₦airaland Forum

PointB:
^^^
They need a facelift or people might actually start to believe that SW is indeed one big market for other zones.

My twenty kobo.

I disagree. Unless the roofs are a hazard or dangerous, then no logical sense in forcing anyone to facelift.

Beautiful homes are nice, but even more important is functional homes. Why should someone spend his limited dollars (or naira I guess) to satisfy someone else's fashion sense?

Regarding "people might actually start. . . ", what do we care? It honestly doesn't matter lol.

Gotta focus on what is important, not the irrelevant.

Anyway I've seen enough beautiful pictures of the SW on Skyscrapercity to realize that those who focus on homes built in the late 1800s or early 1900s have an agenda.

BTW, "one big market" is a the biggest compliment you could give the SW. Today one big market for Nigeria, but hopefully one big market for Africa and the world in general. This is the path to prosperity. . .

I thought that insertion sort ends up being faster on small lists? Like here where the list of size 10, I'm wondering if it won't be slightly faster in practice, despite being N^2 to Qsort's NlogN.

(For example if insertion sort is say  N^2 and Qsort is 10NlogN, then you go with insertion sort for small lists on a list of size 20, since 20^2=400 is smaller than 10*20*log2(20) ~ 864.)

Hrm, here is what Wikipedia has to say:

Optimizations
Two other important optimizations, also suggested by R. Sedgewick, as commonly acknowledged, and widely used in practice are:[6][7][8]

- To make sure at most O(log N) space is used, recurse first into the smaller half of the array, and use a tail call to recurse into the other.
- Use insertion sort, which has a smaller constant factor and is thus faster on small arrays, for invocations on such small arrays (i.e. where the length is less than a threshold t determined experimentally). This can be implemented by leaving such arrays unsorted and running a single insertion sort pass at the end, because insertion sort handles nearly sorted arrays efficiently. A separate insertion sort of each small segment as they are identified adds the overhead of starting and stopping many small sorts, but avoids wasting effort comparing keys across the many segment boundaries, which keys will be in order due to the workings of the quicksort process. It also improves the cache use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksort

I suspect that this Quicksort implementation used in Java detects small lists and just runs insertion sort on them. Would have to read this paper you mentioned to be sure, though.

Never heard of these guys before in my life. Then again, I'm not in this particular business.

$120 mil, not bad.

Nigeria: Maersk plans expansion in Lagos

Danish shipping and ports group AP Møller-Maersk is preparing to expand its terminal capacity in Lagos to meet rapidly growing Nigerian import volumes. APM Terminals (APMT) is considering a US$120 million proposal to develop land at its Apapa facility that could eventually be able to handle more than 1m teu a year. [/b]A final decision from corporate HQ in Copenhagen is expected by the end of the year, but local APMT executives in Nigeria are confident that the plan to enlarge the container stacking yard, invest in new equipment and improve the customs area will get the go-ahead. The investment would be part of a much larger commitment by AP Møller-Maersk to the West Africa trades, with the group already spending $2.5 billion on 22 ships purpose-built for this market, plus container equipment.

[b]“We are not here to make a fast profit, we are here for the long-run,” said Maersk Nigeria MD David Skov during a media visit to Lagos.

With half a dozen of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies in sub-Sahara Africa, Maersk has targeted the region as one of its key markets of the future. So far, six of the first 11 “wafmax” ships have been delivered, with the second series of 11 due in 2013. Two of the vessels will carry the name of sister company Safmarine, which also has a 30% allocation on all the new ships. These are both the first containerships designed specifically for West African ports, where the water depths are relatively shallow, and also the largest in the trade. They are replacing ships of around 2,500teu previously on Maersk Line’s FEWA2 loop between Asia and West Africa. Until now, the largest containerships Nigerian ports could handle were around 3,500teu, but the wafmax vessels, with a shallow draught but wide beam that allows for 17 rows of containers across their decks, are able to come into Apapa almost fully laden.

At the moment, some cargo has to be taken off in Walvis Bay, but very soon the wafmax ships should be able make their first call in Lagos once further dredging to a depth of 13.5 metres has been completed. IFW’s sister publication, Lloyd’s List, reports that plans to raise capacity at the Apapa facility,acquired by APMT in 2006, are being driven by a sharp rise in containerised cargo over the past year as demand recovers from the slump in 2009 when global box liftings shrank. The new ships, with their larger capacity and lower slot costs, have also enabled Maersk to grow its share of the Nigeria trades, with the total container market said to be up by 23% so far this year.

But there are also many impediments to trade, with roads in a dreadful state, no rail freight services and layers of bureaucracy all adding to distribution bottlenecks. However, the Nigerian government has responded to complaints by announcing a few days ago that the number of agencies allowed to inspect cargo in the ports will be cut from 14 to six within a couple of weeks. APMT Apapa, which expects to handle around 650,000teu this year, is effectively full, and the plan is to develop the final 20ha of the 55ha site which is used by lines such as Hapag-Lloyd and MOL, as well as Maersk and Safmarine.

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=87792

anonymous6:
not sure but I doubt it but when I found out it was in Ibadan, I was surprised. The place looks beautiful

Indeed. Hopefully I'll get the chance to visit it someday soon.

htajz:
southwest have less population density therefore greener , op u be olodo oo but wats with the rusty rickety houses all over southwest

Very old homes. Many of these SW cities (Ibadan for example) were founded in the 1800s, just to give you a sense of how much older they are than cities say in the SE or SS.

Very interesting thread.

Regarding this:

nagoma:
Obviously the southerners who were not in touch with any civilization and were living a primitive life as recently as the 18th and 19th centuary are now having the last laugh. The changes in the world , the industrial revolution and movement of the focus of civilization to the West means that people who have some conflicting heritage to defend are at a great disadvantage and at a loss unless they realize that the world has moved on. This is where the North got stuck. They think (or at least there masses think they have a heritage of civilization to protect).
As for the south , in the majority do not really have any strong civilization to protect and were able to accept in totality all that is western - the religion, the clothing, the drinks,the education, the way of life and infact almost all of them(southern Nigerians) aspire to migrate to the West if they can make it. It is a great ambition in their lives.

This Northern disadvantage is aggravated by the lack of leadership in the north and in the country and also world order that appears to be persecutory to muslims. This does not give an atmosphere for northern masses to crave for western education. Money does not come into it.

There are some elements of truth in it.

Being insular about your culture and not willing to learn from the West made both China and Japan weak. Until they eventually got strong leaders who realized that their previous policies weren't working.

Anyone who is not willing to adapt to the realities of the world we live in puts themselves at a huge disadvantage. And unfortunately, you all in the North haven't quite managed the transition successfully.

Also, you've neglected to mention that the economic importance of those Sahara trade routes that the Hausa benefited from have diminished, and now most of the trade volume on earth arrives by sea. This is another pretty big disadvantage you've had to deal with, I think.

I disagree with your assessment of "primitive life" in the 18th and 19th century though. At least, I don't see what evidence you have for that. . . at least regarding Yorubaland.

Any good fishing in that IITA lake?

Interesting.

As civilians, the wise thing to do is to leave until things cool down.

If it is cowardice for ordinary folk not to fight armed militants, then I suppose 99.9% of people are cowards.

However, if this becomes a recurring thing then this strategy is not going to be effective.

Interesting

poor woman

Interesting.

Your link doesn't work for me though.

SW is almost certainly greener.

What is it, 3X the land area or so? But 1/2 the population density.

Implying more virgin bush still available, and thus overall greener.

djustice:
It's common knowledge that Asiwaju has maintained at least three sets of killer squads for some time now. One led by a certain senior policeman who is the son of a late prominent oddball cleric. The other is usually led by NURTW senior officials, and the third is a group of Israeli mercenaries posing as security consultants.

It's also common knowledge that Tinubu's long held ambition has been to be referred to as the Leader of the Yorubas. He knew that with the likes of Bola Ige around, and empowered as a Minister, that was going to be a tall order. The only option left to him was his murder.

If he could kill H.I.D. Awolowo too, he would have done it, over Tribune's refusal to join the rest of the southwest media in licking his Bottom. Knowing Tinubu, he's probably waiting for things to quiet down, so that when she dies, it can be attributed to natural causes, since his spat with her would have been forgotten.

So he killed Obasanjo's minister of justice? And either OBJ was completely unaware or unable to prove this, or for whatever other reason didn't lift a finger? 

So Tinubu can execute top government officials in the PDP and was able to do this as far as 2001. And is able to do this without being touched by anyone.

Then either he is some sort of god, evil spirit, or has access to strong magic/witchcraft (obviously not possible.)

Or you guys have ascribed powers/abilities to him that are very implausible for him to have.

Next we will hear that he killed Jesus. That he assasinated Abraham Lincoln. That he was best friends with Hitler and Stalin. That he is connected to Joker, Batman's primary nemesis:
https://www.newhotstuff.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/joker2.jpg


All of these things (Tinubu killing Jesus, best pals with Hitler) are as plausible.

In my opinion, let's keep things as REALITY-based as possible, please. No reason to be mixing fantasy and cartoons with politics.

That is pretty nifty, @omo_to_dun.

Very much correct that you can search over square roots rather than squares. And your hashing-like approach to testing that each number is contained in the set {0,, 9} is much cheaper than sorting.

So quite a bit faster than the original.

(Side comment: Isn't bubblesort really, really bad? Even if you want to use a slow N^2 sort, I thought you were supposed to use insertion sort, since it has better behavior [both better theoretical constants and better performance in the real world.] Also, does anyone know if bubblesort or insertion sort is actually faster in practice for a list of size 10? What do the Java libraries use on small lists?)

oyb, you are on a roll man

logic1:
@ekt_bear
I doubt that Ogun state has the capacity to do anything.
At most, they'll probably just give the students state recognition and some money which will most likely disappear within a few years.

I think it's up to us as citizens to fix our problems through enterprise and economic and political activism!

A lot of posts on the thread at https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-764430.0.html will get us started as a nation on the path towards greatness!

Ogun could help them with power, if they are on gen. Build an IPP, wire them up to it. Easier to program if you aren't afraid of NEPA taking light in the middle you writing

However, there is one advantage the developing world does have over the first.

Cost of labor!

This is where you can potentially win big, even despite paying more for internet access, and other increased expenses.

A good programmer at one of the elite companies (e.g. Facebook) earns like $110k a year. Plus healthcare, benefits, etc. Factoring in all these benefits I wouldn't be surprised if Fbook was spending roughly $200k/head per programmer.

If one of these kids can deliver 70% of the value of your typical guy at an elite firm, but you only have to pay him $30k or $40k/year, then obviously there is a lot of potential for value.

logic1:
The pertinent question is how we can convert the programming skills of those students into a viable enterprise.

Converting software development into an enterprise requires serious business skills especially in a terrain like Nigeria

Indeed. Even in the first world, finding a good idea/killer app is really hard. And then in the Nigerian setting, you have to deal with inconsistent power supply, expensive high-speed internet access, etc.

But from what I've seen/observed, the second biggest constraint (after good ideas) is manpower. Quality manpower, that is. Sharp guys who can turn your ideas into reality.

Anyway, my hope is that the Ogun State government is paying attention.

Bawss1:
Nairalanders easily confuse calls for developing one's regions as tribalism. It's a regular and erroneous occurrence.

Abi o

I'm seeing dollar signs, a chance to bring hard currency from abroad into Nigeria. A chance to create jobs and growth. Others are seeing tribalism.

There is a piece of software I downloaded recently to make my life easier for a little side project I'm working on. Something called JRebel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JRebel).

Evidently it is developed/owned by some software team in Estonia. Think about what this company is doing for the economy of the town they are based in? Selling software to the US/Europe/etc and bringing hard cash to be spent in Estonia.

Anybody with sense would want the same to develop in his town/land, if possible.

And given the performance of Bells and Covenant, two universities in one town, it looks like it might be very much possible in Ogun State. At least, assuming the governor can figure out how to provide them regular power supply.

What am I tribalizing? I've made no mention of tribe or ethnicity. For all I know all the students on both teams were Igbo or Hausa.

I don't know and i don't care. What I do care about is that Ogun State now potentially has an opportunity on its hands. The same way Silicon Valley contributes massively to the CA economy, same way the tech companies centered around UT Austin contribute massively to the local economy, Ogun State needs to capitalize on the (high quality) human resource it has.

If I move back to Nigeria and it turns out all these kids are Igbo but they are amazing programmers, you think I'll let tribalism get in the way of me making lots of money? I'll hire them and we'll get to work.

And yes, the school probably has little to do with the student's being amazing. But that isn't really important either. Some way some how, Bells has collected a bunch of students who seem to do the best at these competitions.

What would be wonderful is if we could build a tech hub in the SW the same way they've done in Silicon Valley (and a few other cities like Boston, Austin, Seattle, etc.)

I hope whoever is the relevant authority in the Ogun State government on technology is paying attention and trying to figure out how to nurture and support these two institutions.

Would be great to see a startup/technology culture bloom in Ogun.

Was FUT Minna's performance in this a fluke?

Or is it generally a pretty good school at this type of stuff?

Anyone knowledgeable who can provide some insight?

Hrm. So both Bells and Covenant in the top 3.

Both in Ota.

If this power situation can be sorted out in Ogun State/SW, then it looks like there is suitable manpower for anyone looking to start a software company (or open an office/branch for his existing company.)

Interesting stuff.

19 Oct 2011
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First Prize winners and students of The Bells University, Ota, Ogun State, holding their certificates, with their Vice-Chancellor (second row), Prof. Isaac Adeyemi, left; Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike; the Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i; Director General, National Mathematical Centre, Prof. Sam Ale; with other officials, at the presentation of medals and certificates to winners of the Nigerian Universities Computer Programming Contest in Abuja…Monday


From Bukola Olatunji in Abuja

The Bells University of Technology Ota, Ogun State, has won this year’s Nigeria Universities/Polytechnics Computer Programming Contest, organised by the National Mathematical Centre (NMC).


It beat the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna and Covenant University, Ota to second and third places respectively, out of the 21 universities and polytechnics that participated in the competition. They were required to answer five algorithm questions in four hours.


Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, who decorated the winners with their medals, said, congratulated them and the organisers, saying, she would like to see every university offering Computer Science or related courses embracing the contest in subsequent editions.


Director-General of NMC, Prof. Sam Ale, explained that the Association of Computing Machinery Internal Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC) is an annual multi-tiered computer programming competition, which began in 1970 at the Texas A & M University, for teams from the United States and Canada.


It has since grown to become a worldwide event, sponsored by IBM, headquartered at Baylor University and with autonomous regions on six continents. No fewer than 88 countries participated in the competition in 2008, a year after Nigeria joined the fold.
He appealed for more financial support from government and the private sector to keep the competition going, a request that was granted by the minister.


Vice Chancellor of the Bells, Prof. Isaac Adebayo Adeyemi expressed satisfaction that his institution has been among the top three in the country in the last four years. It came third in 2008 and second in 2009. The two teams it presented last year also came first and second.


“This is an indication of the quality of teaching and materials available to our students, the discipline and dedication of the students and their innate ability to deliver because this goes beyond their class work. While congratulating contestants in this year’s event, Ale expressed sadness that no Nigerian team has qualified for the finals of the world event. It is also a testimony that the decision to have private universities is a good one”, the Vice-Chancellor said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/bells-wins-computer-programming-contest/100844/

Why can't the roads be fixed in my lifetime? 

It shouldn't take more than a couple of decades to have great roads if one sets it as a priority, let alone a lifetime 

@Eko Ile: Got it, thanks.

Anyway, between the desertification in the north, erosion in the east, flooding all over the country, and climate change globally, I think any sane SWer should be for planting as many trees as possible and protecting the trees that exist. Definitely not a scientist with expertise in this area, but from what I know it can only help.

We shouldn't have to wait for disaster to strike before we act.

Hmm.

This landslide/erosion stuff, has it always been a problem in the east? Or is it more recent? Perhaps a product of climate change, destruction of trees?

100 years ago were landslides common? Or even 50 years. Anyone know (Nchara maybe)?