adekzy:
I never mentioned any tribe in my post, so stop trying to claim any unnecessary victimisation and cutting deep nonsense.

GEJ sold oil 🛢 at over $100/barrel, with excess crude oil account, yet Baba still borrow to pay salaries for months, so what is there to learn?

They all belong to the same category and i am not holding brief for any of them.

This is not true. Please try to verify data/statements like this from online sources which are most times free. Thanks.

Lexusgs430:



It's not all traders on Etoro, one copies ............ Some of them are drunken sailors, navigating a ship........

You check their risk score and types of assets they trade ...........

When copying, best to leave funds long term ......

Traders have colour coded stars on their profiles, black been the best aka Pro ........

Some rookies too are good, hence reading their profiles........

I have no forex trading skills, but someone I am copying is a professional forex trader...... I can see the pairs he trades, I simply copy and paste too on my personal portfolio, and close trade when my target is hit....... Collect my money and re enter position with same capital, less profits ...........

You should also spend some time on technical analysis (TA) - basic knowledge. It helps to validate the trades you copy. Charting helps as it literally predicts the future most times. Also check out Gregory Mannarino (a youtuber) and J Bravo (another youtuber). Helpful insights.

Tobexin:
Most of those quotes are mere fictitious quotes! You click in trade and no one pays you.

Anyways my rate still remain highest in town N720 no commission! Would be launching my app soon and getting my FCA approval !

FCA approval will be a plus. You could start off with HMRC AML and use that as leverage for FCA. Smooth though and far-thinking. Respect!

justwise:


Now this is painful to read..was hoping to get a new passport rather than applying for visa or TC to travel for my mum's burial, i have been monitoring this passport issue since last year as i planned to see her early this year sadly she passed away few days ago. oh well...

Sorry about your mum's demise, please do accept my condolences.

In case of other times, Nigeria still remains the better place to get a renewal all year round. I got mine renewed early this month under 24 hours with no drama.

Lexusgs430:



Are you indirectly asking Tina to drop her ALH.......

She no be Alhaja ó.....

Clarity it is sir, just Clarity I seek

Tinadear:
Hey,
Please if you know any tall, God-fearing Nigeria brother in mid or late 30s in the UK seeking for a beautiful God-fearing tall/short/medium Naija babe as wife.... I am here.

Inside life!

He should be tall while you are - tall/short/medium?

Strange times though.

Terrence99:


Thanks.
That reminds me, the current FIRS Chairman doesn't have ICAN. He's using ANAN which is basically diluted ICAN for dummies.

No, you are kidding?

I assumed and never did check or seek to know. Yeah, we do have a lot of dumbed-down heads of parastatals across Nigeria. What's unfortunate is seeing brilliant young minds (the very few of them though) answerable to very mediocre bosses. Nothing kills motivation/drive like that.

Terrence99:
Oponu, you incompetent fools in FIRS wanted to apply for stay of of execution pending appeal, you wrote a letter to the court. Is that procedure gotten by writing letters? Dumb fools. Your entire legal department of FIRS should be sacked. That is what happens when you use tribalism, favouritism and political loyalty to recruit lawyers. Shebi FIRS is fond of underground recruitments, You fools will learn the hard way. You will learn by force that government work is not for blockheads and misfits.

There are 4 things you don't recruit with tribalism: your lawyer, your doctor, your accountant and your pilot.

As for the North, better start looking for how you wil tax banditry and kidnapping. By the time the South is done with you, you will be begging Nigerian Breweries to establish their factory beside the Sultan's Palace.

Fixed that for you.

Midnight musings: you would own nothing and be happy

Let me start this morning by remembering Sampath’s retort to Kulfil in Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard – “No , I do not want an egg he said, I want my freedom.”

When I stumbled on the article in the Telegraph with caption: Parents demand final say over whether children get Covid Jab, I was not surprised at all. Why? Systems have never collapsed at once. Remember Animal Farm, rights do not all get taken at once. There is a gradual erosion of our rights here and we are unaware because of the many distractions they load us with. Between working flat out to eke out a living to pay those bills and living within the confines of increasingly stricter regulations, the government is right under our nose inserting itself deeper into our lives, eroding our rights and furthering its end goal – “to own it all”.

“C’mon Chukwuka, don’t be a conspiracy theorist, the government is doing this for our safety, it’s all for the greater good.” This is the typical response I get from some folks within my circle. According to them, the issues of mandates, vaccine passports and other emerging crazy government policies are all for our safety. I remind them of what Benjamin Franklin had to say that “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”, and their responses are either – “the government knows best” or “the times are different”. I remind them that I am not sure I want to trust characters like Matt Hancock or Sajid Javid or Boris Johnson or Michael Gove or Dominic Raab or Priti Patel or the other clowns that characterise this government with making decisions that affect me or even pets considering their miserable and utterly disastrous track records that show FAILURE. I’m told most times to take a “chill pill”. I rest my case.

When the World Economic Forum (WEF) in one of their promotional videos announced that “by 2030, YOU would OWN NOTHING and be happy”, it wasn’t greeted with much angst because people look at the end rather than the process. I will remind you of a popular quote by Martin Niemöller –
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Today, we can easily chart and observe the path on which these clowns are madly driving their agenda. What is painful is how we are all complicit in wilfully helping them achieve an aim that is at variance with what we stand for.

One of the greatest tools this government has employed has been distractions. You see, when parents have little kids and have difficulties pacifying them because they have had maybe a fall, what they employ are rounds of distractions. They could make a clown face or create some form of distraction for the kid to take their minds away from the pain and soon those little kids are off chasing the distraction. In the UK, we are provided with daily loads of baloney on BBC that I sometimes get vexed for subscribing. J Cole puts it very succinctly in his song “Problems” –
There’s nigg&s dying everyday man we don’t make the rules
Instead they talking ‘bout some thunderstorm, cyclones
Timmy got his bike stole
Top story: Tiger Woods be f$@%ing all these White Hoes

While the BBC is either informing us of irrelevant news items that are perhaps best suited for clown stations or deliberately providing misleading news leads, we are unaware that the BoE is massively monetising government debts which in turn is increasing money supply and leading to massive inflation. We are unaware of the issues surrounding the broken supply chain or the NHS or the collapsing and shrinking economy or the massive decimation of household wealth (mostly for the middle class) among others. We are unaware of new government policies being brought in daily to wage war against citizens all in the name of safety. Today in Scotland, 4-year-olds can now change their sex without their parents’ consent - #Distractions!

While distractions are being employed, the government along with corporates are also employing the power of THREAT. You see, as immigrants, we are ready to do anything required of the law to keep our residency. I’m not here advocating for one to be a rule breaker but drawing your attention to instances where your desire to retain residency rights can be exploited to further decimate your freedom/rights/liberty. In France, New York, the USA (federal workers), even Edo State and emerging countries/states/regions worldwide, we are seeing governments using vaccine mandates as tools for determining our ability to socialise. We are told that having the #clotshots would be our only way to freedom – When did I become caged in the first instance? In recent times, we have started seeing corporates like CNN, BoA and others coming up with draconian policies mandating staff get their #clotshots before a particular date. In instances where your residency is tied to your job, how do you walk that tight rope between your survival and your liberty? Someone says, “liberty be damned” and I’m like really?

I could go on and on talking about the increasing monetisation of government debts by the BoE leading to increasing money supply, crazy asset valuations from property to equities and it’s fallout – increase in the cost of goods and services. I could highlight the rise of institutional investors buying up property with cheap money gotten at almost 0% interest rate and the rise of fascism in the UK. Folks, we are at war and the earlier we know it the better.

As I conclude, I can’t but help relish these lines from Bella Shmurda’s banger (Ginger me). Never in life have I been scared of even my circle. Here on Nairaland, I have read arguments by folks that people who refuse the #clotshots deserve to be “ostracized” from society. I have no doubt these are the same folks featured on Mark Dice’s liberal lunatics California round where people literally sign “petitions” to have folks who have refused the #clotshots arrested!

Oluwa shebi iwo lo ye
Oluwa shebi iwo lo mo
Shebi iwo lo yee shebi iwo lo mo
I don't know what to say my brother
I don't know what to say my sister
I'm careful about those who call me brother
Some many times I've seen brothers killing brothers

Folks, we are at war here. There are no demilitarised zones. You have got to know that Adolf Hitler and King Leopold II didn’t come from Africa or Asia, they were from Europe (as it now is). We are gradually entering into totalitarianism. Today, you can’t leave Australia with the military conscripted to facilitate lockdowns. Today, the government in New Zealand can enact lockdowns at the snap of a finger. Today in Germany and France and Italy and Spain, lockdown protesters are suffering severe beatings and harassments like it was Nigeria. Today we are hearing talks of social scores (common in China and used to limit individual’s freedom), central bank digital currencies (CBDC) etc. Our governments have left governance to creating a stratified society where they come up with metrics that determine what we can be and not be. Today, we are hearing of climate lockdowns. As an academic, I attend meetings and regret wasting my time acquiring that knowledge. I’m asking you to quantify the fallout of a policy initiative so we don’t build unrealistic utopias and can place limits on expectations, and you are speaking English about unintended consequences – finesse in the use of language you call it? I must also highlight that most academics are useful tools and accomplices of governments drive towards totalitarianism because of their hate for capitalism. They love big governments (socialism) and forget that the end of socialism is communism (you will own nothing and be happy)!

Damn. I’m at loss of what exactly it is the future holds. I’m just scared and confused. I’m looking around and folks think it is alright and that everything will be fine. “Calm down, Chukwuka, you are overthinking this thing”, is what they tell me. I remember Baxter in Animal Farm and shake my head. Ah, I can’t get these lines from my head –

Somebody ginger me ooo
Ginger me oo ginger me oo
Yeah somebody ginger me
Ginger me oo ginger me oo
Yeah somebody call my name
Ginger me oo
Tell me say it's gonna be fine Ginger me ooo
Somebody do something Ginger me oo
Ginger me oo

lightest:


uhm, a lot going on in my mind. I know I am not the first person and would not be the last on this issues.

I really appreciate every one for dia contributions. Both the positive and the negatives comments are reshaping and making my spirit high.

I hope to have a good news in both ways sooner.

God bless Seun, the moderators and all the contributors because who knows if my brain would have reset to default.

this thread keeps is keeping mycompany for the time being

Bro, I’m sincerely pained with your personal problems but more pained that you brought it on this platform. This is a public platform where we come to catch cruise and of course from time-to-time express ideas/suggestions on sundry issues. This is not the platform to discuss your marital issues - your marriage deserves its privacy and respect.

Marriage is a very sacred institution and irrespective of the happenings, this is the very wrong platform to either express your situation or seek for advice for such problems as peculiar to you and your spouse. You are an adult and MUST have a network of people around you including clerics and family who should be the circle within which your discussions about your issues should reside with. You didn’t marry out of the blues and neither have you lived with your spouse without a support network – leverage this.

There are no marriages without problems but if we all come on this platform or other public platforms airing our situations, we make mockery of this very pivotal institution and show we are incapable of handling or managing situations. You are a manager of a woman and two kids and that’s your cross – not mine or anyone else here on this platform. You must take that cross and carry it ALONE and carry it well. You must do ALL it takes to make it RIGHT.

I sincerely wish you the best in your marriage but hey MAN UP. What advice do you expect from us who aren’t in your peculiar shoes or concerned parties? If you need advice on visa routes or professional advice (lawyer for instance) that’s fine to ask here, but please respect that institution, your wife, and kids. Give them that privacy please.

God bless.

deept:


Look what happened to gold, once the us announced better than forecasted economic recovery, the process of commodities dropped. Usually steronger dollar means drop in all the other store of value

Nothing happened to gold. What you have online are derivatives/ETFs or paper gold contracts with serious manipulations by JPM and others on Comex (pump and dump) to exit their positions at some profit or reduced margin calls (losses). Leverage on comex is like 1:650 and above. That's crazy!

Basel III is being implemented and that means significantly reduced leverage which will see many paper contracts being closed. Try buying premiums (physical gold like Maple leaf or Kruger etc) and see if it sells for the paper price.

Look to central banks to understand gold. Today, Russia holds more gold reserve than US treasuries. China and India are massively increasing their purchase of gold (mind you, China doesn't export gold mined internally). Even Ghana is diversifying her reserves to include gold while Nigeria is still looking for cow route (I love my country).

I don't think people buy physical gold or silver to trade, they do so as a means of wealth preservation (part of a diversification strategy). There is only so much manipulation that can occur before the Fed (major culprit) loses the plot and we have to rein in the $$ (another Bretton Wood maybe).

If China launches her digital Yuan and backs it with gold, then we can be very sure that a major reorganisation is in the works.

Lastly, the BIS (Bank of International Settlement) more like the central Bank of the world's central banks has this to say about gold - "Physical gold is a first-tier asset that has no counterparty or political risk". So for now it's to keep diversifying with eyes firmly on the debt/bond market - that's the foundation of the world's economy.

Dagger111:
Oda oo. Last last, if this man enter as president, we will find ourselves in one of this attributes below:

SOCIALISM: You have two cows, and you give one to your neighbor.

COMMUNISM: You have two cows, the government takes both and gives you milk.

FASCISM: You have two cows, the government takes both and sells you milk.

NAZISM: You have two cows, the government takes them and kills you.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows, you sell one and buy a male. You multiply your cows and there is economic growth. You sell them, you retire and you live on your profits.

MODERN CAPITALISM: You have two cows, you sell one and buy a male. You multiply your cows and you buy those of your neighbors. The latter become your shepherds, you pay them in monkey currencies and they die poor.

AMERICAN SOCIETY: You have two cows, you sell one and you have to make the other one to produce milk like 4 cows. By dint of producing beyond her capacity, she dies. You take a consultant to understand this death.

FRENCH SOCIETY: You have two cows, you go on strike because you want a third.

GERMAN SOCIETY: You have two cows, you modify them so that they live 100 years, eat once a month and treat themselves.

CHINESE SOCIETY: You have two cows, you sell milk to your compatriots and you produce plastic milk to export to the rest of the world.

BLACK/ AFRICAN SOCIETY: You have two cows, you eat them all the same day and you dream that donors or the international community give you others. You turn to God and hope for miracle cattle. You fast 40 days and 40 nights without eating or drinking so that the cows will fall from heaven. At the end, you die in extreme poverty.


They still wanna package him and deceive us same way they did Buhari. Signed out!!!

You are simply brilliant, amazingly brilliant.

Excellently put together and very insightful.

Thanks for giving us such wonderful piece and may I crave your permission to use on other platforms with full acknowledgement.

babajeje123:

I love academics, has little to do with elongation

You have nothing to worry about.
After the masters when you begin the PhD, three things – PUBLISH, PUBLISH AND PUBLISH. Second, network. The networking bit is very crucial. Forget job advert, if a PI likes you and needs you, they will bring you on board. So, take time out to seek out connections beyond your immediate lab, seek publication opportunities and PUBLISH, PUBLISH, PUBLISH. Another thing I would add is learning how to write grant proposals. This is very crucial in research. Know about funding opportunities and how their requirements can vary. This will be a very useful tool in a big research group during grant writing. Good luck with the masters and success on your PhD journey.

RalphJean:


Chukwuka16,
I think you did t get that bolded part.
It’s a truism that a candidate is more likely to get a fully-funded PhD in the Sciences tha. I’m the humanities.
If O.P were to propose to do a PhD in Molecular virology, or Artificial Intelligence or Electric vehicles or COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s research, surely they would be more likely to secure full funding.
Contrast that with O.P proposing a PhD in humanities….

There is core engineering/science research as well as core humanities research but a very wide basket of multidisciplinary funding - it depends on how you couch your proposal. Also, a lot of funding with humans as end users now have as a compulsory component co-production which is humanities driven - that's a must for EU funded projects.

My argument on silos is the fact that you limit yourself when you consider only these. Having a wider view of your discipline will increase your chances of funding than a siloed approach.

babajeje123:

This is phenomenal. What would you advise someone who's already in the UK for masters with the prospect of going for PhD after?

Ah, you are asking me to tell you both the dream and the interpretation – I’m not capable. You love research/publishing/academics or just want to elongate stay in the UK?

Coolcube:


Thanks for this. You have raised some valid points. I assume you in the sciences. I am in the humanities. Can you share links on the SA universities?

Nope, I’m where there is money (for now). Don’t get yourself limited with these silos – humanities, sciences etc. The world is multidisciplinary in nature. I did my PhD in CS and it involved Artificial Intelligence (CS), Electric Power Systems (Electrical Engineering) and Energy Justice (Humanities). I published on all these in an integrated manner and that’s the beauty. Today I work on policy, decarbonisation, and conduct field work in the arctic region on justice issues. Bring some innovation on board.

You have to visit the websites of universities you are interested in (University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Johannesburg, University of Stellenbosch, etc.) and any lab (or research group) of interest, these things are there online. Also, if you are conversant with your field, you must have stumbled on a couple of authors you would want to investigate further. This is serious work and I’d recommend ResearchGate as a starting place to see what people are doing and informally network.

As an addition, start here - https://www.nairaland.com/944102/general-south-africa-visa-enquiries/696

Just develop a thick skin for potential insults that may come.

Coolcube:
Please I need the opinion of those living in the UK on this. I would be grateful to find help.

My dream is to be a lecturer here in Nigeria and I am currently on a PhD in one of the federal institutions, but the demands of work as the head of a publishing firm isn't allowing the work to progress as I'ld love. I am therefore considering relocating to the UK with my wife and kid to study for another Masters and then follow up with a PhD. But my fear is that the tuition in UK would kill me. Although the Master's tuition won't be a problem, but to pay around £18,000 every year for PhD might be difficult considering I'll only have 20 hours to work per week. I wish to ask those already in the UK, if it possible to raise that much every year with the support of my wife. My thinking (Correct me if I am wrong) is that a PhD from UK would enhance my career prospect in the UK and any other advanced countries of the world, should I decide to stay back.

I look forward to your opinions.

Living in the UK, hmmm……

First things first – please setup an urgent appointment with your cleric and advise them to organise a series of prayer sessions for you to BANISH THAT THOUGHT OF BEING A LECTURER IN NIGERIA – Those dreams are from village people. You do not want to be having such dreams now as you are too young to be planning FRUSTRATION. I appreciate your love for lecturing in Nigeria, but my advice will be for you to start your career as a researcher overseas and then decide what next to do about that your dream of lecturing back in Nigeria. You need the abroad experience to build your self-worth which Nigeria helps to dampen. You also need money (a lot of it) to enjoy lecturing in Nigeria and even forget that ASUU/salary exists. You don’t want to be that frustrated lecturer who takes out his/her frustration on innocent students. You also want to have pleasant experiences from your time abroad to benchmark your lecturing journey in Nigeria.

Next is the PhD. I congratulate you on your PhD journey so far in Nigeria. May the good Lord lighten your burden. Many years ago, it was gay to be having a PhD from Stanford and MIT and Harvard and those fancy names. Later, it was chic to be having your PhD from the UK, Canada, USA, Australia etc. Today, where you have your PhD is Irrelevant if (1) it is accredited and (2) you have your research published in the top journals. My advice for you would be to research possible PhD opportunities in South Africa – UCT, UKZN, UP, DUT, TUT etc. Get on ResearchGate and connect with Nigerians there and leverage that in getting a placement. We used to review apps from Nigerians and get our friends into SA for PhD with funding in our labs. You are sure of some funding (bursary with teaching duties) or a cheaper deal than the UK. Additionally, you are sure of world class research facilities with opportunities to go overseas for conferences/workshops. Please note that PhD in UKZN is free! I was sponsored by NRF/TWAS and had tutor gigs within the dept and had enough money to be flying to Pretoria (Sunnyside) just to look for plantain (millennial issues).

However, while in South Africa, you must do all within you to publish and publish and publish in the very best and top-rated journals (Impact Factor greater than 5 as a minimum). In my former lab here in the UK, the head was ready to recruit my friend to the UK and pay him £40K simply because of his MAD publication profile – We lost him to a research lab in Israel. There is something called REF (Research Excellence Framework) here in the UK every 5 years and it’s basically ranking UK HEI’s based on their publication output and where (journal IF). This is important because it determines how much funding they get from the government (more important now as funding is becoming scarce like unicorns). That is why you see them every 5 years recruiting new hands and highlighting publications as an important criterion. You want to be ready for the next round.

Why do I advise you to consider South Africa? Time. Here in the UK, your PhD can last from 3.5-5 years depending on your supervisor and between 4-7 years in the US. I did mine in South Africa in 18 months (finished with depression and 11 publications). You may not do yours in 18 months but with good publications (3-5) you can be done within 2.5 – 3 years with even a postdoc waiting for you to calm you down. I was recruited straight out of South Africa before graduation to the UK and currently in my 3rd job (millennial problems) working in a think tank and with a world class team. Nobody has ever asked me about where I did my PhD. I have even had the editor of a world class journal (IF of 27) visit me all the way from the US and invite me to do a badass piece in his journal on top my African PhD.

A UK PhD WILL NOT ADD ANY BENEFIT TO YOUR CAREER IN TODAY’S WORLD EVEN IF IT’S FROM OXFORD. It will cost you your arm and your leg and even leave you frustrated and drained but with extra shoulder pad for bragging – I have my doctorate from Oxforrrrd. You also don’t want to be burdening us with gofundme which is rising at alarming rates nowadays or subject your better half to working jobs she may not be ok with all because you want a UK PhD.

In all, please always ask the Good Lord for direction. I’m a firm believer that one can never get lost with His guidance.

I wish you the best.

@mamatukwas
Thanks. My capacity never reach o. I’m still a student of life. Should have responded earlier but @Justwise comments were quite troubling. Led me to do a lot of soul searching. I can always recommend this book - The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve Bank by G Edward Griffin.

@Kode12
I don’t know how familiar you are with Napstars (against record labels), Netflix (against blockbusters and Hollywood) and other disruptors, but just like crypto, they had major opposition but today, we see the result of their disruption (iTunes etc.). The birth of the internet (Internet 1.0) led to the democratisation of information. We didn’t need institutions to decide what, where and how in terms of information we received. The birth of blockchain technology is Internet 2.0 and it is the democratisation of financial assets. We wouldn’t need governments or institutional banks telling us when and where and on what we should spend our money (not currency).

@Giltwise
Thanks. I used to be a full time academic. I’m now more interested in pursuing money (not currency) nowadays. In the words of my senior colleague, last, last, academics na scam. I tend to agree more with him more nowadays. Sincerely speaking, unfolding events everyday are scary and if we eventually have full blown socialism here in the west, then China/North Korea will be a child’s play. We can always look to Adolf Hitler as one case study of what can happen and of course 1984 by George Orwell. I wish you well in these uncertain times.

@Justwise
Your comments were quite shocking and troubling. When you say vaccination should be compulsory, on whose orders? Where was I consulted? Governance is a product of a constitution, and every constitution (they say the UK doesn't have one) derives its powers from The PEOPLE. Check out the common opening statement of most constitutions and it’s – “WE THE PEOPLE…” It thus means that products cannot be that powerful in deciding what happens to their source. Governments that have tried this have usually failed at the end (through revolutions). In governance we have what is called co-production where end-users or affected users are involved in the evolution of policies to ensure majority buy-in. You see this in the development of new technology products or even beauty-wares were producers send out samples to select clients who use these products and send back reviews/feedback before final production that integrates this feedback.

We can’t have a perfect utopia, but we can have one that achieves justice and equity. We must ensure that injustices whether procedural, distributive or recognition to a large extent can be mitigated through actions that discourage oligarchy and encourages inclusion/participation. Leadership isn’t a command and rule structure neither is it dictatorial. The use of fear tactics (like you alluded to how deadly the virus is) doesn’t obviate the need for proper procedure in achieving buy-in. We have seen over time that the use of fear mongering has only ended up in eroding citizens’ rights and making governments more powerful. Individual rights and preferences should always be respected especially where we don’t have majority buy-in.

To other matters.
I will leave select extracts from The Story of OJ by Jay Z. Please understand that what’s going on – inflation, massive quantitative easing (QE/MMT) and fear mongering (climate change, lockdowns etc.) is only benefitting a unique class of people – governments, large corporations, banks and the very rich (top 0.1%). They are moving money from your hands (via inflation) and eroding your rights (via fear mongering). Keep your eyes open and stay WOKE. (not leftist)

Light nigga, dark nigga, faux nigga, real nigga
Rich nigga, poor nigga, house nigga, field nigga
Still nigga, still nigga

I told him, "Please don't die over the neighborhood
That your mama rentin'
Take your drug money and buy the neighborhood
That's how you rinse it"

You wanna know what's more important than throwin' away money at a strip club? Credit
You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America?
This how they did it

I bought some artwork for one million
Two years later, that sh*t worth two million
Few years later, that sh*t worth eight million
I can't wait to give this sh*t to my children

Y'all out here still takin' advances, huh?
Me and my niggas takin' real chances, uh
Y'all on the 'Gram holdin' money to your ear
There's a disconnect, we don't call that money over here, yeah

Personal musings – was Jay Z throwing shades at Nina Simone
Skin is, skin, is
Skin black, my skin is black
My, black, my skin is yellow

Folks, I’m sounding like a broken record here but please let me ask this – hope you are keeping abreast with what’s happening around you and seeking ACTIVE means of diversifying your assets (barterable commodities)? It is no longer hidden that national governments (actually the central banks and the big banks) have gone mad. What does this mean (see below pic)?

When we saw governments toying with the idea of mandating vaccination for the public, we thought it was a joke but now this? Over the weekend they banned direct deposits into Binance (not surprising) and now economic intrusion?

We definitely are heading into a China/North Korea scenario were soon it will be the government telling us what to do, what to buy, when to sleep and practically granting permission for our living. Shine you eyes!

Na from clapping dem take dey enter dance floor.

Girl I just want make we rock
Girl I just want make we vibe
Girl I just...
Girl I just want make we chill like ice water
Mi o mo bon shey gbe body oh

LoL.

The beauty of life lies in one great word – choice.

I appreciate the various opinions and sincerely like one of the commentor said – “to each his own”. It was Wole Soyinka in his fifth book of memoirs who quipped that We MUST SET FORTH AT DAWN. For me, I’m still young and think I should be spending my youth taking sensible risks. My business foray in Nigeria is my biggest risk so far. This is the only time I can do it – if it works, fine. It doesn’t we learn and move. I’ve never believed life should be lived 'safely'. Why tip toe through life only to arrive safely at death?!

The essence of my write-up beyond my introductory caveat was also to challenge the status quo – Nigeria is …. (you can fill in the blank space). I’m writing to perhaps challenge someone to rethink their stand about Nigeria. I’m writing to perhaps reawaken in someone that lost kindred spirit.

What is life? We are here today and tomorrow no more. No one will blame anyone if all you do is live and chill and keep it cool. That was your window, and you chose how best to live it and you alone will account for it. However, as we live through life, we do get to read about legacies – the report cards of those who have long died. Generations after and we still make reference to them – they challenged the status quo. Of course, fortune favours the brave.

See, complaining or resigning to fate is easy. Is there a blueprint on how Nigeria can get it right, No, but is that enough to quit trying, No. Of course, we have thousands of heroes – known and unknown who in their trying to get the country right have died. Is that enough to discourage us, No! Rather that should be an encouragement to make their death worth it.

I read and watch with pains the escapades of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and their colleagues. These were very young folks travelling the world and employing all levers of diplomacy to fight for a better Africa and Nigeria. I was a postgrad at Leeds in 2016 when Wole Soyinka visited and as I sat at the auditorium watching this Octogenarian talking, all I could feel was hot tears down my cheeks. This guy with his ilk challenged despots, risked their lives, were imprisoned, suffered marital issues all because of an ideal – Nigeria. I watch videos of Tafawa Balewa and I’m gobsmacked. I try to imagine how we derailed from 1960 with Anthony Enahoro, Tafawa Balewa, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ambrose Alli to Buhari, Tinubu etc.

I do not want to write an epistle again tonight but let me remind you that the so-called peace and security you are enjoying abroad was paid in blood by natives here in the abroad. They didn’t wait for some saviour to come and get them delivered – they took that upon themselves and today, their children can live as humans in the comity of nations. Nigeria is not about you or I but the future. A working Nigeria should be the ideal we hope to bequeath to the future generation. No one is asking you to return but hey, do something!

Back to Olamide
Girl I just want make we rock
Rock, rock, Mi o mo bon shey gbe body oh
Girl I just want make we vibe
Vibe, vibe, Mi o mo bon shey gbe body oh
Fit spend you my paper
After tonight I go like to dey see you later...

Hi @Hebraeem, just post here. We can all learn and others would be able to contribute and correct me if I'm wrong.

Hebraeem:
I have heard of this as well and it is also a 5yrs route to citizenship (if am correct). Thank you for this also. And please I have a question concerning if I qualify for it, can I message you?

On Nigeria, The UK and the Future

It is always refreshing to every now and then document one’s thoughts about raging issues – national, provincial or global. For me, this provides a valuable resource in the future of history. For the future generation, it presents how my thought process evolved over time. To everyone else, it further exposes my mind for the mind is the standard of the man.

Nigeria – a cornucopia of confusion and the growth of the sachet economy
When recently @mamatukwas displayed a picture of the repackaged spaghetti by Honeywell, it immediately triggered in me flashbacks to my brief discourse/exchanges here on this platform some time ago on the need to adjust one’s business to suit the economic trend in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country made up of over 200m+ people (guesstimate) and it is usually not uncommon to assume that that size presents huge business opportunities.

Research by others have shown that Nigeria’s population is being propped up by just under 30% (c.60m+ people) of the population. Of this 60m+ people perhaps just under 30m+ really have purchasing power of around 2 million Naira annually. Of course, this is on average basis. This limited population with this ‘high’ spending power is majorly (over 85%) domiciled in Lagos with about 12% spread across Ogun, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Delta. The outstanding 3% are shared across the rest of the country (let me say that these are all rough estimates).

With such perverse wealth distribution across the country, only 4 sectors will directly affect the whole strata of society – food, health, transport and communication. Any other business outside of these sectors has to be well thought out and focused. However, the fact that high food poverty exists in Nigeria doesn’t make the business inherently viable. Considering the absence of value addition (preservation, processing), good logistics and low-quality inputs/harvests, coupled with growing insecurity, Nigerians should get ready for more hunger and rising food costs in the days ahead. Anyone still thinking that harvest time will lead to a reduction in food prices will be ‘shocked’ like Buhari. Middlemen continue to benefit from the law of attraction – to him that hath, more will be given. They can buy up farm produce, store and sell when prices are at an all-time high.

Let me paint a picture here for clarity. As of April 2021, fertiliser (urea) was selling for 5K - 5.5K Naira per bag. By the time I was ready to buy by May 2021, the price had increased to 12.5K Naira. This meant that for 35 ha land to be cultivated, I needed to spend an extra 730K Naira on urea alone. Same for NPK (my saving grace was getting it subsidised from government). For a simple double ploughing, rather than the usual 20K/ha, all of a sudden, I was being charged 32K/ha. What about seeds (hybrid), herbicides, aflatoxin etc. What about storage and shellers for the crop (after harvest)? What about irrigation in case weather decided to go on a break? What about cost of planting – I had to use women as we don’t have access to industrial planters? What about their security? By the time of writing this musing, our cost has gone up averagely by over 80%. By the time I’m selling to feeders and also processing into feeds, price would be astronomical. What does this lead me to do – Sacheterisation! Here in the UK and in other advanced countries it is called Shrinkflation!

A typical 15kg feed bag would be reduced to 10/11 kg at same price of 15kg. We could also do 3kg/5kg/7kg bags of feed for farmers to buy as their capacity can carry them. They would of course pay more, but that’s life! End users will end up paying more for fish, eggs, meat etc. The whole cycle will end up forcing households to spend more of their household income on feeding – leading to increasing poverty!

In the midst of all these, the FGN has recently commissioned new universities and given them seed money (in billions) to kick start operations. While this is happening, ASUU is preparing to go on an indefinite strike while our Attorney General is busy looking for a supposed gazette that details the grazing routes of cows across Nigeria. On top of this, our national government is fighting dirty with Twitter (a private company with operations based in the US) while Fulani herdsmen continue to run amok across the country.

We can carry on and on but now you get the picture. Without a new crop of leadership, the growth of the sachet economy will continue as households readjust their lifestyle and spending to meet the new realities. We are in for a long ride to nowhere in Nigeria.

The UK and the growth of feminism
It was beautiful reading the back and forth on the issue of raising kids overseas. In presenting my thoughts about kids being raised here abroad (especially the UK and its likes), let me opine that my ranting is more directed at the male kids than female. I mean no offense to the female gender.

I have watched with growing interest the continued attempts at domesticating and emasculating males here in the UK. I have read news again and again that show how pitiable males are becoming in the “new world”. This crass attempt at degenderizing society is all in a bid to eliminate the so-called male patriarchy they (females) claim exists and achieve parity between males and females.

When I was schooling in South Africa, one thing I quickly picked up was the fact that many white kids were home schooled – their parents tried as much as possible to limit interactions with the black kids. MOST white parents owned their own businesses and lived either as a community (of majority whites) or privately in farms. For these kids, they mostly grow up assisting their parents run the family business. This gives the parents an opportunity to teach these kids life’s most important lesson – RESPONSIBILITY.

How many blacks here in the UK are self-employed? How many blacks (citizens and ILR holders) here in the UK survive without benefits from the government? What makes the Asians and Chinese thick – they own businesses and mostly involve their kids in the day-to-day running of the business.

We talk about insecurity in Nigeria, and I ask, were that not to be an issue, how many of us could afford to send our kids to some of those great private schools in Lagos and Abuja and Osun State? Let’s even ask how many Nigerian parents have in place a plan to self-finance (100%) the schooling of their children in university/college abroad and leave them debt-free?

Raising up kids who would be useful to themselves and society transcends just their growing up values to also include opportunities and privileges you can offer them as a parent. However, the synergy is formed because children who are RESPONSIBLE can better manage opportunities and grow wealth tomorrow.

To offer those kids opportunities in life and broaden their world view, the parents must be self-equipped and empowered to be able to do so. The difference between kids tomorrow will depend on choices. Don’t forget that private schools here in the UK get levels o. There is a reason why the British political class today is filled with Etonians. There is a reason why parents have private tutors for their kids in addition to other expenses – choices. If your kid got admitted to Oxford or Cambridge or Stanford tomorrow without funding, do you have the funds to finance that education (no student debt o)?

When I interact with Nigerian parents, I usually cry (real tears with oscillating shoulders) when parents tell me that their kids have never been to Nigeria! In fact, my consternation becomes aggravated when you see these parents glee with excitement because their kids can speak with the British accent.

Is Pakistan safer than Nigeria? Is Iran safer than Nigeria? Is India safer than Nigeria? Yet you see British-Iranians and British-Pakistanis and other dual nationalities going home yearly to partake in festivals and acclimatising their kids with their roots. It isn’t uncommon to even have Nigerian parents here in the UK preventing their kids from learning their local dialect or visiting home.

I’ve worked with Chinese and Pakistani’s and Indians and other nationals and everywhere they meet, their language comes to fore especially when they can speak their dialect (happens most of the time). I was at a conference some time ago in Germany and my Mexican colleague spots his former Mexican colleague while at Cambridge and they excuse themselves to speak for 20 minutes in Spanish! Nigerians of the same tribe (and ability to converse in their native language) would meet each other and be proud to converse in English – your kids are beside you learning.

How many Nigerian kids here in the UK have read novels from Africa that teach them about our culture or experiences? We have excellent titles in the African Writers Series and excellent writers. That’s where it starts from. How many Nigerian kids here in the UK can talk comfortably about Nigeria, her culture, important places in Nigeria and people? Instead, they are being loaded with baloney about the UK. Did the UK inform your kids that they were bankrupt 50 years ago and had to be bailed by the IMF and the US? Tomorrow when they rewrite our history, can your kids confront and write theirs? It is ok to learn about the battle of Waterloo and Trafalgar (thunder fire knowledge of life in the UK) but not ok to learn about Nigeria’s civil war?

Two years ago, some academics from the UK and South Africa wrote a response to one of my energy policy papers. Their saving grace was that there was a limit to the technical abuse I could spew in academic exchanges. I’m writing as an authority of “no light” and “Up NEPA” telling you why generators and firewood suit me better than solar panels and wind turbines and even following it with sound mathematical computations and clowns who visit my country for holiday were responding that I was perhaps being sponsored by an oil multinational and not ready to participate in the transition to renewables. My response to them was bombastic! For their remaining lives when they see my work, they will jump and pass.

When I see young men acting directionless, I’m scared. This is because males play a crucial role in shaping society and the world at large. Wars have been fought and won (or lost) by men. Policies and initiatives and inventions have MOSTLY been driven by men. Procreation starts from the man (who has the seed)! You can’t have men becoming sissies and think it’s freedom of expression and portends great value for society. Look around you and observe, how many world leaders (male) are gay or transgender or sissies or cross? Even society has some level of expectations from men in leadership positions!

The Future – scary and worrisome
As much as I’m optimistic about the future, I’ve never been scared like now in my entire life (I’ll admit it’s not that long). In fact, I now admire old people because they would soon be dead and not get to live through another economic collapse and the resulting nightmare.

Folks, it’s bad. There has never been so much debt created in life like now. In case you don’t know it, world global economies are shrinking – not expanding (check out debt/GDP). Joblessness, homelessness, forbearance, furlough, extensive lockdowns, huge closedown of businesses have characterised the economy. Yet, in the midst of these, we are being deceived that the economy is rebounding – from where to where? How can house prices be inflating when people are becoming homeless and jobless and there is ongoing forbearance and moratoriums on rents?

Now to the culprit, the FED, these guys are massively inflating the economy using unprecedented money printing (so called REPO/Reverse REPO) and buying back mortgages in $billions on a monthly basis. The US is indebted to the tune of $28 Trillion, the UK (over £2 Trillion) with the EU in excess of $3.5 Trillion. China has begun a massive buying splurge on commodities and expenditure on its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to divest itself of its dollars while massively buying huge quantities of gold. Today, Russia holds more gold reserves than the USD. There is only so much money (USD) that can be printed before we have a full cratering of the economy – some economists say it will be worse than the 2008/09 crisis. Across the US and even here in the UK, we are seeing major investment companies – Blackstone and others buying huge swathe of properties at over 50% asking price using cheap loans from the FED which you and I can’t access.

With such dire stats, it will never be unwise to start rethinking how we survive. Folks who lived and worked through the 2008/09 crisis know of a certainty that it will be worse now if we were to have a repeat. Population has grown and facilities are overstretched. Conservatism should guide expenditure. How do you intend to thrive in a repeat 2008/09 crisis? What plans are on ground to ease living during such times? I have no suggestion but only saying it may perhaps not be unwise to know what’s happening in the finance/economic sector and start making plans to assuage any potential impact. Many folks never imagined covid-19 hence no savings/emergency funds, cash at hand. Some even had debts – mortgages, car finance and personal loans. When covid hit and jobs were lost, only them can tell by how much their lives and health has changed.

Unfortunately, Nigeria still offers the best spot to survive during such crisis because of the informal nature of the economy. I know the bashings are coming but back in Nigeria, I can practically have my own community and farm almost all my food and cut down expenses to the basics during such precarious times. It will never be bad to have a fall-back option in times like this. A Brit has no fall-back option besides the UK. You do because of your multiple nationalities. That can always be exploited to stay ahead in life.

Do have a splendid morning.

Jbloc:
I just paid the £3.3k for two and its really heartbreaking
Still recovering, to do another x3 for kids.

Please don't be offended but what came to my mind was:
Nigbogbo ono ese,
Nigbogbo ono ese o, baba

Thats £16.5K for 5 people if you do express (None was born here?) Man that's almost 12 million Naira for 5 of you! Let me just continue with the song.
Nigbogbo ono ese,
Nigbogbo ono ese o, baba

dustydee:

Yes, surprisingly not many know about the Tier 1 route and how you can get ILR in 3 years. If you can, get the ILR as soon as possible as the cost keeps increasing.

I will try but will not forget that money easily for a while. It's massive!

LagosismyHome:


Sorry for been so lazy to check google but can you share more info on Tier 1/Global Talent

Examples for people who just finished tier 4 student visa and want to migrate to this category instead of psw

I'm familiar with the academic route but one alternative will be Tech Nation Visa (exceptional Talent and exceptional Promise). If you have had some tech exposure and tech startup with some certifications here and there (online certifications) and maybe some patents (in application and not necessarily approved) you can give it a try. There is also the peer review path for different professions where you are accessed by your closest regulator - Arts Council, Royal Academy of Engineering etc.

See https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/global-talent-visa/ for further guidelines.

I followed the UKRI endorsed funders route since I'm an investigator on an eligible H2020 funded project.

Please note that about 81 Nigerians have gotten the Tech Nation visa as at 2020 (against 270 applicants). There is no cap anymore so that number will definitely increase. See https://technation.io/tech-nation-visa-report-2020/#global-talent-visa

Hope this helps.

Ralphlauren:


Fair point @ bolded. A friend of mine recently became a British citizen after almost 12 years of living in the UK legally. He went through the student visa/entrepreneur route.

I agree. The route to ILR/citizenship in the UK is quite cumbersome and stressful. The 'easiest' route which is marriage, takes a minimum of 5 years and let's not even talk about the visa costs, etc.

I will go for the Tier 1/Global Talent as the easiest. 3 Years to ILR (5 for passport and 5 for spouse for ILR/passport), the least documentation and time spent on Tier 2 counts. The cost is the only downside. I'm due next month but still considering applying as I haven't been able to justify that amount of money leaving my account. All my previous visa's bar one were done at a cost to my employer including my wife's, but this time around I can't fathom £2300 + £800 (same day) + £200 (transport/fingerprint) = £3300 for ILR at once!

The UK is really making a killing from visas. I'm only happy now because our EU friends will feel the same heat and they don't even have that kinda of money especially for Tier 2 (skilled worker as now is).

Again, there seems to be a catch with Tier 2/skilled worker visa - salary threshold when due for ILR.

Lexusgs430:



Break it down.......

Wish I could. I'll however give a bit of context and add that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Below is a snapshot of two statements from two PhD holders of Ibo extraction. We can easily pick out the typical Nigerian who attempts to detract from action by using a discombobulation of words to achieve "nothing". May I never be a Joe Abah in life!

LoL.

I will reproduce a quote I stumbled on Twitter today.

It has always been a great temptation, for men of action no less than for men of thought to find a substitute for action in the hope that the realm of human affairs may escape the haphazardness and moral irresponsibility inherent in a plurality of agents.”
-Hannah Arendt

That mostly sums our 'actions' as Nigerians in the abroad.

LagosismyHome:


Buying always better than renting ...... and I wished I had bought earlier because I kept waiting for a crash that 10 years later hasn't happened. Instead the house prices keeps going up up up .

Meaning that even rent keeps going up to keep up with the current house prices. So who becomes the winner. Those who have bought.

A 3 bedroom in my area was about £900 ten years ago so was the monthly mortgage in that area. So assuming I bought my mortgage could have been £900.....(without accounting deposit, fees etc . Just comparing future monthly spend) .. 10 years later houses prices have gone up and rent is now £1,500 on the average for rent so is mortgage . The person who bought 10 years ago at least gets to pay £900 now , while someone newly buying or renting will pay £1500.... at least in London you can hardly see any area that hasn't gone up significantly in these last 10 years

If I lose my job either a rental or home owner. The struggle will be there . None is absorb from the hardship .. the prayer is that we get to keep our source of income

But at least after 25 years one of these two a rental or homeowner gets to rest and not worry about rent/mortgage for life assuming it now paid off.... yeah take a guess which of this two is free and which has to cough up money every month. ....

Having a BTL is not bad but tenant wahala still dey so there are risk. But if someone can have a BLT also, that really golden for later on . The indians really tapped into it and have used it to build generational wealth. I believe we blacks too will eventually tap into sources of generational wealth. We just dey come , these indians have been here much longer. You see 3 generations here so we still be baby . The Chinese have one or two children so a lot are coming with accumulated wealth from their economy. We Africans made the mistake of having so many children thinking the more the better. Hopefully we realised quality over quantity in building a better future

I totally agree with you bar timing.

10 years ago we were talking of the financial crisis and Bernie Madoff and subprime mortgage crisis etc. We were just leaving the Great Recession between 2008 and 2013 and things were at their cheapest levels in a while. Amazon was trading at $134 to a share then! Anyone buying property then would have been making a great investment because there was a surplus on the market so prices were generally depressed. YoY, house prices in the UK decreased in 2011. If this were 2011, buying a house would be at a bargain.

Today, we have interest rates at their lowest, market at an all time high and assets typically and fantastically over valued. It will be more advisable to be ready to pick up property after the crash than now. With regards to market crash, the markets weren't expected to crash in 2011 and governments were starting to spend their way out of the recession. This is 2021 and they have exhausted all their tools. They have printed the highest fiat volume ever, they can't lower interest rates except to negative, we still have significant job losses, the government is still paying over 4 million workers here in the UK as at March 2021 and the market is still depressed. Caution is advised.

25 years is 1/3 to 1/4 of a typical person's life. If it takes me 25 years to own a home then there is trouble! I wouldn't need 25 years to own a home in Nigeria! If the intrinsic value of my home is a place to stay then it pays me more to think economics when deciding how best to own a home. Bar the issue of tenants for which many rentals today now have strict guidelines on the tenants they want and even the race, kind of job, age, with kids or without and sector of the economy they work in etc., owning property for tax benefits is the best bet. In times like this, Id prefer to own property in such a manner that I get tax benefits. Paying for mortgage (that is not tax deductible) from my main income is suicidal now.

I don't know about the black community and if we would make an impact in the abroad. We have been in the US and the UK for a while and we are still punching featherweight. We do have mouth sha and throw the best parties in town so at least we have something to be proud of.

TheGuyFromHR:


Generally good read, disagree with your opinion re buying residential property, it's still better to accumulate equity as compared to paying rent, even if the value of your house falls as may likely happen with this current property price bubble. And CGT is not chargeable on the sale of a main home used for fully residential pirposes, only on second homes/buy-to-lets.

And to properly situate ourselves in this new world, let's bear in mind that Boris has just opened the doors permanently to some 3 million generally highly qualified Hong Kong Chinese and temporarily to a good chunk of India's generally well educated professional middle class.

Survival of the best informed, best positioned and the fittest.

Thanks for the clarification on CGTs!

My concern with mortgages on residential homes is that it becomes detrimental if I'm paying for it from my main job which seems to be the case for majority. For any equity built up, it only becomes realisable after sale. For my only house what do I intend to do if its being undervalued and I don't have a job and its chaos economically? I need a place to stay, I have no income and I'm in default with very diminished equity in a downturn?

What I've seen some folks do is have 2 houses - 1 owned by them for residential and another owned by a SPV for rent purposes. They use the rent from the rented house to pay its own mortgage and then defray some costs from their own residential house by renting out space to the SPV. This way even in an economic downturn they could still have income coming from the rented house and restructure their own residential mortgage to accommodate the top up from the rented apartment. If they had only their income to pay for their residential house then losing their jobs will make them very vulnerable.

And yes, with the expected influx from Hong Kong, it will simply push a lot of black folks from the middle class to the lower class thus widening that poor class bracket. It really is tough times ahead.

Preparing for the CRASH!

Disclaimer: This is not a financial advice. Please always seek professional advice from qualified financial advisors.

I love the abroad!

If you as a black immigrant thought you were going to have an opportunity to regularly engage in bouts of sober reflection where you can take out extensive time to think about your life and strategize for upward mobility, the abroad with its structure and demand will by now have shown you its ugly side. It’s greatest invention - The rat race ensures you are kept perpetually in a form of rotational motion yet without achieving significant linear displacement! The rat race is fantastically built into the workplace culture here in the abroad and summed up perfectly as “title without entitlement.”

I think one of the things I would have regretted doing in life was having a PhD! The saving grace was that it was done under 2 years, so not really a waste of time and of course it was fully funded. Today, I look around and see many PhDs of black decent being managed by folks without PhDs and even younger and I laugh uncontrollably at first, and then pause, relapse into deep thoughts and weep profusely.

Chief Igbinedion doesn’t hold an academic qualification but owns a university. Bishop Oyedepo who is a graduate of Kwara Poly is chancellor of 2 universities. Pastor Asimolowo and a host of others who do not necessarily have doctorates own universities. They sit on the boards of their universities and can determine who becomes a professor or not. Knowing this, therefore, why should I willingly enter a race (as an academic) and set out to aspire to become something (say a professor or some other fancy title) that someone without my qualifications can fast track or delay based on his/her feeling. Here in the UK, we now have folks at senior levels in universities (I mean at DVC and PVC and AVC roles) who have no PhDs and are managing professors with PhDs! Life is full of oddities.

The aim of this ranting isn’t to disparage anyone or cast aspersions on above-named folks but to highlight how adaptability and self-discovery especially when backed with focus can help folks anticipate regime changes and plan appropriately for them to prevent being eroded or caught unawares.

Setting the pace
To properly situate my musings (or should I say ranting) this morning, I’ll start off by reflecting on a recent piece by Bloomberg – How London’s Property Boom Left Black Britons with Nothing (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-18/uk-property-wealth-data-2021-show-big-gap-between-black-and-white-homeowners). Quoting copiously from the article – “The inheritance a British person is likely to receive depends on their ethnicity. Data from the Resolution Foundation show that for White British families, the figure is 3,068 pounds whereas for Black Caribbeans, it’s 778 pounds. For Black Africans, meanwhile, the average is a pound.” Continuing, the article reveals that – “People describing themselves as Black or mixed and Black make up about 4% of the population in England and Wales. The median property wealth of zero for a Black family comes once subtracting the debts or mortgages held against those assets. The ONS says the median is generally a better measure because it is less affected by very wealthy outliers included in the data.”

In a post I made some time ago on this platform, I received a lot of heat when I posited that “we live average lives mostly.” Folks asked me where I got my information from and questioned my sensibility. I never responded because living in denial is a major problem associated with a black man. How could I argue when the facts were all around me and clearly visible to anyone with eyes? Blacks make up the majority of low-income earners in the country, work longer hours than any race and have less privileges than any other race. As a matter of fact, the term BAME actually means Asians and others? That we sometimes get to see 1 or 2 outliers is by no means relevant in influencing the true state of the black community.

The illusion of good times
In recent times however, there appears to be an illusion of some positive news. The advent of the help to buy scheme and the low deposits have seen an upsurge in blacks getting onto the property ladder. Like people hypnotised, the avalanche of cheap credit has seen blacks getting houses, cars and other “assets”. I mean what should we use these cheap and readily available money for? Afterall, it isn’t uncommon to hear folks talk of house flipping owing to the supposed illusion that the property market is booming.

The issue with all these is the fact that we are unknowingly getting locked into long term debts and have no alternative way of paying outside of our current jobs. Additionally, the so-called rise/boom in the property market is a fluke that will soon crash. The unimaginable printing of fiat (money) that has flooded the world’s economies in the name of quantitative easing (QE) or MMT has led to an artificial over valuation of financial assets and the property market. The fact that people are now paying 20-50% over the asking prices of houses is a very strong indicator that money is in excess supply and when growth saturates, the bubble will burst and its 2007/2008 or 2000-2002 again.

What happens if you lose your job, and the market price of your house drops 20-30% and you are locked into a fixed interest rate? How do you cope with your bills if that should happen? Do you have savings that can ride you through the storm for up to a year? Do you have other side businesses that can contribute to your living expenses? What are you doing to ensure that you do not get taken unawares? It’s always harder surviving market crashes abroad than back home. Back home you have access to land and other factors of production easily and with less bureaucracy than in the abroad. What assets have you acquired today that can be of value tomorrow (easily traded, divisible, non-diminishing etc.)?

The rate of MMT/QE witnessed between 2020-2021 has been unprecedented. In the US alone, over 55% of GDP has been printed into the economy so far. Here in the UK its over 100% of GDP. All that money has to be recovered in some way. With a lot of confusion over how the economy will collapse or to what extent or what role digital currencies will play, anticipating and hedging become best bets.

The hard truth
A residential house especially on mortgage will always be a liability because it takes money out of your pocket. The idea that you are building equity is illogical since it only becomes realisable after a sale for which you have to pay CGT. However, buying to rent through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) means you earn income taxed at company rate after all expenses! You can even use part of the income to defray some of your rental costs if your house serves as some office space for your SPV. Not only does your equity in the house get preserved through inflation but you earn dividend through rent. In a crisis or downturn, rents can be lowered, forbearance can be gotten from the banks (for the SPV and not yourself thus protecting your credit worthiness), you could even live there (at some costs) and other things.

The developed world and China are aging. China is estimated to have peaked in terms of work force and is in decline. The US, UK, Europe etc. are all having an increasing aging population. This implies that productivity and growth will have to shift to countries with a younger workforce. However, there will need to be a whole new development of support structure for the elderly – care homes, logistics, operations etc. This is being posited to be a significant market for the developed countries. What role do you see yourself playing in there?

The crypto market is the new internet 2.0 – the democratization of financial assets. Think about this, years ago, it was unheard of that ordinary folks could just from the comfort of their homes and with £100 pick up stocks of Berkshire Hathaway or Tesla or Amazon without seeing a broker and paying huge commissions. Today, I can buy fractions of top performing stocks either on DOW or NASDAQ or FTSE or CAC or DAX from the comfort of my home using specific apps. I can even trade futures and derivatives of gold, silver, oil, natural gas at home and make and lose money! Today from the comfort of my home, I can move my Naira in Nigeria to my bank account here in the abroad using P2P on Binance without needing to trouble any folk here (though at higher price). In fact, I can do the reverse and send Naira directly to beneficiary accounts bypassing the CBNs directive using P2P on Binance and get very good rates that beat abokifx! This is the power of cryptocurrency and getting knowledgeable about how the blockchain industry works for future leveraging becomes key.

In Conclusion
As I conclude, I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a folk years ago. As a young guy in UI, I invested heavily in knowledge and so every fortnight I was always at Premier Hotel to get Newsweek and Time Magazine (one from them and the other from a local stand). That was a significant part of my monthly upkeep. Fast forward to 2009/10 in a church camp meeting and I was reading one of the magazines talking about the reconstruction work going on in either Iraq or Afghanistan (can’t recall which) during break. This decent folk stumbled on me and asked what I was reading. I told him “Oh, I’m reading about the post-war reconstruction efforts in Iraq/Afghanistan”. His response has left me in perpetual shock till date. He responded “Imagine, so there was a war? This is really signs of the end times and we as Christians need to start preparing because Jesus is coming anytime now.” It’s been 10 years after, and Jesus has still not come. Will He come – definitely. Is the timing of His coming my business – No. What can I do for His coming – live prepared! However, in the 10 years after, life as continued, bills have had to be paid, humanity has continued to advance and move on. If he didn’t take time out to prepare for life, well I can’t imagine his current state.

Take time out of the rat race here in the abroad to read, seek knowledge (freely and abundantly available on the internet) and plan for your future. We live in strange times and only prepared people will end up better on the other side of the crisis when the dust settles.

Internal Contestations and life’s absurdities – an appeal to let empathy prevail

A brief on my past musings
It was some months back and, on this platform, I passionately denounced Nigeria. Having been pissed off with the continuous policy capitulations of the government and the mass and shameless display of crass mediocrity at the helms of affairs never before seen in Nigeria’s history, I thought it necessary to divest my interests from Nigeria and focus elsewhere – after all I can’t come and go and kill myself. This was no empty statement for I did begin the process after having a long call with my main portfolio manager.

Recent happenings and the need for empathy
I have recently returned from a four-week trip to Nigeria to conclude a cycle of one of my business interests and facilitate some changes for the next cycle. This trip saw me spending 2 weeks in the North and in the bush/forests sorting out land leases and concluding pre-planting operations including sorting out security and oversight.

My time in the North was worthwhile as I visited major markets in the two cities I stayed. While it was fantastic to enjoy the pleasures of Nigeria – akara, masa, roasted corn/plantain (with groundnut), okpa (even though it caused me stomach upset), molue (public transport), keke, motorcycle, mama put etc., it was also painful to observe first-hand “a wasting generation”.

“Youth in no age is well served unless it has a new dream to unfold, a clean block of paper to write on, a chance to create an original product and set a brand on it, a job in which to become wholly absorbed. Nor is the nation well served which does not provide a frontier of some sort for each succeeding generation of youth.” (Clark, 1938).

It was ghastly beholding a huge population of young people aimlessly wandering from morning till night-time without engaging in any productive activity. It was shocking to observe major markets having the same massive population at 10am and at 4pm on a working day! I deliberately took out time to use the public transport system (against my farm supervisor’s warning) and observe what was typical. Looking around me in those strange buses and on the streets was the picture of frustration. Yes, the sun was really at its peak but then even at cooler temperatures in the evening/night-time, the look of pain, anguish, frustration and hopelessness was in abundance around me; what was worse, the majority of these folks were young people (30 and below).

One week into my stay up North, my business and accountability partner joined me, and we began assessing our decision to divest. Our (animal) farm up north has 10 staff (2 of which are graduates) with the (plant) farm employing quite a number of casual workers (though on contract terms). When we decided here in the UK to divest, we had taken that decision as engineers (that we are). There was no empathy or feeling involved. We had always dealt with variables and machines and so it was basically a financial decision we were making. However, when we included the gory sights of jobless youths and the uncertain future of our staff were we to close shop, it became certain that divesting was never going to be an option.

We didn’t get to where we are today because of our pedigree – No. We were sponsored from Nigeria for PG studies abroad – our parents could never have afforded it. We attended Nigeria’s premier university for pittance. Nigeria had given us a platform. Yes, it could have been better but damn, Nigeria had been fair to us. We can’t in our lifetime imagine being where we are today considering our very humble backgrounds. What is more, we were not the best or brightest, we were just fortunate. In retrospect, we concluded that every of such opportunities enjoyed must have setback some very talented and resourceful persons more deserving of such privileges.

While we are very interested in the numbers and RoI, we have decided to let empathy prevail. I will not be divesting anymore from Nigeria. Yes, I will continue to rant and vent from time to time, but if that business gives Audu a chance to get his life sorted and move on to better opportunities then damned be exchange rate – Lord, I have just checked abokifx and it is approaching N700/£1. I will continue to diversify and attempt to hedge losses from currency devaluation and trust God for mercies since at this point logic can’t cut it.

Hope for a better Nigeria
Having followed hopefully the frantic attempts at tracking #FindHinyUmoren, it is painful to learn that she didn’t make it. Her only crime was that she was looking for a job, that’s all. That was perhaps a future commissioner or captain of industry or another Ngozi Iweala. Alas, she was cut down in her prime with her hopes and vision dashed. Every day in Nigeria, hundreds and thousands of “Umorens” meet their end without having an opportunity at life. They are victims of Nigeria’s failure. Of course, it isn’t uncommon to adopt the sidon look approach – since e no affect me, e no concern me until it concerns me.

As we settle down to life in the abroad, lets from time to time go beyond pondering to doing. That simple gesture or help or assistance will go a long way in changing someone’s destiny. Let us in our own corners find and save one “Umoren”. In all we do, let’s ensure empathy prevails.