₦airaland Forum

Reports say a new arrest has been made in a grooming gangs investigation:

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/live-updates-andrew-mountbatten-windsor-5HjdSYj_2/

We’ll soon be testing the “immigrants are taking our jobs; if they weren’t here wages would be higher and our young people would work instead of staying on benefits forever” hypothesis.

The “‘immigrants’ will always come to work here no matter how you squeeze them for fees, constrict their opportunities to advance their careers and use policies to condemn them to permanently working jobs Brits don’t want to” is already being disproven, just like the “the UK education industry is completely fine without foreign students” has been disproven.

Eventually, we’ll get to the one about whether the economy as a whole; and public services like the treasured NHS in particular, are completely fine without immigrants as well, as Farage, Badenough and Lowe would have their sheep believe.

HustlaOfLagos:
But.. but...

You see that but just tells it all. If you are talking about Namibia or Kenya, that but will likely never be part of that sentence. I encourage to read this - https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA543719.pdf

For the NGOs, problem is, a lot of NGOs you are referring to are money laundering / siphoning ventures. Their owners full Lekki buying new houses up and down & sauntering across continents while the ones who are need those NGOs do not get sufficient help. I mean, look at the SS

No let them whine you sha

There's no country where there's no "but" to speak of.

Search "Kenya failed state" and see what comes up. Some examples:

https://businesstoday.co.ke/kenya-failed-state-least-developed-countries-east-africa/
https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the-crisis-in-kenya/

For Namibia, see:
https://thebrief.com.na/2025/07/namibias-downgrade-a-harsh-reflection-not-a-glitch/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Namibia/comments/1luveb4/how_do_you_see_namibia_in_510_years/

Search USA, UK and most other places with the same keywords and you'll find plenty of complaints as well.

To be clear I'm not diminishing how terrible of a state NG is in currently. The point is that I disagree that it is irrecoverable because there are signs of recovery plus there are things we in the diaspora can do to help.

Now to NGO fraud? So what? Haven't you seen the reportage about how a bulk of funds many of the big name charities raise go to paying their execs?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/15/the-controversial-row-over-charity-ceos-six-figure-salaries/
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/average-ceo-pay-at-uks-largest-charities-rises-to-192000.html

We don't give to random NGOs run by 'IG babes' and I don't expect any serious person to either. In fact I strongly doubt those 'IG babes' actually make money from the NGOs they claim to run, and that it is the other way around - they make money from somewhere else and use the NGOs to launder it or just boost their social cred. That's neither here nor there though - If you want to give, do your DD and you will find a way to do it effectively.

I strongly disagree with the idea that there’s no hope for Nigeria.

Things are terrible but there are many improvements taking place (infrastructure (e.g. petrol, electricity, transportation (rail, light rail in Lagos/Abuja), economic and financial services reform and many opportunities opening up.

Returning to live in Nigeria is a key part of our early retirement strategy (although we’re flexible and if things don’t work out we’ll head to Spain or France or South Africa, Kenya or wherever else that’s working well, is more affordable and has better weather in 20-something years’ time) so I’m involved substantially with the country business-wise and go frequently as a result. Can’t be too detailed on that point but the takeaway is that there are opportunities and being in the UK gives you very good leverage to maximize them if you can move beyond ideological roadblocks.

Business aside, I think there’s a key role to be played by the diaspora, contributing to the country’s turnaround via charity. I have a private arrangement with a few friends supporting a few NGOs and would encourage you to consider the same. Harvard etc are all fueled primarily by endowments.

We may not have millions to give yet but a group of 20 people who commit 20 pounds per month over the course of a year to support their Alma mater back home will have almost 5k pounds which is ~10 million Naira. That’s enough to pay fees for 100+ primary or secondary school students or cover several secondary school teachers’ salaries or provide lots of resource for 2 or 3 clinics. Double or triple that (which is still small money for many here) and you’re getting to amounts that can build a school building or clinic from scratch.

[quote author=Goke7 post=138440436]And the blame continues 😂 wetin musa no go see again for gate!

Manchester United part-owner has told @EdConwaySky the UK has been "colonised" by immigrants, who are draining resources from the state, as he warns of the country facing profound political, social and economic challenges.

🔗 https://t.co/bie6uFZ1Tp pic.twitter.com/qFpiO0HkfO

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 11, 2026

fellow moved his tax residence to Monaco to avoid paying tax to the UK he loves so much

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eye-watering-amount-man-utd-36714555.amp

But immigrants

Raalsalghul:
@ WanderingChild, basis your last writeup, what I understand is that it wouldn't be a bad idea to opt out of work place pension schemes?

What do you think about the above HustlaOfLagos?

Why keep paying pension when you might not access it. Once that legislation is finalised, I'm opting out of mine.

Strategy for strategy: just the kind of ideas that we need rather than moaning about petitions and what nots.

This is a terrible idea. It’s not one of those cases where it depends on your circumstances bla bla bla. There are no circumstances in which it is a good thing except maybe for edge cases such as someone planning to do something and run away, sure that they’ll never have anything to do with the UK system again.

You won’t even save as much as you think you would, because what goes into your pension now is pre-tax meaning if you opt out tax will be taken first and you’ll get a smaller chunk of it added to your take-home. Also, you’ll lose your employer’s contributions and tax relief which is free money. You’ll basically be robbing your future self. At the end of the day what will be added to your take-home will likely be around half what you would otherwise get added to your pension (assuming the statutory minimum Employee 5% + Employer 3%).

The only person you’ll be punishing with this strategy is yourself. HMRC and your employer will both be very happy.

I suggest tou use ChatGPT to model this so you can see the calculations clearly.

Also, you will be able to access your pension. It may be complicated in NG because there’s no recognized provider yet but by the time you’re at the age to access it I’m pretty sure it’ll be more straightforward because of the sheer number of people affected and the fact that the financial services industry in NG is advancing rapidly.

And what if after everything things work out and you decide to stay in the UK however long that takes? You’ll have missed out on crucial years of contributions and the attendant compounding which will be especially problematic because the compounding in the earlier years are the ones that have the largest impact.

Lastly, you probably think you will invest it yourself to access when you retire but where? If it’s not locked away the statistics are clear that you’re likely to access it at some point due to the vagaries of life. So where will you find a self-invested pension or similar product that you can be as confident that it will be there for you to access after decades when you come to retire? NG? For all the issues there’s a reason why the City is one of the financial nerve-centers of the world.

If anything the strategy should be to save and invest more so you have more flexibility - I’m fully aware that’s easier said than done especially with potentially more years of IHS and fees to pay but it is what it is.

Carry your eyes away from your pension and try to put more money in an ISA so you can save on tax, and squirrel away as much as possible so whether you’re going home, staying here or moving elsewhere you’ll have some more funds to work with.

Teedol:
Well said, IMO, an average Briton is a racisit and xenophobe, this is reflected in the government decisions over the years on employment and immigration policies.

"Data indicates the UK has high levels of anti-immigrant sentiment within Western Europe, with a documented rise in racist and xenophobic incidents, particularly surrounding the 2016 Brexit referendum and continuing into 2025. While not describing all citizens, this trend involves widespread anti-immigration attitudes, racial, and religious-based hate crimes (nearly 99,000 in 2023-2024), driven by political discourse, media, and far-right groups".

In your opinion - is this based on your actual experience; that the average Brit you have interacted with has been racist?

https://archive.is/BvpGU

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-barack-michelle-obama-apes-truth-social-b2915152.html

This is the Rump some folk here admire.

The color of Meghan’s hat at her last outing will still dominate the headlines of certain British rags more than this https://apple.news/A2zGPHptKToOs5dttcBkcyw

Zahra29:
J D Vance had to row back quickly after running his mouth yet again and trying to diss the UK as some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years.

I guess he forgot when the US begged asked the UK to back them in the war against Iraq and Afghanistan after they came under attack on 9/11, and we and many other EU countries joined their fight and lost thousands of soldiers in the process. It also marked the beginning of the end of Blair's premiership.

And Vance was going on about disrespect last week. Silly.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/trump-false-statement-european-troops-front-line-afghanistan-67qb222mp

https://archive.is/C3wGh

Reminds me of how the role of soldiers from the colonies in supporting Britain in the world wars has been progressively airbrushed from history. Give Rump and Dunce a few more years and the vast majority of Americans will genuinely not know that Europeans took part in their country’s war in Afghanistan.

Of course that’s assuming that a reasonable number do currently but I’m feeling generous this morning.

Zahra29:
MI5 to move cables away from China mega-embassy over spy fears

The security services have drawn up plans to relocate critical internet cables away from China’s new mega-embassy in London as part of measures to reduce the risk of espionage....

...This is expected to include the supervised relocation of fibre-optic cables that carry financial and internet data between the City of London and Canary Wharf.

https://archive.ph/20260120200543/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/china-embassy-internet-cables-london-cpg8gqdg5

Shows that national security concerns were valid and not just manufactured hysteria, and fortunately it appears that the government is prepared to act.

Win- win for the UK....we can press forward with expanding our trading relationship with China, without compromising our sensitive assets.

And now let's wait and see how long it takes China to approve the UK's planning application for a larger embassy in Beijing 😄

Yes this was in the article I posted as well:

‘It is understood that the full plans were well known to the security services as part of the planning process, now led by the communities secretary, Steve Reed. Insiders add that even though the Royal Mint Court site is roughly between London’s two financial districts in the City and Canary Wharf, the concerns about cabling are exaggerated. “Traffic can be re-rerouted and, if necessary, cabling removed,” an official said.’

Which is why all my comments referenced risks being identified and mitigated. The idea that such an obvious thing was visible to everyone and their granny but the government still went ahead and granted approval without assessing it was not a real risk or could be mitigated effectively, is what was and continues to be, hysteria.

Zahra29:
And the Lib Dems....

The Lib Dems have been focused on the optics, the 'oppression of hong kongers' and potential usage of the place to detain dissenters. Although they have referenced spying and surveillance generally, they don't seem (I haven't looked, beyond the 2 minute Google search just now, so I might be mistaken) to have joined the rags I named in peddling the absurd cable tapping conspiracy theory.

https://www.libdems.org.uk/press/release/ico-urged-to-force-release-of-ministers-discussions-on-unredacted-chinese-super-spy-embassy-as-pm-accused-of-conspiracy-of-silence

Also: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/18/chinese-mega-embassy-london-british-spies-mi5-analysis

And this: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/07/what-uk-must-get-right-its-china-strategy A very clear-eyed assessment of the UK-China relationship from Chatham House, unlike the hysteria from the Daily Heil, Torygraph et al.

Also, some of those who might want to blame Labour for this should read this:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/29/boris-johnson-approved-chinas-super-embassy-proposal-in-2018

As far back as 2018 the issues around cybersecurity had been assessed and mitigated, but still people think in the almost-10 years since any risks still have not been identified. Ask the protesters to explain how exactly they think it would work and it'll be crickets, I'm sure.

HustlaOfLagos:
The whole thing is ridiculous to me sha.

if I want to spy on you, why would I build in your country, under your very nose when I know you can easily catch me? It's the same as the EV listening on people kini. Guess who was actually asked to pay fines for listening in on people and guess which country the coy is resident in? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr4rvr495rgo

Look at how this one was rambling when asked about listening EVs

WATCH - Premier Ford today said Chinese made EV’s will be listening to your calls. “When you get on your cell phone, it’s the Chinese that are going to be listening”

I ask Ford to back up those claims, & ask if he’s concerned about his Chinese made iPhone spying on him. pic.twitter.com/MT0D3QUfkB

— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) January 19, 2026

If you are concerned, what about iPhones / Android devices that are made in China? Our Google / Amazon home speakers? laptops? bluetooth headphones?

It really is a storm in a teacup that's driven by the same China = boogeyman propaganda that makes people react with visceral fear when they hear 'China' without stopping to think about the issue at all.

The odds that the plans would be approved if there was a real risk of China tapping into any comms infrastructure is zero. The issue has been analysed and analysed over almost a decade and everyone from government to all the various intelligence agencies have said it's fine to go ahead from a security standpoint, but we're to take the word of Nairaland security experts that all of those people are missing something so obvious as Xi jinping drilling through the soil and tapping everyone's whatsapp messages, in the same way that Chinese EVs are all listening to people but somehow Chinese phones are completely fine.

It's actually very ridiculous once one holds it up to the light in that way, just like the overarching argument that China is a bigger danger to world peace than America, the UK etc who have invaded countries left right center, kidnapped and assasinated heads of state on every continent (except the ones where there are no heads of state lol), spied on everyone including their allies and generally caused the deaths of millions of people in the past few decades alone.

Most people stop thinking when they hear china and react solely on instinct - that's what it all boils down to sadly, and the media is largely to blame.

Another banger - https://www.nairaland.com/8602708/trump-accuses-starmer-giving-away

Zahra29:
The bolded is another work of your imagination. I have also said that the UK has at times been complacent in its dealings with China, case in point the super embassy issue, so my criticism isn't reserved for Africa or the Caribbean - in fact I have been far more vocal and critical about the UK government - which an objective reader can clearly see.

Yet another instalment of "The Z Rants of Good/Bad Enoch" - I'm sure your supporters will lap it up so "ride on"

>> "instead of being humiliated and threatened daily by an ‘ally’. "

You mean like Trump effectively banning citizens of certain countries from even entering or settling in the US?

Yes, exactly. Difference is those countries didn’t think they had a “special relationship” with a peer power so they aren’t acting shocked at the realization that they’ve been nothing but vassals all this while 😉

Zahra29:
Lol @ you attacking my one sentence response to a post while choosing to ignore the original post that was longer and more critical. If you are so pressed about China being viewed through a cautious/negative lens, why not engage with that post?

My view remains the same. I have some family in the Caribbean so I have "real basis" for this view, at the same time my main concern is my own home and the complacency of my own government. Let me know if you need help understanding this 😊

I couldn’t possibly care less about China being viewed with any kind of lens.

I am African and my sole concern (as I told you earlier) is the dismissive way you claimed African and Caribbean countries are short-sighted and complacent just because they don’t continue to parrot and follow Western diktats about China being the enemy while the same West is cosying up to China to benefit from its financial muscle. It’s the same sort of condescending behavior the prime minister of Barbados pointed out - and usually grounded in ignorance as she also highlighted.

The UK was recently celebrating its trade talks with China (not even a deal o ), Canada was there just last week or so for the same purpose and even over in the US Mr TACO caved in to reality when faced with the consequences of his trade war.

It’s not China that has the UK scrambling with the PM stumbling over his words like a schoolboy ‘toasting’ a girl for the first time, but you still feel comfortable dismissing entire swathes of Africa as being “complacent and short-sighted” for keeping their options open in a way that perhaps if the UK and Europe had done they’d be in a better position today instead of being humiliated and threatened daily by an ‘ally’.

Every day I wonder anew about how people with primary school level education and above ended up voting for or supporting this man-child: https://apple.news/AdjNbEJQ3TD-lP7znf1SfpA

Zahra29:
I've watched it.

My view remains the same, although I also agree with Cyberknight's rather sobering assessment that many of these countries may recognise that they are being used by China but may also feel that they don't have m(any) options.

Once again, the question is not whether or not to do business with China. Of course one should. The concern is to what degree. If you know anyone who was born in the Caribbean e.g. Jamaica, or has lived there for decades, ask them about the scale of China's operations over the last decade and the impact it has had/is having on the locals.

I have deliberately not spoken much about China's involvement in other countries as it's not really my business - they are free to do/trade as they please. My main concern is my own country and hoping that my government does not become complacent (and in some cases - stops being complacent) in its dealings with China. I was encouraged to see the protests over the weekend over the proposed super embassy plans - I can only hope that KS et co listen and U-turn again.

Oh? Could have fooled me with your comment that "many African and Caribbean countries are too complacent and short-sighted to realise this..." and your endorsement of the post you were responding to.

One might have thought that such a definitive comment reflected a feeling that you had a real basis to be commenting on the subject, but thanks for clarifying that it was actually baseless.

jedisco:
It's becoming a tired narrative now. Hidden behind this 'warning' is the assumption that Africans/Caribbeans can't think for themselves.
The Prime minister of Barbados - Mia Motley put it nicely when a BBC reporter kept warning about China.

Not surprising that when you ask why - silence follows thru


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4sJqR2VNPA

Thank you for this. I had seen it before but forgot about it.

Zahra29 - watch this; it’s a direct response to your claim that "African and Caribbean countries are too complacent and short-sighted to realise this..."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/12/donald-trump-nigel-farage-london-crime-sadiq-khan

It’s quite startling how much power media wields over our minds and perceptions. I’d never have believed the stats here without such clear proof, despite the fact that I work in London.

Also a strong reminder of just how shamelessly deceptive some politicians can be. Based on the commentary from the likes of Farage, one would have thought London is on the brink of civil war.

https://www.nairaland.com/8601162/trump-slaps-sanctions-tarrifs-nato

Chai - China is at it again o

Zahra29:
Unless you work for the MoD, drive an EV leased by the MoD, and have secret or confidential discussions involving national security - you can drive your EV in complete peace. I highly doubt that Xi is interested in listening to your rants about Aunty Kemi 🤣

https://www.forcesnews.com/news/warning-mod-staff-amid-fears-china-could-be-using-electric-vehicles-spy-military#:~:text=MOD%20warning%20stickers%20have%20been,to%20be%20connected%20to%20vehicle.%E2%80%9D

Lol. You meant this as a diss but it just goes to prove my point.

While China is evidently spying on only the MOD (according to you), the US and its vassals have been undertaking mass surveillance of citizens and just hoovering up people's data, conversations etc without any regard to their privacy or rule of law as regards warrants etc.

https://theconversation.com/from-help-to-harm-how-the-government-is-quietly-repurposing-everyones-data-for-surveillance-254690

https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/nsa-surveillance

Obviously, China does much the same; the difference being that when it's China the West will call it dictatorship and repression but when it's the West it's 'democracy' and 'national security'

RodgersAkpafu:
quite a number of m@r@nic takes up there....

But it is expected, hence my new year resolution ti RESIST the urge to "shalaye"

Aaaaand here we have your very intelligent, very eloquent submission, proving just how moronic you are not. Lol

By the way, I wonder what kind of person you are IRL, given this apparent inability to discuss anything without denigrating others. Just look at your posts history. Are you seriously incapable of having a discussion, however strongly you feel about it, without throwing insults like an adolescent throwing a tantrum, or is it just a preference thing?

I'm never going to engage you again but honestly I just feel very strongly about telling you so hopefully you do a little introspection.

By the way, on the subject of Chinese EVs, I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the Xpeng X9 to launch in the UK. That car is glorious (not an adjective one would usually use for a car but believe me it fits - watch a video to see for yoursel).

I will be one of the first customers and Xi can listen to my conversations as much as he likes . He wouldn't be hearing anything the US and its vassals aren't hearing anyway, given what Snowden revealed.

Zahra29:
Come off what? It's common knowledge that the UK, US, Canada etc all conduct clandestine intelligence activities aka spying . There's even an intelligence alliance - the Five Eyes- comprising the UK, US, Can, Aus and NZ.

Does that mean that we should sit back and let ourselves become prey to a potentially hostile actor? Don't the news articles that you shared show that action was taken when spying activities were exposed, e.g. Germany ordering the CIA chief to leave the country.

Whether you and Hustla want to believe it, the facts have shown that China is one of the top cyber and state threats to the UK. Nevertheless, I guess it's only fair that we do nothing, or maybe we should make it easy for them and provide direct access to our top communication cables because after all, we are spies also and China/other countries take no action whatsoever to stop us.

What an incredibly naive view.

Lol, no. You need to re-read what I have said.

Nowhere have I said that any country should grant access to China or whatever.

My focus is where you said "African and Caribbean countries are too complacent and short-sighted to realise this..."
The point is that making China out to be exceptionally devious in their spying or a threat to African countries in a way that US/UK etc are not, is absurd. China poses no more of a threat and is no more destructive in its spying, lending, manufacturing, subsidies etc. than the West.

Just to be clear so it's easy to follow: the point isn't that China is a benevolent entity as you've mischaracterized (as usual for you). It's that it's no more malevolent than the West.

PS. I don't think you actually opened the articles I linked to. If you had, you'd have seen that they weren't about the Five Eyes. They were all separate instances of the US spying on its own allies; sorry, vassals, including the UK. Here again, the point stands that China isn't any doing anything the US, UK etc aren't doing.

HustlaOfLagos:
It is even crazy that it is no longer covert as it used to be since Trump came in. He tweets about it in real time and does not even sugar coat it anymore.

At least with Biden, Bush and co, they could use diplomacy and Queens English to form saints while doing it in the back but Trump does not even time to put a filter on it.

I mean this is Trump literally doing what you spoke about in the screenshot but people have been so socially conditioned via movies etc that its mind boggling

Some people are too far deep into their kool-aid bottles.

Zahra29:
💯

Unfortunately many African and Caribbean countries are too complacent and short-sighted to realise this.

Anyways, I really hope the UK government open their eyes and grow some b***s and say no to China on the super embassy, or at least water down their proposals. That would be a very welcome U-turn especially following the release of unredacted plans that include a network of more than 200 subterranean rooms, one of them directly alongside communication cables taking information to the City of London as well as email and message traffic from internet users. Not a coincidence, I'm sure.

The UK is also looking to build an embassy in Beijing and I highly doubt the Chinese would be so naive as to give us this level of access.

And yes, we all use/love Chinese products, but the UK's assets and security is worth a lot more than shiny EVs.

You mean spying like this: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/09/politics/pentagon-leaked-documents-us-spying-allies-foes

Or this: https://theconversation.com/recent-spy-scandals-reveal-how-western-allies-are-increasingly-unreliable-friends-256353

or this: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-usa-spy-official-idUSKBN0FF1GU20140711/

or this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57302806

or this: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3217537/un-voices-concern-reports-us-spying-un-chief

Come off it abeg

RodgersAkpafu:
🤡 🤡 🤡

Like I said
I wont bother..... I have NO energy for shalaye....
If you dont agree, it's okay 👌

Three decades from now at the most
Everybody eye will clear
Peace ✌️ ✌️

Lol. How very predictable.

RodgersAkpafu:
Dont bother

Forget about it

No o please educate me and other average Nigerians who don't know of these henious WTO violations perpetrated by China that the US and its vassals are so very innocent of.

From what little I know (sorry if it's innacurate; you know some of us just “ran masters package”, so we might not be as up-to-date as an elite immigrant like you), China isn't the (only?) one that has weaponized sanctions on countries they disagree with politically, slapped arbitrary tarrifs on a range of countries, threatened countries that want to shift away from dependency on the 'mighty dollar', invaded countries to steal their oil, sanctioned and locked out representatives of global institutions for daring to criticize its BigTech companies, used OFAC and the SWIFT system to strong-arm financial institutions worldwide, paralysed the WTO Appellate Body since 2017 when rulings went against it, pulled out of a variety of 'green' treaties while preaching sustainability AKA deindustrialisation to African countries, imposed export bans on critical technologies, using subsidies to enable their companies to engage in rampant food dumping in Africa; resulting in the collapse of poultry, milk and rice value chains in various countries, ati be be lo.

And this is just economic stuff o, not national security and military violations. But China is the boogeyman because they make things cheaply.