₦airaland Forum

Most Nigerian artists are not doing hip hop. They just sing most times talk. Hip hop is a culture . The last known hip hop artist is Dagrin. Mode 9 and Ilbliss are trying also . Most Nigerians acts talk and not sing. That's why u can never use Nigerian songs for professional talent hunt events because they lack depth .

Krystal28:
In the early days when animals still retained the power of speech and Lion was the king of the jungle, there were footpaths under the palm and ukwa trees while lizards still moved in twos and threes.
Then the tree tops were the natural abode of the osa and uze, while stories were still told under moonlights.

There was a terrible famine in the animal kingdom. Rains refused to fall at the appropriate time, grasses dried up and the animals could not find food to eat. Following the famine, many animals started dying off while those that survived looked skinny and bony from the hunger effect.

Only Nkita among the animals was looking healthy and most animals thronged his house to find out his secret. Nkita being a shrewd animal refused to divulge the source of his well being.

Mbe being a tricky fellow and full of cunning decided to break through Nkita’s resistance and discover the secret to his food source. He visited a counselor to advise him on how to win Nkita’s favor. The counselor told him that Nkita loves fresh palm wine and advised him to go to him with a calabash of fresh one.

One early morning, Mbe arrived at Nkita’s house and started praising him on his skills as a hunter, trust and speed. The praise singing continued and Mbe brought the calabash of palm wine and presented to Nkita.

After the normal ritual of breaking of kola nuts, Mbe presented his case to Nkita saying that Nkita should help him. Nkita gave him large pieces of meat and Mbe was thrilled and asked him for the source.

Nkita told Mbe that he gets the meat from mkpi (he-goat) he wins at wrestling fairs held weekly at the goats’ village in the neighboring community.
He explained that in the wrestling fair, who ever is thrown down belongs to the victor who is free to sell him or slaughter him for food. Also the victim could be redeemed.

Nkita then asked Mbe whether he is a good wrestler. Mbe replied that his father was the wrestling champion of his own and the skill flows in his system.

He asked Mbe to come back early morning in two days time so they can proceed to the wrestling fair. The wrestling fair holds every two igbo market weeks.
He also drilled it into Mbe’s ears that the rules meant that if he is thrown, he becomes the property of the victor and Mbe accepted agreeing to meet Nkita on the agreed date.

Before the appointed day, Mbe went and got himself a new cutlass which he kept sharpening with salt and grinding stone. Mbe would strut around throwing up the cutlass and catching it. He suddenly dash into the bush and slash at trees demonstrating how he would slash the necks of mkpi he will won at the fair.

He went to Nkita’s house and showed him the knife and did a warrior’s dance saying that his father Aniga was a renowned warrior of note.
Nkita told him to sheath the cutlass until he wins at the wrestling fair saying that you have to hold the egbe(kite) in your hands before asking whether women can partake of the meat.

On the appointed day, Mbe was at Nkita’s house early in the morning. He came with ten ropes and after the morning ritual of nzu and oji, they left together for the wrestling fair. On the way, Mbe was regaling Nkita of his prowess in manly activities such as wars, farming, wrestling and others.

Nkita advised Mbe to save his breath and used it at the arena.

Very soon, the duo arrived at the arena and registered their presence. The organizers of the fair came and read out the rules of the competition saying that while some go home in triumph, others would go home in tethers being led as trophies. Those who did not agree should pack their bags and go home or cheer from the side lines.

Nkita quickly went into action and asked Mbe to watch him do the first wrestling. He touched a big fat mkpi and two of them begin to slug it out. Very soon, Nkita did a special trick and the mkpi was down. He went and tethered it at where defeated animals were kept.

He told Mbe to come and prove his wrestling prowess. Mbe greedily pounced on a big mkpi and in a twinkle of an eye the he-goat had Mbe on the ground. Mbe begin to plead with Nkita not to allow the mkpi take him home. Nkita listened to him and bailed him by sacrificing the goat he won early on.

With that done, Nkita asked Mbe to stay on the side line and not wrestle again. Nkita now swing into action and in short time ten mkpis.
Mbe out of envy went to wrestle again and was defeated. The victor tied him to the stake. When Nkita came to tether another, he saw Mbe tied up at the stake. Mbe again pleaded to be saved. Nkita being the person that brought Mbe to the place again saved him.
As the fair was rounding up, Nkita saw one old mkpi suffering from afo osi-sa grin grin grin(diarrhea) and Mbe to wrestle that one. Alas Mbe could not defeat that one. But as the judges were momentarily distracted, Nkita kicked off the mkpi legs from behind and Mbe pushed him down. He now used all the ropes he brought and tethered the goat.

It was now time to go home, while Nkita took along the twelve he goats he won, Mbe was dragging the only one Nkita helped him to win.
Mbe was busy plotting how to cheat Nkita out of his prizes as they headed home. He was envious of nkita's success and decided to use tricks collect the mkpis.

On their way home, Mbe was scheming how to use tricks to snatch all the Mkpi won by Nkita. His bag is never short of tricks. At the usual place of rest, that is where they break their journey to refresh themselves, tethered all the he-goats he won and went to rest. He took his lunch and lay under the tree shade to have a nap. Mbe used his sharpened cutlass to kill the sickly mkpi he won and roasted the meat. Being a greedy fellow, he had his full, tied up the remaining meat in a parcel and offered the goat’s ear to Nkita. Mbe said the meat is a token of love and appreciation for the mercies Nkita showed him by rescuing him from sure death.


Nkita fully aware of Mbe and his tricks placed the goat’s ear in a corner of his mouth. He kept moving his jaws as if he was chewing the meat. Then, they broke camp and in the company of other animals who went to the competition headed home. Along the way, Mbe demanded that Nkita give him back the goat ear he offered him. Nkita quickly spat out the goat ear and handed over to him. Mbe chided Nkita for not eating the meat saying that he was only joking, that he wasn’t serious with the demand. He laughed and told others that nkita was behaving like a little child.

Nkita agreed to eat the meat but still hid in a corner of his mouth. About half way to the end of the journey, mbe demanded for his meat again. Nkita brought it out again and gave him. Mbe laughed and said nkita is taking it too far. Other animals in their midst pleaded with Nkita to eat the meat, that Mbe was joking. Nkita still placed the meat in a corner of his mouth and they continued their journey.


Now, they reached a small river separating the animal kingdom from the human kingdom. Here, the animals always take a bath to watch off all contamination from interacting with human beings. Mbe told Nkita in the spirit of their new found friendship, they should scoop water and pour in each others mouth. They did this and Mbe used the water to flush the meat down Nkita’s throat. When they finished taking their bath and crossed the river, mbe began to demand for his goat ear again.

Nkita kept quite. As they entered the animal kingdom, Mbe started weeping telling everybody that Nkita has eaten his meat. He insisted on having all Nkita’s Mkpi as a replacement.

The elders after listening to their defense advised Nkita to hand over all the goats to Mbe. Now that he achieved his aim, he began to boast and gloat how he is a champion wrestler, won several goats at the wrestling fair.

Love this man. Reminds me of my childhood days.

All these trash just to get traffic?

Will hook u up.

youngmd:
I need a old Facebook account to buy if u have
qoute me let chat

.

Mystiquefia:
Hello everyone, pls I will be visiting ogun for the first time on an official assignment very soon. Though i have not been briefed on the city I'll be visiting soon by my boss. My problem is I don't know a damn thing about the state and I feel like I might be susceptible to dangers if I don't ask qtns. I need someone who's familiar with the nooks and crannies of ogun and someone who can provide me with local escorts should I need one. Pls drop your whatsapp number
Pls help a fellow Nairalander!!!

Hmmmm.Please beware of skull miners. That state is the den of ritualists.

Joshmodest:
Which artist you dey book for show ?
Mr man post the nonsense you want to post and get lost ....are we talking about SUG fresher's nite , where you book Wale Turner or lil frosh !

I can't come here to exchange words with a little man here. I own an artist's booking agency called book naija artists and I have booked shows for artists like whizkid, psquare etc. Not even in Nigeria but shows outside naija. Check out book naija artists page on facebook Ode and see for yourself. Don't believe everybody here on nl is a retard like u with a smart phone.

magicminister:
Lmaoooo!!!

Bro, if it’s 100 million dollars I could agree but 100 million Naira??

Haba naaaah!!!!

Make I show you maths behind it:

1 million views on YouTube is worth approximately 5-8k usd.

Davido’s fall has 138M views but let’s approximate it to 100 million views on YouTube.

100 million is 1million in 100 places.
If 1 million views is Appx 5000-8000 dollars then the minimum Davido earned on “fall” from YouTube streaming alone is 5000 * 100 = 500,000 usd

1 dollar = 350 Naira

500,000usd *350 = 175 million Naira.

Davido made a minimum of 175 million Naira from “fall” just by YOUTUBE streaming alone!

Wizkid is a multi-billionaire in Naira cos I know for a fact, he made about 5 million dollars in endorsements and shows alone in 2018 which is about 1.7 billion in Naira.

Stop writing this rubbish. I book these artists for shows . You write what you read from social media . We insiders knows what's up.It's all hype. Comprehende?

NewDelhi:
I think a law should be passed banning youths from dreadlocks and other indecent hairstyles. To make Nigeria and her citizens responsible is a priority. That's why I support SARS.

I think also a law should be passed on which sex style must be practiced when sleeping with your wife. Low iq. Pls shut that your gutter.Ode.

Listened to this song. Chris Brown killed the song. Davido tried in the first verse but you could see like it was dragging and delivery was not smooth but Chris came on in the second verse he delivered it flawlessly. You will definitely see the difference . Chris us way up a singer than Davido but Davido tried. Nice song though.More of international appeal .

Still open for investors

Well this is my first but there is more to this particular brand that I will reveal to u in private. The products are manufactured in Thailand and imported to Nigeria. I have been to Thailand to meet with my manufacturer already. The brand is mine and the business is mine.Maybe u add me on what's app and let's talk and then I can let more info to u.

Opportunity still available

Reggae musician Majek Fashek has said that he had not had sex since he returned to Nigeria.



He said this at a gathering where he asked he be allowed to give a testimony. His testimony was in two folds. First, he let the world to know that he loves his wife and that he has been faithful to her.

Second testimony was to inform all and sundry that his first son, Randy Fashek recently acquired a befitting property in Dallas Texas.

He hinted that Randy who is also into the business of music making is doing well for himself in Donald Trump’s country.

http://newstimesafrica.com/news/ive-not-had-sex-since-i-returned-majekapplauds-son-for-acquiring-property-in-the-u-s/

Another set of guinea pigs are going to be made popular.

Austin fair Nwaulu
This is a chilling and thought-provoking story of a wannabe actress just back from Asaba, the Delta State capital where suspected hustlers are said to have taken over home movie making even as they still produce in quick successions but hardly conform to the norms of the profession.
Imagine if the likes of Liz Benson, Joke Jacobs, Alex Usifo, Genevieve Nnaji, Jide Kosoko, RMD and all the key players in the contraption now called Nollywood were asked made to pay instead of being paid, would there have been a movie industry in Nigeria?
Thus, one’s gain and happiness is that you have been featured in a movie and automatically made a star of Nollywood which is definitely a complete opposite of what obtains in the entire movie world.
That is what obtains in Asaba where pretenders apparently in search of a means of livelihood, disguising as movie producers, directors and allied personnel, now reside. There, they equally meet with desperate and innocent young men and ladies in search of movie roles and exploit them in every way possible.
Asaba, which emerged after some lull in Lagos as another production ground, simply operates its own version of Nollywood and their victims are unaware of the tricks and keep falling.
“I saw hell while there. With my little knowledge of the industry, I know that artistes are paid, fed, costumed, transported and accommodated but I encountered the reverse. In fact, artistes catered for everything and some even paid to be given their respective roles. Forget about sexual harassment because it’s already a norm there.
Even as they still shoot movies that some hardly see the light of the day, do it in a ‘papapapa’ (hush-hush) manner, they have their crowd, all the same. What with the increasing number of people that want to become movie stars. But unfortunately, with what I saw, count me out if what Asaba does is what obtains in Nollywood as a whole.’’
The upcoming actress who would not want to be named for security reasons, further revealed that someone who posed as a producer once asked to give him N50,000 so that he would put her on Youtube which is the same as a movie and she will automatically become a star!
“One thing that some of these so-called Asaba moviemakers seem not to know is that they look so hungry and unkempt that eagle eyes would suspect them but how many people care. For instance, the national identity card is traded with all around. I have one already, but pretended not to and one man asked me to bring N33,000 for it. yet I got mine at N23,000. It’s like there’s no uniform price for it from the national level.’’
She divulged a lot of other unprintable happenings in Asaba and neighbouring cities, such that we sought the reaction of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) National President, Mr Emeka Rollas whose reactions were apt engaging.
“First of all, we have engaged in a rebuilding process. A lot of things, expectedly, went wrong from past administrations. For instance, we’ve just finished a meeting with the state excos on a wide range of issues. And we are dispatching a team to go and fish those that carry out the illegalities. It cannot continue that way.
On the identity card issue, we have placed the cost at N18,500 from the N23,500 it used to be and it is going to be uniformed nationally. Those who trade with it will be punished accordingly. In fact we have a machinery in motion to curtail all the excesses.’’
Also commenting on the issue, one of the pioneer star actors who is presently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the AGN, Prince Ifeanyi Dike simply snapped; ‘’Yes, a lot of dirty acts are being perpetuated at venues outside Lagos and Asaba is about the hottest. It is done out of desperation, no doubt because no sane and trained moviemaker can descend as low as collecting money from people he is supposed to pay. The development is really unfortunate.
As for the upcoming artistes who patronize them and pay, they are equally doing so out of desperation but I wonder how far they would go. We’ve done enough of enlightenments for them and yet they still prey to the hustlers. Some of these so-called producer/directors, they do not belong to Nollywood but people battling to survive and using the industry’s name.’’

Source : http://newstimesafrica.com/news/if-asaba-moviemakers-belong-to-nollywood-i-weep/

Add me on what's app 08068780509

Still trying to grapple with the effect of her father and mentor’s death who passed on to the great beyond in June last year and shortly followed by his beloved wife, Efe, daughter of the late Rub-a-Dub master, Ras Kimono, Oge has dropped two hot singles.
In this chat with newstimesafrica, she speaks on life after her father’s death, her plans to immortalise him as well as her career.
How has life been after the death of your father?
A lot has been happening. I’m trying to adjust to my current status as an orphan. Life has been very challenging I must say. If there is one thing I know, it is that God can never give you more than what you can bear. There are days I wake up and cry and I’m like God, why does this have to happen to me? Why does my father have to go and all of that. And there are days that I woke up and I’m so strong and I’m like ready to take on the world. In all, I am still grateful to the Most High.

What has changed since your father died?
Everything has changed. Death has a way of giving you a new task and challenges. My father left behind a 13-man band and this is now my responsibility. I am grateful for the opportunity to be the one to champion this course, to carry the legacy to the next level and at the same time it is challenging that I am a woman. There are a lot of things that would need a man’s touch in and it is not there. I will just do my best and leave the rest.

What was the first thing that came to your mind when Efe, your father’s wife suddenly died shortly after the burial of your father?
That was the heaviest blow. I had thought that by the time maybe about three to six months, we would be able to be putting things in place and to carry on with my father’s legacy but her sudden death was a big blow to me because I thought we could work out some things together and find a way to sustain this legacy.

What is happening to your music life after all of this?
Right now, I am channeling all my energy and focus on my music. Before my father passed on, I was actually working on my debut album, that hasn’t changed. Circumstances obviously have delayed the release of the album but the album is definitely coming out in a matter of weeks. I already dropped two singles from the album, ‘Good Ole Days and ‘24 Hours.’ Both of them are making the rounds but ‘Good Ole Days’ seems to be making more impact and reasons being that I have just shot a video for it. There is visual to it and people are more in-tuned with visuals as opposed to audios.

Has anything changed in your songs, still the same conscious songs?
It is the same conscious music. I cannot deviate from that. I don’t know anything less or better. That is the lineage I come from. That is how I have been raised. People will not play Fela’s music or my father’s music if there are no messages in them. Those kinds of music are evergreen music and that is why I intend to keep doing same.

What are your thoughts about the condition of this country as a conscious artiste?
My thoughts are deep. First and foremost, I will just say may Jah help us. A lot of things are wrong hence the reason why I wrote my two songs, ‘Good Ole Days’ and ‘24 Hours.’ ‘24 Hours’ is the song I wrote a few weeks before the elections started. It basically speaks to the minds of its listeners. In some parts of the lines, I had said; ‘what would you do if you were president for a day?’ ‘What would you do if you had power for a day?’ ‘What would you do if you were that young man that was locked up in the penitentiary for a crime that you never committed?’ ‘What would you do if you were the young man sitting under the bridge and you do not have food to eat?’ ‘You can’t even cry no more because you are so weak and frail?’ We are all citizens in this country right now and we know that things are not moving in the way it should be. There are major hurdles in this country apart from basic necessities which is the major issues like food, light, water, good roads and all of that. We still have economic challenges-it is tough. I call Nigeria the jungle. It is survival of the fittest out here.

What new stuff do you have in these new songs that would make people accept conscious songs?
It is just me speaking the truth. There is nothing extra or out of the ordinary. What makes it unique is the melody, the delivery and of course the message. When people can listen to your music and relate with it, I have delivered my message. That to me is what it is. Relatable messages and that is what I am bringing. I’m not trying to give you more party tracks without any message. I am particular about the message I dish out, be it a party or anywhere.

Any plan to immortalize the legacies of your father?
Definitely, that would be in the future but right now, I am focusing on my songs. It is not going to be a one or two years stuff, it is a lifetime thing. All of that would be put in place as time goes on. We are going to kick off with his remembrance like the way we do the Bob Marley Day. Kimono Day is something that is worth celebrating. He has fans all across the world not just Nigeria. We can have a Kimono Day in Lagos, a Kimono Day in Las Vegas, Germany etc. That is something I hope would come to stay as we keep at it.

Source: http://newstimesafrica.com/headlines/im-still-trying-to-adjust-to-my-new-status-as-an-orphan-late-kimonos-daughter-drops-two-singles/

Government Needs To Patronise Local Contractors More – Ishaq Ibrahim
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May 17, 2019 Admin20Leave A Comment On Government Needs To Patronise Local Contractors More – Ishaq Ibrahim

It takes only nano-seconds for anyone hearing the name Ishaq Ibrahim to make some casual connection with Isyaku Rabiu. You won’t be wrong for, in deed, both of them are from Kano, both are into construction even though they are not related.
Even so, the lesser known Ishaq is holding his own credibly as a builder with a construction firm, Technocrats Engineering Limited, where he is CEO. Technocrats Engineering isn’t quite a household name as the multinationals you know, Julius Berger plc, for instance.
But Technocrats’ architectural works are everywhere around the country, from east to west, north to south, your local bank, for example, or the house of a prominent individual where you are invited for lunches or dinners. As the CEO discloses to newstimesafrica, Nigerian builders are competent enough, as far as construction is concerned, if only the Federal and State governments are willing to change the existing rules that favour foreign companies…

How long have you been in the construction business?
I have been in it for a long time. I remember when my father in Kano then goes to get contracts from government and I accompany him to the construction site where you hire labourers, workmen, artisans and all of that, put them together either for drainage works, culverts, renovation of buildings, roads, among others. He was into it.

I developed interest in seeing that kind of activity at that early age; sometimes from nothing to something. You see roads and no drainage on both sides, suddenly you see very nice drainages coming up, box drainage sometimes called culverts and all that. I picked interest from there. I read Quantity Surveying which is an aspect of the building industry. What really attracted me to reading Quantity Surveying was because at that time, the way he conducts his business, it was not so technical like it is now. They just go to the local government and because they know them, they give them an award letter and tell them what to do. They wouldn’t have sat back to say this is a drawing, go and cost it. Look at how much you want to do it, so they would factor in their profits and all of that. No. They just take these jobs because they needed them and then they go execute, whatever comes out is their profit. But now you can predetermine the profit you make on any contract. I kept asking him, how much he is going to spend on it and what is his profit? He says of course there is profit, if there is no profit, they won’t give them in the first instance meaning that he doesn’t even know what is likely to be his profits. They just dabble into it and whatever they make out of it becomes their profit. So, I got to know that there is a course called Quantity Surveying which is just like construction estimator which estimates the cost of constructions from labour to plants and equipment and materials so that you can predetermine what is the entire cost of construction – roads, bridges, dams, heavy engineering works and all of that.

In most cases for our parents there is no dichotomy between overhead and profit, everything that comes becomes a profit. At the end of the day when they give a project of N100,000 and the balance they get is N20,000, they believe they have made a profit of N20,000 out of it. That affected my curiosity to search for how it can be done better.

What are the challenges in this line of business?
The challenges have to do entirely with government. Nigerian government does not really believe in local contents, they don’t believe in the ability of the building industry. Look at it, Julius Berger has been in Nigeria for a very long time, they were small when they came into Nigeria but because of the level of patronage and our belief in foreign neocolonialism, all government projects are handled by Julius Berger. When I say all, I am talking about the heavy industrialized projects; that way they were able to make so much profit that they expanded, bought equipment that even government does not have and today they have become indispensable.

Then, they were very small but because you kept feeding them with a lot of projects, all they need do was to go out of the country, bring some technical aids into the projects then execute. You may not know that most of the people on the Julius Berger site are not really on their payroll. They go out, source for all these guys and they come to execute your bridges, rails, airports etc. and those ones go back and the money remains in the company and they use it to expand. Look at Cappa and D’ Alberto, I’m told they have projects till 2023; that some clients are prepared to wait. That is how bad the situation is. Meanwhile when you go to those sites, majority of the people you find there are Nigerians. Only a few engineers and site supervisors you see. Government patronage for indigenous construction firms is very low. They only give you if they must give you because you are close to them or projects the foreigners cannot take.

Secondly, there are no concessions like, for instance, building materials. The cost of building materials and specialized building materials are high. We don’t manufacture them here in Nigeria. Most of them are imported at a very high cost and some of these imported materials cannot favourably adapt to our climate like industrialized buildings. Materials that were used are not those that were researched into for this climate and so, over time, you find out that the cost of maintenance becomes high.

Again, government does not really prioritise infrastructure in Nigeria. There is so much government can do through the building industry, so much can engage many people, reduce unemployment but if you look at housing estates, how many can you really point at in this country? Very few! I am talking about 1000 and above houses except Gwarimpa in Abuja which is about the largest in West Africa, outside that there is none. 1004 in Lagos have just 1000 flats. We don’t have massive funding for housing and even infrastructure – good roads, roads that have like five lanes on both sides. That way you engage idle hands and some of them will be encouraged to learn one trade or the other and you reduce unemployment. Infrastructure can be used also as economic booster because if you do like the fourth mainland bridge you toll it. You have made life easier for people. They don’t need to drive all the way to Falomo to connect and heat up everywhere. It has so many ripple effects on our economy. For example, again, we are told we consume about 60m litres of fuel in a day, it will be so because of traffic but if you expand the roads, you would have multiple options where people can drive to wherever they are going. The challenges are massive because government does not see construction as a veritable option for economic development.

There are so many requirements to bid for a project in Nigeria. We have over 20 requirements. I have ever thought that the requirement for anything would just be your ability to deliver, your capability but no, you would be asked for all kinds of documentations that are not directly relevant to the subject. For instance, you are asked to go and bring three years tax whatever, go and bring PENCOM, NSITF, Bureau of Public Procurement, etc. All these are documents that if you are given a contract, those agencies should do their jobs. It shouldn’t be a condition for me to get a contract. If a company is awarded a contract, the tax office should know that they should go and collect their tax. You cannot say no, I cannot give you contract because I have not paid tax. What is the relationship? Are you helping the tax people to collect tax to do their job? Are you helping PENCOM to enforce their laws? No, they go to organisations, ask questions. Then you make the process so cumbersome and unachievable. How many young firms can meet up those conditions? There is another one they call Group Life for your staff, you will do PENCOM itself, then you do performance bond with another insurance company, then you go and pay national social insurance trust fund, you pay that for like 11 years in retrospect. You also pay industrial training fund; the list is endless because you want to earn a contract. The question is when you put all these encumbrances together – and these are not a guarantee that once you get all these documents contract is there waiting for you – no, it is just to make you eligible to bid for these projects and that is the end of it.

The challenges are just enormous and contract does not come every day. You need an office, you pay office rent, pay staff salary, running cost in the office, office equipment, etc. How do you cope? And it is not as if government believes in indigenous companies to say the contracts were prioritized so that we can easily get some of these contracts and then expand. That is why the big companies and sometimes some of our rich individuals go abroad to get contractors to build structures for them in Nigeria. Look at our young ones here in Nigeria, most of the Togolese have taken over the artisan jobs. If you want a good plasterer, mason among others go to Cotonou, Ghana, Togo.

Given your experience in this business, the Apapa, Surulere, Okota, Ikorodu roads axis have been littered with articulated vehicles especially on the bridges, what does that portend?
It is a reflection of how we manage our activities. In the first instance, those bridges are not meant for static loads. We have dynamic load, we have static load. The bridges itself are loads on themselves. Then we have the super imposed loads and we have the dead weight. If you put all these factors together, the bridges are being subjected to very high load and with time, there will be consequences. Those bridges are designed for specific weight. The bridge cannot take any weight put on it.
And then when a vehicle, no matter how heavy a vehicle is and is in transit, the bridge can accommodate the weight but when it becomes static for a long time, then there is danger but of course government hardly cares because whatever happens to those bridges is not going to be taken care of by their resources. If you look at the traffic jam it creates, it slows down economy- time is wasted. A lot of people burn unnecessary fuel to get to where they are going. Then on our health, the stress but our leaders have siren wherever they are going and if anything happens to the bridge all they need do is to sign another contract for its repair. They don’t see it the way we see it but it is really unfortunate.

What is the way forward for government to encourage indigenous contractors?
You are churning out engineers by the day. Most of the universities in the country churn out very brilliant engineers, you should begin to plan how you accommodate them. You cannot be churning out graduates of engineering, architecture, and all of that in the building industry and there are no provisions for them but when you encourage smaller construction firms you can categorise them – complex projects, projects that are unique in nature can be handled by multinational construction companies but not construction of box buildings, offices, street roads, culverts, government buildings in Abuja secretariat and all of that.

You could say the likes of railways, dams, power stations, massive water treatment plants, cesspools, etc, are specialized projects but how many of such projects do we have? Very few! Look at the railways they are doing, it has taken us more than 10 years to get it done. You can split some of these projects for indigenous construction firms. You do the platforms, piling, rail-tracks and all that. They can split it for Nigerians. You need to test them. You cannot just write them off. It is even an indictment that you are churning out engineers you don’t trust that can perform. This is one of the easiest way government can deflate the unemployment scenarios that we have. Make it less cumbersome for construction firms to bid for projects. During the time of NITEL, before you get a landline, you have like almost 25 lists of items, today, you buy a sim card for N200 or N500 and you are already online. When we are telling them then, it was as if it was not possible, today everybody can see. Try indigenous construction companies, these guys are fantastic, very good. They will give you equally good product. I don’t know where it came from that we don’t trust one another. It is like a prophet who is not respected in his domain. If we continue this neo-colonialism, we will continue to have what we have now. You go to get a job, they say bring five years’ experience, how do you get the experience when you have never been employed? If I want to employ more people now, I need to employ based on the facts that there are projects. Maybe the National Assembly should be encouraged to bring up a law that certain categories of projects must be handled by local contractors. And then you encourage private individuals and corporate bodies to key in into that idea, when they fail there are punitive measures. Try them, let them fail, there are punitive measures you can take. You can even foresee failure. Projects do not come up overnight. There are stages and there are tests that would be carried out. There are so many procedures you can monitor and it will not fail. There are professional construction companies owned by professionals in the building industry and there are construction companies owned by businessmen. There is nothing wrong with that arrangement for as long as the qualified staff are employed to handle these projects. Government can monitor what is going on.

Before substructure is done you do your investigation, the type of foundation that is supposed to be there and after that, the design of the substructure is there. You ensure the right materials with the right supervision and all of that and then stage by stage, overtime, these construction companies would develop. Nobody will be waiting till 2023 to have his project done. There are professionals that can deliver. So, it is either by law or by encouragement.

Can you tell us some projects you have embarked upon?
We have done quite a few. When we set out, we didn’t set out to carve a niche in the financial industry but fortunately most of our jobs are banks, financial institutions. We have done more branches than any private projects we have done. In, fact, I will say that 97 per cent of our projects have been bank branches – various bank branches all over the country. It is just about three per cents are probably individual projects. We get more of those jobs from the banks than the general public. We have built a school, private residence, a few of them like that. What those banks wanted is your ability to deliver if you have the capacity to do it. That is why they are able to build 400 to 500 branches and they are standing, you hardly hear of any bank collapse because they were not interested in bringing stuff that are not related to your ability, let PENCOM do their jobs.

Source : http://newstimesafrica.com/news/government-needs-to-patronise-local-contractors-more-ishaq-ibrahim/

*BREAKINGNEWS*

A NIGERIAN LADY OF IGBO EXTRACTION breaks 100 years Record In Indian University.

Emelife Stella Chinelo is all over the news in India for her exceptional brilliance.

She was named the best graduating student in the University Of Mysore India. Chinelo graduated from the Department of Chemistry and bagged 20 gold medals and five cash prizes, at the 99th Convocation of University of Mysore (UoM)

She received the Maximum Gold medals available in the institution.

Nobody in the history of that university have ever won 20 gold medals!

In her acceptance speech she gave glory to God and her parents for support.

She expressed her wish to pursue research in Cancer to find treatment for its cure as many people in her country were affected by this dreaded disease.

She said that she also had plans to turn mounds of industrial waste into useful materials by pursuing research in this field.

Congratulations!!!!
#shared

U are comfortable now and now u know u don't luv her. Trust me I will put a gun on your head and blow ur brains off. You don't deserve to breath.

Ubi wronged me too and I am waiting for a day to see him face to face and I will tell him the story of his life both the time of inyanya and Tekno. Honestly dude is a motherf..ker

Nobody should login into the facebook page this website directs you to.They are using it to steal your facebook login info.That facebook page is fake .check the url it's not facebook.com

Adewoyin123:
Please dear fellow nairalanders. The company I work with suspends all activities for the past 4 months due to d unavailability of funds by the government to execute contracts given to them. Ccecc.. 95percent of the staffs are sacked and I happen to be a victim. Sincerely I just have to swallow d pride and come out here. Since all means to get a job has been to no avail. Pls if there's anyone who can get me an employment within Lagos here, Pls do so as to enable me get something doing and as well keep up with d financial running of my family. I'm married with a kid and it's looks most difficult to keep d family functioning. 08109483019 is my number ....thanks God bless and have a blessed day ahead

From your name u are APC so plz ask buhari for a new job.Gud luck

Mouth Gig:
WHO TAKES THE US SERIOUS DIS TIME, WHEN DEM GET ONE slowpoke FOR WHITE HOUSE... . ALL DIS ONLINE IMBECILES DEY CONSOLE DIA NIGGA ASS..

US MY VOMIT


SAI BABA BUHARI..


GOD BLESS AND PROTECT BUHARI


GOD BLESS NIGERIA

The US is far better than u think. They dictate how the world is run for your information. U are very insignificant in matters Like this. When you know much about international politics and interest maybe u will calm down. Just whine yourself and put ur black ass back to ur cocoon . That's why Hitler called blacks half Apes (because of people like u)

malali:
USA Embassy should not meddle with our elections or sovereignty
When TRUMP shut down the embassy for 35 days where was the voice of the USA embassy
Black people are killed every day in the USA....Where is the voice of the USA EMBASSY
Looted funds are taken to American accounts and used to support American Economy Where is the voice of the embassy
When Trump called our whole continent shit-hole where was the voice of the embassy
When The USA resident journalist was slaughtered in an embassy of Turkey...kashoggi........You were not this loud.....Now all of a sudden we can hear your voice
Trump fired James Comey,FBI director,fired jeff sessions, Attorney general of USA....We are yet to hear your voice on such issues....USA Embassy
Can you please stick to issuing visas and let Nigerians run Nigeria

USA Embassy we know you care.....Thanks for caring.

The US is far better than u think. They dictate how the world is run for your information. U are very insignificant in matters Like this. When you know much about international politics and interest maybe u will calm down. Just whine yourself and put ur black ass back to ur cocoon . That's why Hitler called blacks half Apes (because of people like u)

Nice gospel tune. So inspiring

I am setting up a cosmetics company with a known brand name in Nigeria. I have travelled out of the country to meet with my manufacturer and get things set up. I need an investor that will put in up to 5 million for the product and launching . The investor can have his money back with profit after the launch or if you want to have a share in the company we can work that out . You can reach me on 08068780509 or chomacintl@gmail.com for more info.

I am setting up a cosmetics company with a known brand name in Nigeria. I have travelled out of the country to meet with my manufacturer and get things set up. I need an investor that will put in up to 5 million for the product and launching . The investor can have his money back with profit after the launch or if you want to have a share in the company we can work that out . You can reach me on 08068780509 or chomacintl@gmail.com for more info.

Yes .mine expired and I got another one and my old passport number was also included in the new passport .It's normal