LagosismyHome:


Gunther6 biko your attention is needed .... i believe he is in Baltimore

Mama I dey here o... if you want a true answer to Baltimore, my answer is don't come. It is too small, too dirty, too boring and too expensive, unless you getting a graduate degree in Health Sciences I know Llamas that will get an assistantship before you at JHU, UMB is not much better, The Nigerian presence in the Baltimore area can be a positive or negative, I am still undecided, most affluent Nigerians live in the 'burbs anyway the one you'll see in the city work at 7-Eleven, lest I forget the rent will chase you out of town( I used to average $1100 a month in rent and utilities). I have not minced words for you @the guy that wants to go to Baltimore and although my answers are colored by my experiences I have tried to incorporate the experience of others too.

slimmy2005:
Gunther6, where art thou?

Oga mi

We are on course to start the production of pencils in 2018 - Ogbonnaya Onu ( Minister for 'Science and Technology' )

Fuckîng snitch... prolly crushing on the girl

Nigerians have lost their collective shit over this BBN of a thing, even Nairaland sef. Smh

OluDare01:
Gunther6 baba, I hail o
Owo meji, ese meji fun enikan!

Egbon, a ki yin o. O t'ojo meta o

Adex097:
Good day all, I will be graduating in few months time; i've been preparing for the necessary pre-graduate school exams since last year (not really intense though). However, i will take the exams 2 months after my last UG exam.
My current profile goes thus;

Bs : Economics and Statistics
cgpa: 4.1/5.0 (after 7 semesters, my final semester just commenced)
proposed degree: Phd [fully funded]
Experience: UG research assistant
proposed Area of specialty: Econometrics, Quantitative Economics
GRE: work in progress
TOEFL: work in progress
proposed schools;
UNIVERSITY of Texas, Dallas
Binghamton University, NY
University of Houston, Texas.

I came up with these schools after some thorough research. I would really love to know if these aforementioned schools suit my profile/field. Also, i would'nt mind if anyone on here could help recommend some schools too.
cc: gunther6 GboyegaD Joeluv.
Thanks.

Economics is one of the fields where it is especially hard for you as a Nigerian to get into ' a fully funded PhD program ' with just a BSc, the 4.1 is rather low, too low for any PhD program with real aspirations. But if you have a barrel of money (arigbabuwo) nothing should stop you from applying, but if you have rather limited resources and you are looking to squeeze maximum value or generate some serious 'consumer surplus' you should focus on awesome Masters program like Miami University, Ohio or some other awesome school, see how it goes for one or two semesters, see how it actually goes. PhD especially in Economics is not beans and as a Nigerian trained one you will come to find out as the Americans say 'you ain't all that'. Choose wisely and I hail all the baba's in the house.

Everyone without exception deserves a second chance. Congratulations on your appointment, do right by your countrymen and they'all forget where you came from.

amanze15:
Trump would cough and the media would suddenly have an orgasm, it's going to be a long four years

The guy no dey try, he just reactivated keystoneXL, his rhetoric has not softened if not more acidic, I have a friend doing her internship at EPA, They have been banned from press releases even mundane stuffs as updating their social media accounts. I don tire for this place already sef.


On the lighter note I would start wearing Nigerian flag all around but Americans are not exactly gifted at geography. The next person that asks me 'so where are you from' , I will slap walahi.

OluDare01:
the boss

Egbon mi #weh done sir

Renewable0216:


Sorry I'm quoting a very old msg but I need to make reference to this!
This was some 3-4 months ago and this advice has really helped.

I appreciate you Skinny and everyone that has helped me reach this stage! God bless you richly!

I'm back this time and I think I have some good news this time.

I got a mail from one of the schools you advised that I applied to that I've been accepted for a PhD Electrical Engineering. Super excited about it.

The only ish now is I was asked to send financial document before issuing I-20. Truth is I don't have such financial muscle


Anyways, I trust the Elders in the house to guide this "toddler" in the right direction

I must appreciate the indefatigable efforts of @Electronic aka my tutor He's been very helpful and instrumental all through the application stages. He's also given valuable advice on how to proceed which I hope to act on from Monday but I'm open to more guidance; the more the merrier,right?!

I totally will love full funding or something very close.

PS: I've been in talks with the grad coord for a while and she's been of help too though most times pithy and not discussing things at length. Ive never discussed funding with her up till now because I felt it was sort of sensitive but now that the admissions' given, how do I proceed from here?

Also, I once mailed the particular Prof whose research aligns with mine before submitting my application but he never replied.


Should I mail him again, or reach out to even more outside my area of interest?

What should I do differently in the mail this time?


The school is U o Kansas, if that might help

Looking forward to your much esteemed guidance folks!


cc: Electronic, Slimmy2005, Sir Riddy, Lagosismyhome, Gunther6, just wise and everyone who can be of help

Don't start a grad program without funding no matter how highly rated that program is, especially a PhD it will be long and hard. Press further with other programs at other schools till you get the funding you are looking for.

Walspring, I dey free on WhatsApp today make you holla. Hello house!

Little attention is given to depression and mental illness in Nigeria. Depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies are seen and treated as failure of character. Until the government and stakeholders sit up and set a proper agenda for mental health in Nigeria I'm afraid this kind of news will not cease. Rest in peace young man, though you died, you lived and deserved better from your country.

pls add cityhood

cc crestedaguiyi memeluv

Foreign investors are not fools, you cannot have 6 different exchange rates and expect to attract investments. You cannot bring your dollar in at #305 official rate and change your naira to dollar at #490 wiping out all your margins.
A more in depth analysis of data will reveal that most of this 'foreign investments' are made by the Nigerian diaspora not in the real sector of the economy but mostly to fuel a property bubble that will burst no so long into the future.

They will embezzle 2.5tr use 1.6tr for debt servicing, 2.2tr for recurrent expenditure, how much remain self... Thieves

Pavarottii:
This is totally unacceptable. I can phathom why 14billion will be used for construction of EFCC building; why they will budget more for cars in state house; and this is just d state house;

Nigeria pull up ur socks; and tie ur shoe laces; cos 2017, is gonna be a dog eat dog world.

14billiion for building and a measly #200m for prosecution of corruption cases, wonder why the cases never go anywhere except in the media...

omowolewa:
One thing is tha irrespective of our cries they will still pass am like that

Sadly...

DrRasheed:
Shut up.. The cost of goods in global market tripple that of 2015.
Moreso, i visit south africa,US all their budget is passed in mid year with high figures for their presidency.

You sir are a mòron and I doubt you can be helped. When and how did global prices jump 300% in the global markets in FY 15-16. And do you think the US budget is this ogogoro budget you pass in this nonsense place, budget is serious work here in the US. I can't help you but a basic elementary economics textbook will but I have my doubts.

Following bumper to bumper...

luvinhubby:


God bless you my dear.

God bless you too

hotice01:

That's the Truth!
Corruption knows no tribe,ethnicity,religion or political party.
Most people,especially on this forum are educated illiterates with very myopic views clouded by so much negativity.

Just the way the ruling class want it, to keep calling northerners abóki while Rochas keep travelling to Sokoto, Kebbi every other week to attend a fellow governors wedding or naming ceremony... We will learn.

Cletus77:

i wanted 2say failure bt smthn kept retraining me to

It took me 6 months into his regime to realise I don buy market

hotice01:

It seems members of this present administration are the real enemies of this country.
That's why most politicians fuel ethnic,political, tribalistic and religious strife and discord just to keep the populace distracted from the massive levels of corruption been perpetrated!

We call ourselves Igbos, afonja and aboki online, you don't hear that kind of language where they are splitting the money in aso rock, the song you hear is one Nigeria...

Cletus77:
in simple words
BUHARI IS NOT TRYING

Buhari is a failure is more like it. Don't kid yourself, the level of graft did not reduce after Jonathan, it became silent, subterranean, virulent and active as ever..

I supported Buhari and had so much hope for this country but I saw the 2016 budget and wept, this is much worse, worse still he wants to mortgage the future of unborn and young Nigerians to finance this grand larceny... Impossible!!!

hotice01:
Wonderful piece!
And they claim to be fighting corruption!
This country will never develop until the high cost of governance is reduced to the nearest minimum.
This government is as corrupt as the past administration!
Nothing has changed except for the worse!
I'm afraid when this administration comes to a close,the level of corruption that will be uncovered and revealed will be mind blowing and devastating,if trends like this continue.

Seems our leaders have no empathy for the common man,only their selfish,wicked,greedy,power drunk and nefarious ambitions.

With this above analysis,the $30B loan should not be supported by any patriotic Nigerian who has genuine love for this nation.

I love my Country but I'm very ashamed of our leaders!

Have it in mind, this is just the state house budget, we have not commenced the analysis of that of other MDA's o. A budget of #230M for prosecution but #14B and #140M for updating Microsoft OS for building, talk about wickedness and misplaced priorities.

Mods should push this to the FP to allow debate of the disastrous 2017 budget

The first time this budget analysis series ran was for the 2016 budget; and it becomes visible each day that the 1810 page document was a horrid, hurriedly-put, corrupt-conduit-filled piece of executive cluelessness. Well, since I’m more of a realist than any of the other-ists, I’ll just say that the fact that the world lost an entire tree to the making of the paper it was inked on is a tragedy. We have been given a sequel; the 2017 budget was presented to the National Assembly by the President in the presence of the ministers who drafted it—and even slept while the presentation was on—and it was called the “Budget of Recovery and Growth.” If you noticed, it is quite a change from the previous budget of change just like the government’s change mantra. Here are some quotes from the President’s speech on what when passed, will be arguably the most important document in the country—sorry, just checked and it is 63 paragraphs long so I will just skip to analysing the 2017 budget as we await the implementation report of the 2016 budget.

The 2017 budget is N7.298 trillion. According to the government, this comprises of

i. Statutory transfers of N419.02 billion;

ii. Debt service of N1.66 trillion;

iii. Sinking fund of N177.46 billion to retire certain maturing bonds;

iv. Non-debt recurrent expenditure of N2.98 trillion; and

v. Capital expenditure of N2.24 trillion (including capital in Statutory Transfers).

We will begin with the State House budget, which is, 42,917,666,214. This almost double what the previous government budgeted for this in 2015 which was 23,465,865,117. Out of this, 19,970,000,000 is the total capital budget while the total recurrent budget stands at 22,947,666,214. The total overhead is 10,171,082,268 and that for total personnel is 12,776,583,946.

This is the first piece in the #SaatahBudgetSeries2017, and I will be looking at the budget of the State House (which was referred to as Presidency in previous budgets).

STATE HOUSE

There are 16 agencies under the State House, and they are: State House Headquarters, The Office of the President, The Office of the Vice President, Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Office of the Chief Security Officer to the President, State House Medical Centre, State House Lagos Liaison Office, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS). Kuru, Bureau of Public Enterprises, National Emergency Management Agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Bureau of Public Procurement, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission and its centres, and Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President which funny enough the President only appointed in August of this year.

The first piece of shit I was hit with, ironically, was the “Sewage Charges” budget of the State House Headquarters” It was put at 52,827,800. That means 144,733 every day. That’s a lot of shit as far as the eye can see. Compare this with the “Sewage Charge” budget for 2015 which was 4,957,143 and for 2016 which was 6,121,643. This simply means the shit charge went up by 1050% compared with the 2015 budget, and 850% when compared with the 2016 budget. The 52,827,800 question I want to ask now is what exactly are they shitting there?

The State House Headquarters budget for “Honorarium/Sitting Allowance” is 556,592,736. Let me remind you that the previous government budgeted 174,471,371 for same item in 2015, while in 2016, this administration jacked it up to 507,518, 861.

The State House Headquarters still continues to budget for “Residential Rent.” This is something I have failed to understand up till now and I wouldn’t mind someone explaining it to me. That aside, the amount budgeted for this “Residential Rent” in 2015 was 22,459,575, while in 2016 it was put at 27,735,643. I don’t know how or why, but in the 2017 budget of “Recovery and Growth,” this same “Residential Rent” went up to 77,545,700. Whoever the Landlord of that State House Headquarters is, in this economy, he must be a very lucky and fortunate chap.

There is an 8,539,200 budget for “Anti-Corruption” and I’m perplexed as to what exactly it is.

The last time there was a budget for “Motor Vehicles” or anything like that was in the 2014 budget by the last administration and it was a total of 132,200,000. This government came in in 2016 and somehow concluded that the State House Headquarters did not have enough “Motor Vehicles,” so they started by budgeting 877,015,000 which was something like a 650% increase from the 2014 budget for the same item. The State House Headquarters still doesn’t think there are enough “Motor Vehicles,” so in 2017 they have budgeted a total of 197,000,000 for the purchase of “Motor Vehicles” and “Buses.” At this rate, by 2019, this government would’ve succeeded in buying enough “Motor Vehicles” to drive the entire country off the edge.

2016 will end up being one of the darkest years in this country in relation to power supply. So, I do not understand where the State House Headquarters got megawatts from in 2016 that they have now budgeted 319,625,753 for “Electricity Charge” in 2017. Just so you know, the “Electricity Charge” for 2016 was put at 45,332,433.

The 2016 State House Headquarters budget for the “Rehabilitation/Repairs of Residential Buildings” was 642,568,122, while in 2017, I don’t know, but it looks like an enormous asteroid managed to hit and destroy the residential building at the State House Headquarters because what is budgeted for “Rehabilitation/Repairs of Residential Buildings” happens to be 5,625,752,757.

As usual, knowing that we have travelling President, 739,487,784 has been budgeted for “International Travel & Transport.” Last year only the Vice President budgeted for books. This year neither the President nor his Vice budgeted for it. Apparently, they’re tired of reading.

Just like in last year’s budget, the entire capital budget for the National Emergency Management Agency is for the “Construction of Office Building,” all 374,473,456 of it.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has budgeted 5,999,070,468 for the “Construction/Provision of Office Buildings.” In 2016 they spent 58,434,683 on that. If you do the math, that’s an increase of over 10,000% and qualifies as an economic and financial crime.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission also budgeted 230,536,000 for “Legal Services.” I don’t know if this is enough, but since they say it is; and as long as none of that amount goes to the case-bumbling, Twitter SAN, Festus Keyamo, no wahala.

In 2016 the EFCC budgeted 93,136,000 for “Motor Vehicles,” but since maybe the corruption they should be fighting has gotten faster, they have upped that to 455,000,000. So if you had a plan of running away from the EFCC, I am sorry, they will have almost half a billion Naira worth of cars to chase you with. It is a car race now you know.

There a line item in the EFCC budget that mentions the “Procurement and Upgrade of Microsoft Product Licences” which 142,237,198 was set aside for. This is as vague as something can get, and when it comes to corruptly enriching yourself, being vague is the best bet.

In 2016 3,260,000 was budgeted by the EFCC for the “Purchase of Photocopiers” while in the 2017 budget 13,755,000 is the magic number.

1,100,595,088 has been budgeted for the “Furnishing of the New Head Office” whose construction cost in the 2016 budget was put at 7,912,502,911. Now, guess what. There is a budget for the “Consultancy of the Head Office Project” and 244,727,624 is budgeted for it. I am sorry; you will have to guess what again. Let me not stress you, 4,583,616,838 is budgeted for the “Completion of Ongoing New Head Office Building Construction” which 7,912,502,911 was budgeted for in 2016, bringing the total to 12,496,119,749. For those of you that numbers scare, that is over twelve billion Naira for the construction of the EFCC new head office. If the budget for the “Furnishing” of same building is taken into consideration, it becomes almost fourteen billion Naira. That is the anti-corruption model; build a fourteen billion Naira edifice to scare corrupt individuals and firms.

The Bureau of Public Procurement has budgeted 52,957,485 for “Defence Software” and I find myself wondering when they became the Ministry of Defence. But things change, just like this government wants us to believe. I wish them a happy defence.

In the course of going through the 2107 budget, I noticed a significant change. There no longer existed a column to show the state of a project. Previous budgets had the “New” and “Ongoing” tags designated to line items, and it made it easier to understand or rather follow the money. We might not know, but that little omission, which I believe was on purpose, has the ability to make corrupt practices invisible.

The 2017 budget is beginning to look more like a shit-storm, but that shouldn’t be a problem because as you saw from the beginning, they started by budgeting generously for it.[/b]

We have come to the end of the first part of my budget analysis; hopefully the second part will have something better to offer us.

_________________________

Saatah Nubari is on Twitter @Saatah



http://newswirengr.com/2016/12/21/saatah-nubari-the-aso-rock-budget-that-deserves-your-attention-they-pay-rent-in-the-villa/

meritdee:


Say no more! If you want to break your backbone, make your city route Baltimore as an inexperienced driver (US Driving history). Watch as your quote struggles to touch the hem of Jesus Christ for survival.

I am dying o

slimmy2005:
Ahn Ahn, say wetin happen bros? Liability for that amount? Are you driving a 2015 CRV Jeep nii.

When you're been hit, you call the cops, they document who is at fault, if you're not the one, you take the policy number of the person and report to their insurance for reimbursement based on what you guys bargained. Also, you would called for health damages or amount you incurred for treatments as well.

Nope it is a 2003 Saturn and insurance in MD is one of the most expensive in the country. I think there was not an insignificant amount of bias in the decision to award 50/50. Driving history(US) , experience counts a lot in this decision but I'm fighting it anyway

texrem:


this man has finally come back....i changed my phone man...lost so many contacts....hit me up man!

I go buzz you for Whatsapp

meritdee:


Wow! What is the name of your insurance company? Are you on liability coverage or Full coverage? If full coverage, abeg no gree o my brother. You've really had an adventurously dramatic experience by the way and may God heal you.

Na GEICO I dey use o and Na liability I dey( $137/month) , those thieves quoted more than ($200/month) for full coverage. And baba I fit walk o nothing do me but I must still do therapy just to be sure and I'm fighting that 50/50... Even the police report from the scene blame the guy and I get eye witness