I applied for the MPNP EOI and had a score of 572 in the SWO stream. I understand that the last draw had a cutoff at 731. What can I do to improve my score. I already have a family tie, IELTS of S8,L8,R7, W6 and MSc. imputed to give me my present point. I need some quick help, please

@wilfem
it's a pleasure.

Obviously, someone does not seem to like the ideas enumerated in my post and that's probably why it has been deleted. Well, my points are no secrets to many and it will be needless re-stating them. I have carefully avoided mentioning some other grave issues so I don't end up killing the dream of the company (which I even acknowledged their ingenuity in some areas) or lowering the morale of the already enthustiatic Marketing Executives. Well, like they say, "it is well, even in the well". Best of luck everyone!

Mr. Pataki,

let me start with the non-issue before getting on to the issues. You referred to me as a JJC; you need to check my profile to see that I joined the forum about a-month-and-a-half before you, and if your reference is to Christ, then it shows a degree of emptiness because with Christ, there are no first comer, no JJC. Come to think of it, JJCs in Christ will not be exalted by your post.

Now to issues: A christian with the spirit of God dwelling in him will know for sure when he is going wrong. I am a christian and I don't see anything wrong with this like several other christian have also expressed - that is not to put your christianity in doubt but of course to create an opportunty for like minds to reason together.

Well, since you demanded to know how this could serve as a work of salvation, I will cite an instance that just comes handy. There are people who visit this forum but will never have anything to do with the 'Religion Corner'. The title of the topic could attract such and while they are still on it, they may find a link to another topic and another and another until God gets his message across. God cannot be boxed in; he is not stereotypic; he likes to do things in very unique ways. I want to thank God for the poster, moreso, that he expressed his intention was never to mock God but to make people laugh. For as many, whose post on this topic falls in line with the intention of the poster, they have done well and should not be condemned in any way.

Mr. Patakipatako, talking about edification, I have been edified. There is a fun-side to life and God is pleased when you worship him even with things as simple as this. The gospel that have been preached here is that there is a great fun in christianity, afterall; and if you care to know this is capable of bringing hopes to the lives of many. No mockery is being made here, since both churches and banks are both the product of God through man.

So my people, to rev it up what will be the currency notes of these churches:

i think N1,000.00 note will be holiness as that is the highest denomination
N20.00 will be prosperity, it is shiny and attractive and in fact every bank has it

Perhaps, you will be able to figure out the rest.

I am not against beautiful churches; extravagant and expensive churches are the ones I consider unnecessary. 'Moderation' is the word that summarises my thought on an ideal church building.

Are you sure you even have a case here and are not arguing stupidly here

@kobojunkie:

Well, I want note the use of your words without taking an offence. It just helps to appreciate from what side of the fence you are coming from.

Thanks for making those Bible quote: I would have thought that is enough to prove to you that resident in the lives of those you call stupid lies the wisdom of God.

Since it is obvious that you have a communication deficiency, it definitely will not be worth it to make any further comments in your direction.

In order not to turn this into an argument, I must clearly state that I am not against a decent church but an expensive church is unnecessary.

If God has blessed you so much that you deem it necessary to build a big church, build it, there are blessings that go with it. Canaan land of Winners' Chapel for example was built because the people realised that it will be better not to constitute nuisance in the name of worshipping God by blocking the roads impassable for the commuters. For those familiar with their location at Raji Oba, it was obvious it could no longer contain the worshippers. Is Canaan land expensive? No. The leader minimised the cost as much as it was possible, no foreign expatriate was used throughout the duration of the project (100% Nigerian Content), there are no sophisticated and extravagant decorations, no split ACs in the auditorium. Could they afford it? Yes! But they have made a choice to rather affect their world than invest in trivialities.

Whatever you may have to say about the church, they stand out clearly as a church who understands that extravagance displayed by expensive churches can only be for self aggrandisement. For all of you who probably know the Bible more than I do, did we not read that we should do all things in moderation.

If God was not interesting in the places where we gather together to worship Him, then it would not matter that people gather at a graveyard or public toilet to do the same, abi?

If that was a question, the answer will simply be that it doesn't matter. You perhaps have heard of testimonies of people who have locked themselves up in toilet just to take time out to pray. And did God answer them? Yes!

It will be nice to have some missionaries narate their experiences, then you will appreciate that it doesn't really matter. Needless to say that it's because you have peace that you are looking for a decent place before you can serve God, those at war will definitely worship God without minding the location - graveyard or wherever

@kobojunkie

It will appear you know both the written and unwritten words of God. I just want to cite 2 instances and you can go ahead and fill in the gap whether or not they were called foolish, stupid or whatever.
1. The poor widow who was about eating the last meal before meeting the prophet
2. Lazarus the poor servant

Fortunately, God is not man, that is why he will confound the wisdom of men with the foolishness of the world.

@mekaboy
It may interest you to know that God ever since He has sent His son Jesus Christ to the world, is not interested in houses made by men but that made of men. And that is why you cannot beat Him, He is God. I say this with all the emphasis I can muster, the church you build does not affect God, it just helps the ego of the people who built it.

The main is this. God makes no provisions for weak minded people to continue in their stupidity

@Kobojunkie
It's very unfortunate that you have decided to use such a derogatory word as 'stupid" for the people whom God has SOLELY come for. I think that reveals a flaw in the manner you think about fellow christians. So then, where is the love. Jesus Christ came for those you have described as weak-minded and perennially stupid.

I encourage people to give freely for anything to promote the work of God but God cannot be helped, rather than trying to help God, he is our helper. Remember the bible record of the man who tried in assisting God by helping in preventing the ark from falling. Our church building does not in anyway bring him up or down, remember he is the God that does not change. God when on earth expressed his mind when he said: it is His meat (work) to do the will of his father and that is to bring more souls to God.

It is good to give to the Lord for any purpose at all but it will be better if you really know what God wants from you. If you have read the Bible very well, you will realise where God places the premium the most.

dantanee:

Being a millionaire depend on your geographical location. Let me give you account of an experience I had in 1998. In 1998 I went on a business trip to Cotonou, Benin Republic.Infact it was my first internatonal trip.After settling the Nigeria Security personnel at the border to allowed me cross to the other Republic. Finally I was able to cross onto the soil of Benin Republic, there drama stated from across the border. I was adviced to at least changed meagre sum of money from naira to Cefa for transportation purposes. As a first timer, I brought out whole sum of One Thousand Naira, Yes! whole sum of One Thousand Naira because, what i got in returned was far beyond my expectation. You know when you are expecting some thing like Two Thousand Cefa for One Thousand Naira and got Ten Thousand Cefa For Only One Thousand Naira it shocking and overwhelming. There I took a bike to Tokpa Market, On the bike I started some Calculation to see how much the total sum of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira I had will amount to if Changed to Cefa.Unbelievable I was a Millionaire in another man's Land. Even though i was there for few hours business transaction, I bought more than I needed, I ate in the best Restaurant and above all I was a millionaire in Benin Republic.

You have only succeeded in becoming a millionaire in your dream. You will need to have your money (which is about $1,000.00) in 1,000 places to qualify to become a millionare irrespective of the location. A millionaire MUST be worth at least $1,000,000.00 not naira, not cefa, not rand, not yen not even euro or pounds.

We need to get something right, there is a difference between a big church and an expensive church. For an illustration, a church with a congregation of 1,000 people will logically need more space and consequently more money to build a church than that with a 20-man congregation. But when a 20-man congregation church now builds a church that cost even more than that which is required for 1000-man congregation church, then it is expensive.

For the person who gave the example of Winners' Chapel Calabar - I do not really know about that particualar church but if it is the standard of most of the Winner Chapel (Lagos, PH, Ibadan, Ilorin) then it is not an expensive church. As a matter of fact, anything a little less than that would have made mockery of christianity. I have attended the RCCG Camp and I don't think it falls in the category of an expensive church.

The problem is when a church decides to class itself such that it becomes inaccessible to all, then it is bad. You can have a club for rich people, an estate for rich people but a church of Gosd is for all. so if the church is built in such a way that the only time they see the poor is when they want to give handouts to some selected beneficiaries in motherless homes, prisons etc., then it is not a church.

Even God knows that there will always be the poor among us and that is why in constructing the earth, he didn't construct another earth for the poor.

@999,

Rightly said, our pocket is not ours but the Lord. If that holds true, then why don't we use what is God for God's own purposes rather than self-aggrandizing ostentatious purposes. I dare to challenge anyone to prove to me if Jesus will prefer to embark on a N50,000,000.00 altar design in the face of corruption that knows no bound, poverty that eats too hard and all the confusion, fear and diseases that are abound. The point here is that priorities are misplaced. I maintain that Jesus would have built the best altar in the world if that was a priority in God's agenda.

It is hard to say, but the truth must be said. All those exhorbitance are not directed to honour God but to make men feel good.

God is not human and so doesnt need the same things we need. He needs our hearts not our pockets!

I agree with you completely.

Most people have equated their ambitions to God's purpose. If magnificient buildings are that much of a priority, God , when he came to dwell with man in the form of man (Jesus) would have built an historical edifice. Go and check the records the only church he built is still being built with you and me. So who then are we trying to impress? God? Definitely no!

Although I am not one that can be described as a bible efiko but I will just want to make some brief comments on some of the loud contributions made so far.

Solomon: The Bible record of Solomon has been well punctuated with a lot of extremeness; the wives, money, buildings etc. It will not be out of place to actually describe him as a lunatic, little wonder he asked for wisdom which is what he obviously lacked. Now shifting back to the centrum of the issue at hand, God was definitely impressed that not even all the wisemen of the world thought it right to give him the kind of honour a lunatic like Solomon did. I do not know about him forcefully taking money, he earned his money, realised it was vanity and gave the best part of it to honour God. I am sure if you wer God you will also be impressed. Imagine if our President who is worth less than a billion decide to single-handedly build a house for God worth say 1/2billion.

Rich men worshipping in posh places: One of the things christianity teaches is humility, if you cannot co-habit with other christians just because they are poor, then I am careful to say that you are not a christian. If the purpose of building beautiful churches is to afford one a good ambience for worshipping, then one is selfish. It will be better if you get to a bamboo church and have compassion that on the people for worshipping under a deplorable condition; and in a bit to help decide to build a house for God that will be comfortable not only for you but for every other person and perhaps identify other churches and repeat the same.

The church definitely does not need a 1million naira christmas tree decoration to preach the gospel neither does it need a 15oC controlled-environment at least not in the face of extreme penury of the people. Let's honour God by putting smiles on the faces of the people.

Nigerians and their own way of defining things!!!

A millionaire in Japan, France, Great Britain, United States, Nigeria or any other place in the world is a person whose material wealth is valued at more than a million dollars. Millionaire is an English word and don't even try to 'pidginise' it. There is no exception to the rule. If your net asset cannot be valued to be $1million dollars then you are not a millionaire. Therefore in Naira terms, a millionare will be someone who is presently worth N127,000,000.00. shikena!!!!

@uk peeps

It will appear that most of you grew up with people who are famished, beggarly and maybe you were once doing the same but now levels have changed and you can no longer cope with their subaltern position. I wonder if you go tell every tom, dick and harry your number, i wonder how just one person will claim to receive 20 calls a day from different people, all with the intention of begging if the person was never like them (birds of a feather, , ).

Beyond my wonder, i have this to say that to some of us, travelling to uk is not really success but it will appear that all the people you seem to know sees you as a success just because you travelled to the uk. What happens to the saying that real success always have a successor, why don't you just help someone and I really mean someone and let the world around you feel your impact.

Stingy to your friends, your siblings, your parents and even yourself and you say it is not easy over here and that's why it aint  really getting easy!!!

Intersting thread.

I really will like to agree a bit with the notion of the poster (based on popular sentiments alone) but the truth is that I really haven't asked anybody (except my uncle) for anything and I really won't be able to judge anyone as stingy or not. At the time I asked my uncle (very close uncle), the idea was that he should get me a laptop probably one that he is not using anymore for my project. He replied and confirmed he was in a position to get me a new one as it wasn't really expensive getting it from there but that was the best I heard from him. The rest were stories: it's either he is having a problem shipping it, or he has some other things he will be shipping in and I should expect it soon or his friend should be coming home soon,

Anyway, I have since learnt my lessons - it's been almost a decade now and I can tell you the laptop has cease to be an issue to me. As a matter of fact I think I can even afford to buy for people (don't mind me on this one, just bragging). More importantly, I did my project then without my own personal computer and it was still one of the best. Since then, whenever i feel the urge to ask for a thing, what comes to my mind is that if I can get by my project without my uncle's laptop, I can get by without begging anybody irrespective of where you abode (uk, usa or even mars).

As for friends, when my friends step out of the country they are out for good. I don't need their calls, what for? Let them be o jare. Except for emails, I don't even ask them for their phone numbers, I only have their numbers when they deem it fit. & Why will I beg from my friend who we were probably brought into this world about the same time - does he have two heads? I am sure the reasons why some uk people have been running their mouth without caution is not unconnected with the opprobrious manner some native nigerians present themselves. I give my friends a challenge anytime they come around so much so that some wish they can stay back.

Let them keep getting stingy, na them sabi

Once. Of course i did it myself and scored 248, i wouldn't have risked trading what I know and dabble into the uncertainty of an hurriedly prepared expo. Moreso, as at then, I was not really street-sharp enough to get me the expos as it was only the bigger boys that could access it. Well, my score was just good enough to get me a placement into the Chemical Engineering Department, on the concession list, though. Graduated, working and definitely have not bothered thinking about JAMB until I came across this post.

we were not fighting
i was only admiring myself in the mirror and i asked him do you think i hav eth ebody of a 2- year old and he said yes i do ( which hurts cosi know i don't )

then he said but your face looks old ,

and that was it

i have never been so hurt

so hurt i had to bring it to Nairaland users to console me

The guy is a perfect gentleman trying as much as possible to pass the message without much offence and here u are blowing it up like u 've been struck down by thunder. Even this does not indicate that his affection towards u is waivering. Aren't u lucky to have someone love you for who you are?

case closed!!!

Well, I think it must be that he was thinking aloud, he probably saw something has changed. The truth is everyone (even your boyfriend) can both be ugly and beautiful, depending on a wide range of factors from mood, hair-do, dressing, composure, posture etc

I will advise you to talk things over with him, but then I think u really don't to get worried since he has just said it once and may not really mean it.

Just in case, he keeps muttering the same line of jargon, then show him your back and call the relationship off.

No one can get you depressed without your consent. It will appear that it was not just the fact that he said it that got you depressed but you also must have agreed with him somehow - and that is where the real problem lies. It is a problem of ego. My advise is that - u should build up your ego and it won't matter if he was serious or joking cos u will be convinced of who you are and what you stand for.

@Ronke
You have said it all. I am not married yet, but a few of my friends that are married have suddenly become a source of concern to me. Imagine that even on their Bach eve, they still got a good lay. I hope no one will tell me they were deceived, cos bach eve is not birthday, it's only done for people who are about to marry.

Well that's even a nice part of it. They have increased in number when they (my friends) started having kids. For one of my friend (the worst case anyway), it took great interventions to be able to ward off some of the girls as they seem to all have a common phrase - "I have not seen anyone so good as him". Na lie!!!!

All of this won't have been a concern to me if they were ashana girls, but we are talking of working class graduates and sometimes undergraduates/unemployed graduates.

@poster
It will seem you are enjoying the thrill of being asked out by married men cos we know what extent ladies can go when they don't want to be nice. I assume (not sure but on the basis that u are a fine girl) there are several single guys asking you out that you are not even considering at all, so why don't you just do the same, [b]send the men away!!!![/b]

Everyone cannot work in just one industry (be it banks or oil & gas), so trying to advise people to stay out of bank does not really hold. I am one person who feels bank is a no-go area for me and i really don't envy the bankers for the long hours, abnormal individual targets and the suspension (no-pay or half pay) palava. However, I will like to state that the greatest undoing of young graduates is their attachment to what their certificate reads.

Notwithstanding your course of study, a graduate should be able to function in various areas with just a little training. Some companies now look into the direction of multi-skilled professionals as they appear to be better managers. So a little of bank experience, oil and gas experience, marketing, customer care, accounting and you will be able to handle and interprete most management problem. Taking myself for an example, I have touched several sectors including the building construction and quantity surveying, engineering(production/oil & gas), IT (software (both front-end and back-end)), facilities management, administration, logistics/supply chain/planning, Human resource management, a little bit of finance and now I am in consulting. If you ask me, I feel great about it.

I will like to comment on the contribution of those who think working for others is slavery. Well, it's all about perception. If your dream is to be a top-flight professional, working in standard organisations will just be it for u. U will not have to bother about structures and organisation cos u already have it; all u will just need to do is to plug-in and get the desired skills and experience the organisation have to offer. Many people are self-employed because of their pride (not necessarily because it feels good), they feel they make more money than working for someone else. So! How many self-employed people are doing the business the right way, anyway. If you have ever worked in a place where contracts are awarded to self-employed people, you will notice that those that do it right are those who have gathered relevant training and experience working for others. Do not discard the days of working for others

My word! If you are working for someone, do it well cos you might need someone to work for u later; if you are working for yourself, do it well cos the society is full of standards, it might punish you for falling below it . As for me I am just gathering experiences that will help me in managing my own establishment when I finally set up one, but banks, Unnnnh, I am skeptical!!!!!!!!!!

Fellowhip!!!
I am a past treasurer of the 1st Rotaract Club in Africa(Rotaract Club of Lagos) and now with Gowon Estate, Lagos being outta touch for a while though.
No probs, It's still about Service Above Self.

@raldsfield
I tried to juxtapose this

It looks like am the only one that is looking at the future of this great country

with

If you guys manage to vote IBB or the likes in, guys be sure I won't be visiting that country till their tenure is over, I will probably not even waste my time on this site for the next 8 years.

What a contradiction!

It's obvious whose future you are looking at, yours not Nigeria. It won't matter if you decide on a permanent exile. Naija here is like oyingbo market, it doesn't take attendance to know who is absent and as for you not appearing on this site, good riddance!
I believe that no matter how strong you feel about an opinion, being subjective on issues like this just won't help. You opinions may be right but it appears like a cloak-and-dagger opinion that is definitely not required to convince anyone to accept the noble idea of Pat Utomi being the President. In fact it reminds me of Kanu of "Youths Support Abacha"