So my appointment was for 6:30 am, Was at the consulate at 5:50am. Joined the queue as everyone else and after the instructions we proceeded for the security checks and screening. I forgot to sign my i20 so I had to sign it during the screening. We were seated in the hall, I think I was the ninth person on the row and it was now a waiting game....u can imagine the tension in my system, I had to go and take a leak to calm me self down a little bit . Ah well, the V.O's started tricking in; one after the other and visa interview started.

It got to me turn rather quickly, nice looking gentleman at window 3. The following discussion ensued;

V.O: Good morning, how are you today
Me: Very well, good morning. How are you.

V.O:Great. So please pass your docs
Me:Alright. Here we go (passes the docs)

V.O: we will verify your prints now
Me: ok and then we quickly get that done with

V.O:So why are you going to the US.
Me: o am going for my Ms in chem eng at the louisiana tech uni.

V.O: Do you hold a bachelor's
Me: yes, in chemical engineering

V.o: Did you consider other schools
Me: Yeah, sure. I sha named them

V.O: and u preferred LA tech
Me: quite frankly, only two of the schools I applied to offered me admission. And La tech was to me a bargain when u consider the cost against the quality of education in comparison to the other school. Beyond that, they have very focused research that matches my own interests. I am interested in alternative energy sources. In my undergraduate, I had investigated the effects of altering reaction processes in fermentation with yeast (I sha used the botanical name of yeast). And the department has several ongoing research efforts in this area

V.o cuts in....have you been in contact with any member of faculty to find out specifics
Me: oh yes, I have been in touch with Prof James Palmer (I m think I said prof d palmer or something but I didn't purse for a sec ) and he has research ongoing in effective production of cellulosic ethanol. Also they are researching effective adsorption in the Fischer tropsc process.

V.o: when did u graduate
Me: 2008

Types for a while and repeats the question; when did u say u graduated again:
Me: 2008

V.o: have u worked
Me: yes, with Tech daer services limited. A small oil servicing firm where we basically ....proceeded to describe job functions as I filled on the form ds160. I could sense he was now really looking at my form d 160

V.o: what we're u employed as?
Me: field engineer

V.o: who pays?
Me: my uncle

V.o: what does he do
Me: he owns a trading company, does major supplies and has sole distributorship for some companies

At this point, he separated the passport and d ds160 confirmation from the other docs....na den I know Say e don enter

Well, he starts smiling and then passes my other docs and says that I should keep them handy as I will be needing them when I enter the states.

That's how it went o. Join me in thanking God.

I also got my visa approved today at the lagos consulate. This forum was most helpful and I especially want to thank @tosynbolade. Dude literally put me through on everything. Thank you guys. All the transcripts, the comments on the transcripts. ...I learnt a lot.

toluhere:

Really?? They just said it's not true o.
which branch told u this?

What branch did you try? If u r still there, you can give me the name of the branch do I can confirm for u. But this is a decision that took effect today so it's possible some branches haven't caught on to it.

[/quote]

samnoah:
GTBank started giving out BTA and PTA on Monday 10th but the unfortunate thing is that the bank sells only to current account holders(not savings). I couldn't get to buy from my other banks either(Diamond, Access). Had to open a new account with First Bank on Tuesday 11th and within an hour, I got USD4k as PTA at very reasonable fee. Was charged additional NGN8400 which makes the total NGN808,400 for USD4000

Effective today, savings account will also now qualify for PTA. Useful information folks on here can use.

tosynbolade:


You are welcome. Yes I am

Very nice. I suppose it's safe to assume that you have your visa already. Where will you be headed?

tosynbolade:


Fellow Chemenger ,yes the request means you have been offered admission. 2. You will still be able to meet up with resumption by September if ur visa is sorted out. Just ask for ur I-20 to be sent by courier(it will arrive within 3 to 4days). Pay ur SEVIS and appointment fees then u are good to go. Shalom

Thanks boss. That most helpful. Are u pursuing this too?

My people I greet all of una. As a brand new poster here, I pay homage to all of you guys. Una too much. This is a most wonderful thread. I must confess that I have followed bits and bits of several former threads and have gotten a lot of valid and helpful info but I can't say I have been an ardent follower. I am however in need of some advise and I feel confident that I will get help here.

After I was rejected admission by some schools earlier in the year, I applied to some other schools which were still accepting admission applications. I am going for Ms Chem Engr and completed my application to Latech Uni in May i.e I sent a hard copy of my transcript. I had removed mind and thought from going for further studies this year and decided that I will pursue with more fervor next year but I received an email yesterday stating that a copy of my passport and bank statement/affidavit of support are required by the ISO to issue the I20 and now everything seems to be tumultuous as I have now become very confused. If you may oblige me and I pray u can spare a moment, please I need clarification on certain things;
1) does a request such as this indicate that I have been offered an admission? (I assume so but I m forced to wonder as it has not been formally communicated to me that I have been offered a admission).
2) Considering the timing (school begins in september), do u imagine that there is a remote chance that I may be able to receive this I20 and sort out visa before September
3) I have a new Usd acct (just opened last week) in Nigeria that I can easily make up to the amount as required and stated in the email I received; do u think I make up this amount in the Usd account and send the statement to them or I should look for a statement of an account from maybe an uncle, that has history and send to them. The former is easier and the latter will take some time and still be harder.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks lomomike. Ah well, I have read the manual alright. I do think that timing chain gets bad and needs replacement after every 80000 km. It's a diesel 2004 icdti engine from honda, 2.2. Litres. You maybe spot on with your analysis. I mentioned in my earlier post that we did the diagnosis thing on the car and most of the codes indicated injector circuit malfunction but again it may be due to bad timing like you have now suggested. Well, What I want to know now is where I can find someone that's going to get this car fixed.

Good day my people. I am not a frequent contributor of posts here but I am an ardent follower. I hope some of you will take some time to read through this and possibly prefer a solution. I must also say that I have thoroughly gained very useful information here.

So here's the thing, I have a euro accord 2004 icdti and this car hasn't moved atall in 2 months. Problem started when I took the car to have the timing chain changed(possibly the biggest mistake I have made in recent memory). I thought this was a simple job that any experienced mechanic could handle but boy was I wrong. Car refused to come to life after the change. The biggest problem is the ignorance of every mechanic that I have managed to discuss this problem with. I am not an expert but I do know a thing or two or better still Google is always handy. I have tried to change the injectors, but apparently again, the guys here do not know how to change correctly the injectors in a modern diesel engine car. The car started but there was diesel in the exhaust and after some time it wont start anymore. This was after we ran the diagnosis on the car and the error codes indicated that the injectors need changed. 8 still do feel it's the injectors but then before I try anything further I need to get someone that can do modern diesel engines.

I need help. I need to find someone in this country that understands this engine and that can fix this problem. The guys in lapido are advising that I change the engine to a petrol engine but I love this engine and it would be nice if I can have this fixed.

If you can point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it a lot. A brother needs help. Please do not hesitate to assist if you can. Thank you for your time.

Mlud: A real time review of diesel car ownership in NIG. We need more like this on this thread especially the challenges of running and maintaining the car daily.
@Eduu50 What are your real time comparisons with running a fairly similar petrol powered car?

Interesting choice of an Accord diesel. Any issues with the conversion from RHD being a Euro Accord? Any dash lights on?
Lots of suggestions about poor diesel quality. Has this been your experience?

Same car same capacity, the diesel clearly outclasses petrol in performance. I have asked colleagues that use similar cars on the same axis as meself and its fairly even, even though the diesel might just come out on top. This is my view though.

I have had the car for close too five months now, serviced twice and so far its been an experience. The guy did an excellent job with the conversion. The VSA warning light is ON though and I do not even know what to do about it. I have not had an issue with fuel quality, although I am quite choosy with fuel stations, I do feel its a known fact that diesel engines are more tolerant to variations in fuel quality.

If ever you own a diesel engine auto mobile, you would literallly laugh @ some of the coments here because they don't hold water and are chiefly based on here say. I drive an accord euro 2004 2.2 i-cdt 5 gear mannual transmission; very sweet ride. I must confess that I also had the same impression as most of the fellas here but all that has changed now. Got it converted from RHD to LHD and its been an awesome experience so far. If you are not told, there's not a chance that you will know its a diesel engine. I do believe that for most young ppl in Nigeria, in choosing to buy a car, you would want to get a good car and @ d same time not pay overly too much for both the purchase and maintenance, a diesel engine would fit that bill almost perfectly. For those of you that know lag well, I live in ajah, work in V.I. In a week, I spend 3k5h on diesel and just like Ikenna, my A.C is always on...now even @ 155/lit...dt completely outclasses a petrol engine anytime and anyday. Now that's with all the traffic on the road and stuff. You see I am a complete novice in technical car talk, mayb one day I will learn some of these things, but I don't need an aristotle to tell me that its very healthy for my pocket. It also makes a lot of sense to appreciate the fact that a diesel engine is more tolerant to variations in fuel quality when compared to gasoline. So even in Nigeria, where diesels is almost 50% more expensive than petrol, it still holds its own when it comes to economy. As for lack of reliable mechanics to handle the diesel engine, that's about the only argument that may hold some credibility but I do hear that there are some very good ones @ Ladipo. Ah! yes, I forgot to mention it earlier, the performance is top notch. 120km/hr @ 2rpm in the fifth gear, I mean...ds is d real deal! A Petrol engine cnt get that efficient.

@Sienna; @Ikenna....I don't know if its even remotely possible that you can maybe drop your email address, I need tips on some questions I wanna ask, please.

I would like to know how its going for

Thanks ‎​a lot. I appreciate your help. I get failure delivery report when I send mails to that email and the worse part is that I am not in Lagos at the moment.

I will appreciate any help here. It is deeply needed.
I applied for ‎ a job with Saipem Eni sometime in June last year and just yesterday I got ‎ a text msg from their HR manager that I have to send them ‎ a safety certification so I could be scheduled for an interview. The problem is that I have tried to send ‎ a reply via the email address that I used for the application but it returns failure delivery. I can't reply the text msg cos there is no number in it. The HOUR managers name is Dr. Uzo Joshua C. Please anybody that know how I can get in touch with him or anybody that can help me out in this situation I find myself in.
I have 48hrs to do something about it or have my file dumped.

What positions did u guys apply 4 Please reply o!!!!

I be like "I wanna be like that guy"

sad sad loss. He did his bit

so where is this advice?

With ASUU anouncing their indefinite strike, which from indications wont be ending soon, graduates waiting for their NYSC call up are going to get frustrated. Abeg make them do something.

Its a big pity, say everything wey we dey try do for this country na just copy copy. It has eaten very deep into our culture. Its even more terrible with the girls.