₦airaland Forum

asha 80:
it is a nationwide thing.it is just that the effect on the north(desert encroachment) is higher.the east also suffers from an effect(erosion)

We do it a lot in my village too. But as you say, the penalties in the north and SE for doing this are higher. Maybe it doesn't hurt us in the SW due to lower pop density? I'm not sure.

If the Feds in the US were unable to jail Tinubu, I doubt GEJ will be able to either.

Jailtime is pretty much extremely unlikely, imo.

Intrepid!:
Please, how do I become a militant?

GEJ needs to cut the OPC boys a check too

asha 80:
why not?import everything afterall we like it like that.if only electricity is constant electric cooker will do the trick.

Another thing I wonder about. What exactly is the effect of our moribund power supply on desertification in the north? If electricity were 24/7, wouldn't less trees being chopped down and thus the desert be less able to encroach? I dunno, just a thought.

Long story short though, northerners need to stop chopping down trees.

Why exactly is firewood the preferred source of fuel for cooking in the north? Why not kerosene or something else?

I guess that the market price of firewood is just lower than that of other energy sources? 

February 26, 2011 10:26AM

The Kaduna State government plans to introduce improved firewood stoves to reduce the quantity of firewood used for domestic cooking.

The Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Zakariya Shamaki, disclosed this on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.

Mr Zakariya said the move is part of efforts to protect the environment and that the stoves will help to reduce the rate of tree felling in the state. According to him, predictions indicate that global warming will be extreme this year, noting that Kaduna State will not be spared of its effects.

He said that the stoves were constructed for users’ convenience and they will use less firewood for cooking.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5679797-146/kaduna_to_import_improved_firewood_stoves.csp#

^-- We shall see. I wouldn't count Tinubu out. In some ways, he is just as lucky as GEJ is. And certainly a lot more wily.

Bring out the popcorn folks, this should be entertaining.

Unfortunate. Seemed like a good guy. Hopefully he resurfaces under a new name.

It will be interesting to see who wins this battle between Tinubu and GEJ.

^-- I am in no way shape or form pro-North. Lol. Never in 1 million years. I'm a SW dude through and through. But I've always thought it important to understand what motivates the other side (or sides in this case, since Nigeria has so many factions. . .)

Also, nowhere have I discussed morality in any of this; evil done out of fear is as bad as evil done out of hate, envy, etc. But morality isn't what I'm discussing, mostly motivation.

naijaking1:
Wow!
Why are you talking about being ruled and dominated when we're just talking about offering jobs to your fellow countryman. You paid a young medical doctor graduate 20,000 those days and he's happy, but that's not what happens. They go hire questionably qualified Indian doctors for 60,000. They are able to dish out the 60,000, because they had recieved money from the federal purse from the oil of the south, and yet you refuse to hire southerners. Does that make sense, the system definitely wouldn't hold for too long.

I'm not supporting the Northern policy. I'm just explaining why it makes sense, from their perspective. Throughout history, when you give a foreign group mastery over an important part of your land, it then becomes an opening for that foreign group to then own you.

You look through the history of Nigeria, the North has always been hesitant to unite with the South. Why? That is the question you have to ask yourself. It isn't any sort of hatred. It is fear of being dominated. Fear of being numerically overwhelmed. Those hollow northern population #s are a part of it.

Why do you think they delayed independence for Nigeria? What of all this "develop at our own pace" stuff? Why do you think after the countercoup, Murtala Mohamed wanted to secede and declare an Arewa Republic, but had to be talked out of it by the British? Can you imagine gaining mastery over a country, and then seceding with your own poor part of the country?  If I were in that position, I'd seek to rule all of it.

Their actions make no sense. Until you think about what motivates them. It is fear, plain and simple.

I feel like dude hasn't posted in at least a good month.

What happened to him?

*shrug*

I'm not the one who put in place a unitary government. I'm not the one who introduced coups into the Nigerian landscape.

It was your leaders who made the Nigeria of the 70s, 80s, 90s and thus today possible.

As they say. . . "they that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind."

Don't blame me for the whirlwind you have created. Most of the rules of this game we play were created by you, not I  

Funny that now you want to change the rules of the game and need assistance to do it. Anyway, I'd be happy to do this. . . at a price. Nothing comes for free 

No, it should not. Often times things end up much worse when the US intervenes.

Coolabbie:
If it were d Ooni of Ife, he wuld hv given d minister a chieftaincy title.

Well done, Oba of Benin.

seanet02:
thank God M.C Ajuluchukwu and Effiong are ibos. They simply take ojukwu to the cleaners. Didnt M.C Ajuluchukwu said zik conspire against AWOLOWO? Funny ibos. Always beating about the bush. RABBITS

Link to this?

Anyway, the way Nigeria was set up with the 3 individual regions, it sort of makes sense that you'd conspire to weaken your neighbor. It wasn't like Nigeria was founded with the leadership of each respective region as best friends

Contrast this with the founding of the US, where the 13 colonies fought a war to gain independence and to a large extent the leadership was on the same page.

I have nothing to add to this discussion other than saying that the Gambian president certainly has fashion sense.

Onlytruth:
This is the view of a thoroughly educated Yoruba man. 
Shocking beyond words.

The words are very simple to understand. That you don't understand them shows you've not thought at all about the issues.

eku_bear, please why do you bother to attack Igbos who want out of Nigeria?
You don't do it overtly, you always do side attacks and think that we don't see it.

*shrug* I'm not the roadblock to Igbos leaving Nigeria. Those who believe in the territorial integrity of Nigeria and African countries are the ones you'll have to struggle against. And they are legion, both within Africa and outside of it.

You are tilting at windmills.

Dede1:
Of course, such incoherent rant from A Bello will make sense to you. If the crap was allegedly said by Zik, you would have gone into shock.

Be objective. Do you want your own region ruled and dominated by outsiders? Xenophobia is not a new thing on this planet.

If you consider how hollow the population #s of the north are likely to be, then why on earth would they be keen on tons of immigrants from the south? Do that and you end up like the Native Americans did.

Survival must take priority over political correctness, imo.

Interesting.

dude is not thinking clearly. . . say no to gov't handouts

SEFAGO:
Yep easily.

I didn't know that.

Not bad pay inmarketing or HR, well anyways everything in life is not about money but having a passion for what you do.

Eh, if money is not your objective, then major in whatever you like. I think most people if they think about it will go for money, though.

Personally I would love to be a rapper, but societal pressure and expectations affect my future aspirations.

Lol. Can you rap for real?

Well thats because engineering might be also hard. Some engineering jobs are not limited to engineers and physicist and chemistry can also work as engineers after a year of training.

At top eng firms?  I dunno about that.

No mediocre student regardless of major gets McK, Goldman or MS (though the students who get jobs at MS or Goldman are not necessarily intelligent, maybe a bit above average in the intelligent group but yes on McK).

Also bros u dey play wuruwuru, engineering companies are less focussed on GPA and more on work experience and coops and getting a mediocre GPA in engineering is not even easy. Engineering is supposed to be hard (So I have heard though from the little I know of it, it seems like easy peasy to me).

My overall point is that:
A) you can be a mediocre GPA engineering student and still get a high-paying job (I know plenty of kids who did this.)
B) For most other degrees, this is not the case. 3.0 in sociology => not much better job than flipping burgers
C) If you are a high gpa engineering student, you can get the sweet finance/consulting gigs too.

However, you can live a fulfilled life without studying medicine, engineering or law

I'm not saying it is impossible. But for my own kids/loved ones, I'd suggest that they focus on things like that. If my son also has a fascination for Russian language? Take that as a 2nd major. Loves math/physics? 2nd major (unless he is an IMO gold/silver medalist-caliber brain in HS, in which case he can major in math/phys as his only degree.)  But do something concrete for first degree.

SEFAGO:
Finance, consulting, Human resources, publishing company, sales rep, marketing tons of stuff. If the student  is connected and na oyibo they can even land private equity sef. I think as Africans we take the safe approach instead of the risky ones. We dont like to try new things, just taking the same path which kind of clogs the pipe.

Sociology majors in finance? Consulting yes, that is open to everyone. How much do HR, and those latter careers you mention pay? Probably crap salary.

No you dont need to. You could still study pure mathematics and get a job on wallstreet. Infact if you study pure mathematics or physics at a top 15 school and have a GPA of over 3.5 every BB and consultancy firm will be fighting for you. Most people who study mathematics have an easier time getting into finance than business or finance majors. Mathematicians are highly sought after especially in sales and trading.

Most people I know who major in math end up in finance. I even know a kid who did biology and ended up in one of the best boutique firms in finance (in a more desirable position than IBD). The guy had published two papers by hthe time in his junior year.

In naija it is very different. Yes better study engineering or medicine if u wanna survive sha.

Fine, but these are jobs available to every major, not just math/physics students. Anyway, if you are a pure math/physics kid at a top school with a good gpa and some CS courses, you can also work at an elite company like Google, FBook or Microsoft. Thing about engineering is that you can have a mediocre gpa (e.g., 3.0ish) and still get a nice job. I dunno any mediocre GPA mathematicians or physicists who get McK, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, etc.

SEFAGO:
But then again I have more anecdotes about mediocre mathematicians getting really good jobs especially in actuary and pulling in lots of dough.

Hrm, maybe. The mediocre math dudes I knew ended up being teachers. Or programmers at mediocre companies.

Ileke-IdI:
$65k . . .$50 k. . . tomatoh tomatah. How exactly is $65 really a good salary. Think of student loans. . . .and other school expenses.

Na wa o. The difference is huge. Student loans and stuff is a sunk cost anyway, so not relevant for this comparison.

By my 10th yr at work, I want to make over $200k. I know so much ppl and career experiences. My roomy who is just 18, doesnt go to school, works as a manager for a big company and makes $5k-9k/MONTH. So really, I think I'm wasting my time and money on all these enger, medicine, lawyer hallabalu  

What type of company? Is she a stripper?  

Anyway, just because you have some lucky friend doesn't mean you can leave things to luck yourself, imo. Major in something solid and real.

Anywaz, the major I really dont get is "Mathematics" and Statistics. Why?

You can get wall street jobs if you take some business/econ on the side. I actually don't know what sorts of jobs those guys do, to be honest.

SEFAGO:
Yeah maybe or maybe not.

The issue here is that most Nigerian parents will force their kids into medicine even if the kid is as dumb as a brick because they believe medicien would provide a better future for him or her. They cannot see how studying international relations could ever be useful or political science believing such a person would remain jobless. I see this like everyday lol.

Things like international relations, poli sci only make sense if you are going to Harvard or the equivalent. There, you can major in whatever the F you want and still come out fine. You can also major in that if you want to go to law school.

If you don't satisfy either of the above conditions, then you'd better prepare for poverty after college.

Parents know how much things pay from hearing from their friends and acquaintances. How do you expect a recent Nigerian immigrant to say the US or Europe to have a more solid grasp of what pays and how the system works relative to their kids. Most Nigerian parents in the US for example might not know or understand that a Sociology major at say Duke might have better opportunities than an engineering major at say a very good engineering school like UT Austin.

What on earth can a Duke sociology major do but go to law/medical school? Please, enlighten me.

To whom lol? A lot of engineers are now working as contractors and cannot find jobs. Most developed economies are outsourcing their engineering fwork to other countries and most engineers have to be versatile. Engineering is definitely not seen as prestigious- maybe to Nigerians yes but the field is dying a slow and painful death.

If you are a crappy engineer, yes. But if you don't suck, you'll do well. Long story short, I strongly disagree with the above paragraph.

fstranger3:
Well like law, engineering salary depends on the school reputation and locality. You cant expect a grad from say Florida to make as much as someone from college park.    .     . who born the maga.

No way, depends on who recruits at your school. If Hewlett-Packard or Shell is recruiting and they are looking for Entry Level blah, there is a fixed pay scale. Doesn't matter which school you go to.

The problem of course is that the elite firms tend not to hire from lesser schools.

Also, is UF much worse than College Park? Somehow I thought differently.

fstranger3:
Nursing. Ridiculous money for a very stupidd group of people!

Cant stand them

BSN, right? How much do they get paid? Man, don't diss nursing like that, this is how most illegal Nigerians end up getting papers and sending money back home to Nigeria. I've nothing but respect for that field.

Ileke-IdI:
A first yr engineer grad student with masters gets about $50k/yr.
After many many many years of service, an engineer can get atmost $100k. And most of the engineers with that salary usually have their doctorate.

To be an engineer in America, you must really love what you do. The pay sucks. My advisor constantly told me not to go in for the salary, that if we dont enjoy the major, we should switch asap. I quickly switched to gymnastic. Glory be to God in the highest.

No way. What sort of engineering only pays $50k out of college Environmental, maybe? Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, etc at top firms you'll earn 65. My buddy from college finished his bachelors and masters in 4 years, got an offer for 75 or so straight out.

Take a look at this pay scale for Chemical:
http://www1.salary.com/Chemical-Engineer-I-Salary.html

Seems pretty in line with what I've seen.