK WHY NOT LET THEM ALSO TRY THEIR LUCKS, AT LEAST YOU ARE LIVING FINE AND STILL ALIVE WHY CANT THEY ALSO BE ALIVE AND LIVE FINE...

You raised many issues. Very nice. I am not trying to convince you but I will say it as I know it & possible reasons from experience.

You were processing to come to UK as what? A professional in a specific skill shortage category, tourist/visitor or student? This is important. Maybe you do not know, but many people reading here will know why. This is a public forum.

Were you gainfully employed in 9ja that 3 years ago? Till now?

You mentioned that she has lived in UK for 30 years and works as a nurse as evidence of living very comfortably. That may be wide off the mark. Nurses are probably the second professionals I know the most. Their pay in UK is not all that. With long years of service & working overtime, they earn decent. But by far not rich. Plus UK is a very expensive place.
The only error your aunt made was to promise things. But maybe she did to save face, appear nice or just genuinely could not redeem it.

Now imagine that you arrived in UK and found that you and your kids have to live in her parlour.
You will be the first to be on phone home telling everyone that aunty London does not even have a room for you and your family.

I remember a close friend years back. A nurse of 9 years experience who deputized for the ward sister frequently. A white girl in her own country o. She had to stay in her colleague's tiny spare room to save money for mortgage deposit. Still her parents had to help out to meet deposit amount.

You said you were surprised your aunt has no idea about papers needed to invite someone. Now see it like this: if she has been there for 30 years, let us assume she has been a British citizen for 15 to 20 years now. Why would she know documents needed to invite? Except if she invited friends or family before. Even then, the documents needed do change. You as a Nigerian citizen can you tell me by heart what documents you need to invite a foreigner to Nigeria?
The embassy issues visas and the documents needed in a particular country is their prerogative.

Your aunt was also very correct to say that immigration rules have tightened. Remember Nigerians used to visit UK without a visa. From around 2001, using excuse of 9/11, immigration laws increasingly got tighter. Even EU citizens in UK right now are not sure of their future status. That would have been unimaginable just two years ago.

As for believing they fear your success, it is a very funny way people see things n 9ja. Look, here nobody gives a damn about what you have or do not have. I have cousins in same country that I have not seen for years. We all talk on phone often. Everyone is damn busy minding his/her own business.

Some of them have enough means to build fine houses in 9ja but not interested, aside a small bungalow for holiday. Others have nice houses there. So they won't be jealous of anyone.

Now to the fate of those I discouraged from coming, I am not in same country with all of them.

And most importantly, many that I advised are ok here. Some have even returned home with their certificates and secured good jobs in 9ja. Because they followed the better route of postgrad studies. The point of my advise has always been to avoid coming unplanned. Like hoping to declare as a refugee. Or just overstay a tourist visa.

The thing is always simple. If you're determined to travel, listen to nobody. But at least you have been forewarned. That should put you in the frame of mind to bear whatever comes your ways once abroad.

As for me, a friend we suffered together froze to death on the street. It could have been me.

I chose to come abroad to study, against advice then. I suffered but survived. But If I knew better, I'd have come as a postgrad, not undergrad.

slimany:
which country in picture

UK. In America even more.

Many failed with EU marriage stuff. Only some with UK kids eventually did get.

While some were waiting for 15 years stay to apply, Theresa May as Home Office secretary shifted it to 20 years.

debris:
And which of the legal advice have u ever given to anyone ??
You are just one of them that are enemies of their country man blowing all lies right from your cousin story u posted here.

Lies!lies man

Just prove your self u ain't one

If I told you lies and never had a cousin who was a banker in 9ja & died in Europe, leaving 3 kids and a wife behind, may God condemn me to everlasting misery & let the pain of his grieving family be mine too.

But if it is true that I had a cousin that died in Europe after quitting his bank job in Nigeria, leaving his wife and 3 kids behind may God condemn you to everlasting misery & let the pain of his grieving family be yours too.

Please all Nairalanders HELP ME SAY AMEN. So that passing angels can hear it.

Please do not quote me again ever. Bye.

bjhaid:
Its Just Grace and favor bro, a close relative moved into us 4years ago, he's got a Good job, an apartment in the Windy City, a car with a personal driver and kids.

Of the people you know, how many made it like that?

Did he go illegally?

What job gives you a personal driver in the West if not high profile or diplomatic/ambassadorial job?

Be careful what you believe o.

You know, it easier for folks at home to believe me if I say I'm next in power to the president/prime minister here and flexing hard. Because that is what people want to believe.

But if I say I work hard daily, punctual and all, people do not want to hear that.

So some people just tell you what you want to hear.

egariyi:
How many Nigerians share their experiences of how they left Nigeria? If shared, I am sure alot of people will get the right message about legal or illegal immigration.

My dear, most Nigerians are not ready to listen.

All they do is count how many houses they know you have in Nigeria, the car they saw with you, how cute your visiting kids are, etc.

Any advice to migrate legally falls on deaf ears.

Behind your back, you are called a wicked cousin, uncle, aunt, friend, etc.

bjhaid:
I don't think the abroad life is that difficult, I have relatives dere and they are all doing very fine, they even want the fam here to come over for holiday.

Have you visited them?

Well try and visit. Please when you visit try to know all the bills they pay. Why they work so hard. Because if you see them in their current home, you will not see how much suffering, hard work & determination they put in to achieve what you now call "doing very well". Their years of struggle will not be seen.

Telling family members to visit is not because it is easy. It is generosity that many do not understand.

The kind of determination & hard work needed is massive, knowing you are your own.

The mentality that it is easy is why many relatives squander money sent from abroad.

From years of experience, I am aware that there is no point arguing it. Almost every Nigerian believes he knows everything, even America more than Donald Trump. Hence the shock many experience when eventually they get here.

debris:
You saw your cousin that bumped into you Mean while you left him and he died

You can lie for Africa am not replying you again just keep lieing.

Can you read?

I'd not have answered you but many might be like you, reading but not understanding.

I said he had a wife & 3 kids here. Who said he died immediately?

How he died is another story. A man of God advised him to stop his medication that he was healed.

Yes, many of our 9ja MoGs are doing a brilliant job driving some of their sheep to their deaths, not only in 9ja but in their mushrooming branches abroad.

While I'd gladly help if it is my job, I'm not a nephrologist. His doctors did their best. But religious brainwashing is more potent than common sense.

bebe2:
I see ur point

So sorry about ur relatives that died, so sad.

Thank you dear.

Let me add something. I know at least a dozen people who have lived here for 15 to 25 years and have not visited 9ja once. I'm sure you can imagine the main reason why they cannot visit. Meanwhile, relatives in 9ja believe they are gallivanting here.

Somebody I warned about potential difficulties here if coming is not planned properly has spent over 10 years here now. No means to visit 9ja till now. Back then she dismissed my warning as not wanting to help. Not seen her kids in 9ja for over 10 years now.

Bebe2,

To be honest it is not fashionable to be honest when dealing with our fellow Nigerians, especially if you live abroad. They start calling you enemy of progress.

I have actively discouraged Nigerians from coming to the West ANYHOW.

We know what we suffered back then. A close friend froze to death on the street, sleeping rough. It could have been me. Once money was exhausted, we had no place to sleep. His miserable death haunts me till today.

But when you tell people, they say "but you have made it now, you're very fine now, it cannot be as bad as 9ja na, etc." I don't even know what "made it" mean in their imagination.

I always advice people to come as postgrad students, with enough money in their pockets. That way, even if they have to return home, the time wasn't wasted.

I have discouraged many social media "friends" from crossing Sahara desert with the help of a "sponsor" to Italy, those who did not listen. They are paying off 30 to 50K Euros now doing prostitution. Some have been honest enough to say "I wish I listened to your advice".

Nobody is afraid of anyone. Many abroad just do not want others to make the mistake they made, either by abandoning their studies, travelling with anyhow documents, coming with tourist visa and overstaying, quitting a good job to travel abroad, etc.

An example: a cousin of mine worked for about 11 years in a first generation bank. He quit and came abroad. I just bumped into him one day. He jumped and hugged me. I did not recognise him right away, being tall & big guy now. He died here in diaspora a couple of years ago. He regretted his decision to travel abroad, despite having a wife and 3 kids here.

A friend also quit a first generation bank job to travel. He regretted it daily. He died of cancer here around 5 years back, leaving 4 kids behind.

Both lived abroad in regret, after quitting well paid jobs in 9ja. Those of us who left as teenagers or young adults/under age 27 or thereabout took it more in our stride, after the difficult first few years.

People should be well informed before travelling. Not just anyhow, to any destination believing you can make huge money anywhere abroad.

We have ruined our name enough abroad: scam/fraud, drug trafficking, prostitution, etc. Mostly due to unplanned travelling out.

1dafullymade:
hi dear, u advised I save up to 500k or more so I can get them a Toyota camry, I have dear, so do you see any one selling now?..please let me know....are u in Abuja.. thank you

Nice one dear for saving that extra money. Not easy in this recession.

Firstly, I live VERY very far from Abuja.
As of November last year when you posted, I knew of a person with two Camry cars for 500 to 600k range. There was also an older model RAV4 for about 630/650k. They are long gone though. Though it was even in the South. That was Toyota Envelope/around 2000 model. But for 500k right now, your best bet might be Toyota Orobo/1996 model.

Though Camry 1997 to 2002 look almost identical in exterior.

Main issue in my view is that 1996 model being older, it might have been used in 9ja for a long time, which is tantamount to long term abuse by the bad roads and our amiable Kazeems.
Since keeping maintenance cost down is key here.

Toyota Corolla is another decent & low maintenance car.

But whatever you do, if you are not car savvy, let a trusted car savvy friend help you with a decent mechanic. To check the car thoroughly first before paying.

If you keep adding any little extra saving to that 500k as you actively keep looking, the more options you will have.

Try OLX webpage with a MASSIVE CAVEAT. There are loads of scammers there. But I have bought a decent car through OLX, just weeks after you posted this topic last year. Just be careful.
Well done.

All you see in the response is mostly girls mentioning love as if they know what love is. 75million naira love. Very predictable.

veinless:
someone will still come and price it to 100k last price

Even 15k sef.

These are the kind of uncouth person Bubu dug out from God knows where to occupy the second most powerful position in his govt. A man that all ministers & directors/DGs of commissions & authorities report to.
Kai!

9ja don suffer.

“The stool of Oba of Lagos was founded by Olofin Ogunfunminire and the Ooni of Ife is the Oba of Yoruba land."

These people should please stop this fat lie.

Eleko stool was founded by Esikpa/Asipa and Prince Ado, both from Benin.

Lies in high places, na wa o.

Maybe this twisting of history is one reason for the feud.

These Kings sabi waka sha.

I do not know about Yorubaland. But when a monarch goes to the domain of another monarch, he should pay a courtesy visit to the monarch of that domain. EACH TIME. Except the monarch of the domain is not available.

The Oba of Benin will hardly ever venture into another King's domain without first going to see the local King or at least send emissaries in advance.

If at all possible, The Ooni & Eleko might even go to the venue together.

Because each time a king goes to another King's domain, he's automatically a guest of the local one. No matter who invited him.

Well, in Benin royal etiquette is learned by the crown prince basically from birth.

We do not know what transpired before. But whatever, an open letter/public statement with a threat of ancestral deity curse is hardly ideal between two kings of same tribe.

The Eleko should have been more diplomatic in public.

sankky:
What a pity !
After all the CHANGE they clamored for and celebrated on the streets with fierce hedonistic abandon.
I feel for the innocent minor sha.

Abi o.

Yet shame will not allow them admit their mistake. I remember arguing that they will regret voting Bubu. It so happened I was in Las Gidi when election results was announced & GEJ conceded. They were all very happy. I shook my head.

Now they are using their children as pawn goods. Na wa o.

Omase o.

gberra:
This has always been your bane. If you doubt me, ask Emeka anyaoku. Your judgements on national issues is almost always repleted & fraughted. I fear for the younger ones who look up to you for inspiration. Nigeria is in trouble

IPOB has fallen.

Bane?

Hahahahaha!

So anybody who does not follow your myopic personality cult-worship is automatically IPOB or Igbo. I can see how seriously blinded by tribalism you are.

You just can breathe without involving IPOB in it.

To begin with, I am of the opinion that people have the right to secede. Scotland is seeking a second referendum. Part of Anglophone Cameroon today was part of Eastern Nigeria till early 1960s before they voted to join Cameroon.

USSR, Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia have all broken up. Countries way more homogeneous & older than Nigeria. Most of the new countries have done so well that they are now part of EU. So a failed behemoth like Nigeria might just be holding everybody back. Let the new break away countries face their problems, let that not be your headache.

But I know oil junkies fret about losing cheap money. The only reason Nigeria is still one.

I do not care a hoot about Emeka Anyaoku. A good man as he might be, I have nothing to do with him. He benefited from the Nigerian system. I have no ethnic, political or whatever connection with him.

You can see how USA are irate about alleged Russian intervention in US election. Why should we allow same from others? Or you do not know Westerners enough? You still worship those people? Maybe you should ask those of us educated alongside them and have spent more time with them than in Africa. Those who know what they think about Africa.

gberra:
While ignorant ones like you are too dumb to decipher the root cause of self-inflicted ills bedevilling them. I no get ur time abeg.


Don't cry for Wailers /IPOBS.

GEJ ruled for 5 years plus, so what is the big deal in losing? Is losing not part of democracy? But we do not want those who do not want us to succeed interfere in pur national matters.

How does voting in a mummy like Buhari make you decipher our ills? A failed dictator booted out before by his own underlings?

In your omniscience, what solutions have you proffered to solve our problems?

Talking and assuming absent intelligence is easy. Anyone has the freedom to claim that though.

gberra:
Black mentality of backwardness. Always blaming others for their misfortunes.

Wailers/IPOBS always wail.

Smart people ignore the messenger & take the message. Bigots on the other hand only assign tribe/assumed political leaning & dismiss.

God so kind myself & family are not suffering the economic hardship of 9ja currently.

Ko kanye.

Doctorfitz:
Atleast she's open about it. Unlike some girls her body count dey learn. Those ones don lose count..

Abi o. Na who dey pregnant dey fvck.

I always like honesty.

Many regular girls readily bed 50 to 100 different guys a year. In 10 years nko? Normal "God-fearing" girls o.

So what is the big deal for an olosho? Less than 3000 in maybe 8 to 10 years assuming she's 23 to 25 years old.

This girl will make a good census officer. Population commission should take note.

Firefire:
Truth is coming out...



"Aliyu said the Obama administration invited 12 northern governors to the US to ascertain their level of commitment to removing Jonathan"




Very soon, the conspiracy that surrounds the Chibok girls kidnaps will be in the open.

Yeske. Is there anybody who did not suspect that before?

Nigeria was just getting too strong despite Boko Haram. We overtook South Africa as biggest economy. They do not want another powerful country rearing its head in Africa. They have enough trouble with China, Brazil etc. Over trade.

Obama has a black skin but it means nothing. He's American.

Obama could not find time to visit Nigeria, the largest black nation. Carter, Clinton, Bush Junior visited Nigeria as incumbent. But he had time to visit Saudi and bowing to their king. A country where women cannot ride a car, cannot travel without a male to watch over her, and can barely vote since only a few months back.

The way America acted over Boko intelligence & Ebola made their intentions obvious.

You must all remember: America has no intention to empower Africa. Visionary African leaders like Lumumba & Kwame Nkrumah were dealt with squarely by CIA. It hasn't changed.