₦airaland Forum

@Naijababe,
You no serious o. lol. Me pretender? Say weytin happen? Well, just going by what I remember from way back,  Each time I visit Naija, I don't miss that executive  buka in surulere : "Olaya"
Just can't stand it when the personnel are being rude to the customers.

@Dayokanu
I love your description 

You are talking about per plate meals, I am talking about Pay as you go meals

Per plate meal = Everything you get served is put into a plate/bowl and you are charged for the plate.

Pay as you go meal = Mama put, where they keep scratching the spoon against the pot as if the food is almost finish,
                                   and when you think you have enough you can affoord on the plate, you say: "e don do"

LMAO.

@Cappo28
I am feeling you big time.
We need to endeavour to change our medieval/colonial mind-set and start loving and appreciating our own, 'cos if we don't nobody will. Self-respect, showing appreciation where due, staying informed, getting the right exposure etc are right steps in the right direction towards self-determination and empowerment!

What a useless thread. If you want to move over, MOVE! Who phucking cares how much you earn or want to??!!

GBAM!!

The topic of the thread is about moving home, and it's been ranting on about 2m Naira a month salary. It's def good to rub minds on issues, at the end of the day your evaluation and decision making skills/knowledge will be final and decisive. If you think you deserve a 2M Naira monthly salary, your efforts should be geared towards convincing your future employer what your added values will be to his/her company to deserve it.

I am so disappointed in my wife. we have been married for 2 months now. i always thought i was about 2 years older than her  only to find out that she is actually 3 years older after a year  of marriage. I am very disgusted because under no circumstances did i think i will marry a lady that much older than me. I told her that age was a big criteria before we got married. Its not fair that she should do this to me. We dated for 3 years before we tied the knot . I am already 33 and she is actually about 36 by her confession. We are having problems conceiving that's why she confessed. Doctors say female fertility drops with age. Fertility even drops further after 35. I am really disgusted with her. I feel all the love I had evaporating. I really don't think I can continue with the marriage. Its just too early for a separation. I hate any thing based on lies. Please folks advise me cos i am currently looking a younger girls still in the university.

Poster,
You seem to be more bothered about her age than the fact that you've been lied to. Is it the number you love or the person and the package the makes up the invidivual i.e. character trait, personality, outlook on life etc.
I wld think the issue on conceiving should not be exagerated at this point, since she is not beyond 40 yet, so medically, that shouldn't be an issue under normal circumstances. And you said "we are having problems conceiving" have you had yourself checked? 'cos it takes two, as they say. I hope for the best for you. Good luck.

God will deal with all of you that have become judges over a Man of God,  its not your prerogative to say any thing especially negative,  na wah oh

Since when did you become the judge of who God will deal with? You sound like a real man of God!

Is that for real?or just photoshopped?Will JEG be that naive to bow for an illusionist like adeboye?

It woun't surprise me if it's real, these clowns called leaders in Nigeria will go to any length to fool the average Nigerian. And the so-called men of God are not left out in the drama!

“if you doubt ask the rich who have terminal sickness or doesn't have children,ask the first-class student who goes mental or doesn't have a job,ask the pastor who delivers people but ends up despoiling a child or losing his family to accident,it goes on and on”

This is typical, isn’t it? Well, where do I start?
On people who are sick, isn’t being sick part of human existence?
The fact that you were given birth to, is not a guarantee that you will in turn give birth to someone.
And to think that there will be enough jobs to go round for everyone at any given point in time is an illusion.
These are all part of the challenges of life. If we do not get to deal with challenges in life, life will be incomplete and we will become complacent of the good things of life.
And I guess what the poster is trying to assert is, you do not need to have enemies to experience the challenges of life. Why attribute such to the existence of some virtual enemy without any reasonable conviction? Is it because you want people to feel sorry for you? Or are you seeking agony company? One will be stronger dealing with life’s challenges by approaching things from your point of strength.
On religion and beliefs: They are both like expectations, if you expect to go from point A to point B and you don’t get moving, well, we all know what the result will be.

It's also a business project that has ready and willing clients, hence you hear the Pastors preaching this topic all the time, and the musicians are not left out.

Vadewoyin,
I could not thank you enough for bringing up this topic. I have had extensive discussions with friends on this issue.   I agree with most part of Cheik’ analogy below.
If you look through history, developed cultures are cultures where people have elevated themselves from battling the invisible enemy to the visible enemy. What applies in the Nigerian setting is that a lot of people tend to attribute their short-comings / misfortunes to some invisible forces, by so doing exonerating themselves of blames within their control. Naturally, the process of growth and development will be to acknowledge and admit ones faults and try to learn from them. Then try to do things differently in other to achieve a better outcome. That’s why you see a lot of black people making the same mistakes over and over again. This trail of thought existed in the dark ages in Europe aswel i.e. The Spanish inquisition. The religious institutions are not without blames in this, I know religion can been soothing and comforting, but I think the appeal to the individual’s responsibilities and duty in taking pragmatic steps in solving their challenges are far too under-played.
In Nigeria and some African countries, kids that face psychological challenges and people who suffer dementia are often branded as witches and are tortured and even killed.
Arguably, the largest source of human knowledge is SCIENCE. Lacking the scientific explanation to some events, and by so doing attributing them to some imaginary forces, I consider a cheap cup out!
I dare to make a parallel that the current state of our under-development and the fact that a lot the mysteries and shamble that prevail in Nigeria today stems from this mentality!

Cheik, Kudos for you insight and contribution.

Most Nigerians are intellectually lazy and irresponsible hence imaginary(other) enemies must be blamed for every misfortune including reckless driving. Nigerians never take responsibility for their own action/inaction. Most Nigerian communities rarely acknowledge death naturally without ascribing the cause of death to some imaginary 'enemies' etc. Nigerians want immediate gratification preferably wealth, hence the rapid exponential growth in all manner of places of religious worship everywhere(christian or Islam). Nigeria is fertile ground for any imaginative religious zealot/demagogue, for Nigerians are very gullible. It's inherent and an extension of their so called African tradition/ culture which naturally predates the two major conquest religions(Christianity and Islam) pervasive in Nigeria. Christianity and in traditional African belief, 'enemies' are acknowledged to be everywhere or blamed whereas in Islam it's usually 'Allah's will' so the Nigerian have ready made excuse to be fatalistic. Did Mantu not ascribe his failure of the Hajj organisation during OBJ presidency, that it's 'Allah's Will'? Nigerians will always have real or imaginary 'enemies' because it absolves them from taking 'Responsibility'

pls send the email to this address, thank you

amster_1@hotmail.com

Hi Lexis,
I am interested. Kindly send me the pictures of the property at: Lerroys70@yahoo.com
Cheers.

@Tamita,
Yep. I live in NL. You too?

Hi Mbembe,
You may drop me a line at: lerroy70atyahoo.com
I might able to give you a few tips base on your enquiry.
Pls write in the subject of your e-mail (NAIRALAND)
Good luck.

@Wrex

I don't really support it.I prefer having my own room to myself because i am a kind of person that needs privacy all the time.

You need privacy all the time? from your partner/wife? Not even sometime, but all the time? What have you got to hide? Are you into rituals? 

spoke=spoken! ;-) lol.

@Okunoba

Attacking Ojo Mmaduekwe or the way he speaks, isn`t attacking Ndigbo, just like attacking Obansanjo isn`t attacking Yoruba people. Many Nigerians have issues with their identity, that is y they don`t think it`s kool to have a Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa  or any Nigerian accent when speaking English.

You have spoke well and with wisdom! That is what colonial mentality and inferiority complex has done to us generations over. As if all the people who have English as their native language all have same accent!

@Franko

In Holland, u wont find them a lot, rich or poor, because they just keep there heads down, or are involved in 'hustle' to survive and make ends meet.

Franko, the above statement reflects how little you know about the Nigerian community in Holland. I am a Nigerian residing and working in Holland, I work with a major bank as Treasury Analyst (I have held various positions within same bank prior to this). In case you want to know more on Nigerians holding top positions within blue chip companies in Holland, I will be glad to fill you in. You may be right by saying that, it's always good to watch out not to mix with riff-raffs, I guess that's only logical if you want to maintain and uphold specific standard.

People,
I happened to stumble upon this very interesting discussion thread, I throw salute to all the contributors, the level of discussion and the inclusion of some jokes here and there is very impressive.
Here comes my 2cents, as far as I understand the roots of what has come to be the credit crisis.
1. Some clever guys came together to develop some complex financial products i.e. CDO’ (Collateralised debt obligation), CDS’ (Credit default swaps). These sorts of products do have a general name: ABS (Asset backed securities). In the case of the securities instruments that led to the credit crisis, backing assets were sub-prime American mortgages.
2. In the process of transaction, there were all sorts of parties involved each with its own commercial interest. Paramount among them brokers and intermediaries. (They get paid a % of the transaction for bringing buyers and sellers in contact). Their part is done, and off they are to the Bahamas or some other sunny holiday resort, depending on the size of the deal.
3. That brings us to the rating agencies: The standard & poors and the Moodies of this world.  They rate these financial products on specific variables, after which they are accorded a rating. Depending on how high some of these products are rated, that will determine their demand on the market place.
4. At some point, these products get securitized: all bundled together and brought to the exchanges to be sold to investors. Some of these rating agencies responsible for the rating of these products were also involved in this process. Most of these products were rated high by the rating agencies. Why should we expect otherwise?
5. Going back to bullet point 1, these securitised products were back by the sub-prime mortgage in the US. As long as the housing market bubble in the US grew, there was no issue, all parties were happy. I personally think the question we should have asked back then was how come the housing market in the US recorded an increase in value of between 100% & 200% in some cases in a few years time without a corresponding increase in income? A bit of ecomomics, should have revealed that there was artificial growth being created.
- Mortgages/houses were sold to people who could not afford them and with high risk of default.
- These mortgages were sold with an interest form known as: ARM (Adjustable rate mortgage). This is a form of interest rate you pay low rates in the beginning and can arbitrarily increase with very wide margin year-to-year.
- Initially, the buyers of these mortgages were able to service their mortgages due to the low rates. And then came the increase, and then the defaulting, and then the fore-closures, and then the end of the bubble. The rest is history.

6. These resulted in the securities backed by these mortgages becoming worthless, because the assets backing them had dropped drastically in value. Banks, pensions companies and other investors had to start re-valuing their portfolios, leading to billion-dollar write-downs depending on how deep the banks were in these contaminated products.
7. It’s not up to me to point fingers, and it’s not my thing to do. I try to learn from every situation. But looking at the facts, a lot of information was grossly mis-represented by some parties for obvious reasons. Financially, the actions of these so-called smart guys has set the world backward decades financially. Leaving us with no options that to be rescued by the same people (The government/tax payers) they have seriously taken for a ride.
8. I am not going to exonerate the investors from their responsibilities either, but when people seek professional service, they do this because they are lacking the necessary professional knowledge and know-how in taking specific decisions.

@ Debosky, #118 we all know by now that life isn’t fair, but if we are going to approach everything we do in life with such machiavelistic inclination, it will only bring us back to what applied in the dark ages. Further, in as much as life isn’t fair, in all regulations and international conventions, there is always a clause of proportionality.
“As long as the bankers are following the rules of their industry, doing what they are supposed to do according to the law”

Yes, they didn’t do anything wrong according to the law, at least it’s not been proven yet. One of the reasons for this fact is because; laws dealing with complex issues are always re-active. With emphasis on re-active, these are clever guys who have attended the best universities in the world and are connected at all levels.
With Enron and Worldcom, we thought we had seen the worst, after the Enron and Worldcom debacle, new regulations were created to prevent re-occurrence i.e. Soxa (Sobhan Oxley), ISDA upgrade, BASEL-II (upgrade) etc
But these companies/banks do have corporate values and societal responsibilities. Not talking about the ethical and moral responsibilities they have towards the society.
When one of the most terrible crimes in human history (slavery) was perpetuated, it wasn’t wrong according to a lot of laws, but that does not make it right.

I am out of time, this topic has my interest, and I find all the contributions very interesting,  Thought I’d shed my light,  I know I should expect, comments, criticism etc. Will only make the discussion more interesting as long as it remains civil as it has been so far.

@Akigbemaru,

Your papa and your midget mother are idiots. Yeah, being a Yoruba statesman, he has right to talk about MEND's vandalism, I have told you that before, then I said it again. Sanusi's intention is so obscured. Now, he's saying that they are committed to Islamic banking; they will fail if they bring that to Nigeria. The first class bankers got to these positions by the dint of their strivings. Not a stupid opportunist like Sanusi, who read just Sharia Law. Charlatans and nonentity would reck Nigeria. Anyway, last year, America being the largest consumer of Nigerian crude oil flew the first plane without fuel from Houston to NYC. This year again, even the exhibition is currently going on and it would end by Oct. 2009. A commercial bus without fuel, it's powered by hydrogen and electric and it is estimated to finally circulate nationwide in USA by 2015. That tells you, no more dependence on fuel. Then, Nigeria will need to think out of box then.

The first sentence of your above contribution sort of blurrs the rest of the valid and objective points you've tried making. That was uncalled for, in my opinion. We can disagree without necessarily being dis-agreable.

Waleluv,
I am afraid I am not very informed on how the Banks in Nigeria make their money.
From the scratch, in a normal setting, the basis of the income of banks comes from Borrowing and Lending.
See how much interest you receive on your funds if you deposit at the Bank and compare this with the interest rate you pay if you borrow money from the bank. The gap / margin/spead which of these you might want to call it.
On a bit higher level, you have banks that have financial experts in service who looks at the needs of individual clients and come up with specific financial solutions to the clients problems i.e. Clients who might have exposures in Foreign exchange due to international trade or client who might have exposures in the areas of interest rates fluctuation. This sort of tailored transactions are called OTC (Over the counter). These Banks will close a deal with the client, and close another back-2-back deal with another Bank, so they will not be left with an open position and exposure.
Further, you have investment Banks who have investment Bankers in service, they advice companies on M&A (Mergers & acquisition), they also guide companies that wants to generate fund from the public arena by enlisting on the stock exchange i.e. IPO / PO.

On a broader note, inflation is linked to a lot of economic indicators i.e.

1. Interest rate: Apart from being an economic tool to stimulate or slow down the economy (prevent inflation), the interest rate is also meant to compensate inflationary differences. i.e. When you deposit money with the bank, you are not using it for any investment purposes, and over time, the chances that the deposited funds  will buy you same value of good and services at a later date is remote. In a normal economy, the interest rates paid on your deposit is to compensate this difference (inflation)

2. Balance of payment: In an economy where inflation is high (un-usually high funds chasing few available goods and service) this leads to a price increase spiral, making locally produced goods and service very expensive and less competitive to goods and services of countries where inflation is lower. This will push foreign investors to go for the less expensive goods and services of your competitors. This way, there will be less foreign funds flowing into your economy and this will increase pressure on your currency.

3. Unemployment: In an economy where inflation is high, investors tend to postpone any form of capital investment due to the following reasons: Interest rates are high and makes borrowing more expensive. Prices of raw materials are high. By postponing investments, this reduces the demand for goods and  services, eventually impacting the employment market.

4. Pension: In controlled and regulated economies, the pension paid out to pensioners are indexed yearly inline with the rate of inflation, this is done to compensate for the loss of  or otherwise of purchasing power (gap) that might arise as a result of the shift in inflation rates over time. This is also taking into account when estimating the probable premium that we are required to pay for our pension premium.
I hope this will shed more light into inflation, it’s a different way of looking at inflation and it links with other economy indicators / tools.

why would anybody charge 2 year rent?
did they pay you in advance for 2 years where you work?
so where are you supposed to get 1.5million rent from when you take home 200k?
borrow or what?

- The reason anybody would charge 2 year rent is, because in an environment as ours, the chances of default is extremely  high.

did they pay you in advance for 2 years where you work

?
Nope, you are not paid 2 years in advance. What you could do is; Go to the bank and take a loan and pay 2 digit interest rates. Same ordeal property owners are facing having taken loans to build the properties.

So where are you supposed to get 1.5million rent from when you take home 200k?borrow or what?

You could go look for a property that is commensurate with your pocket. I am sure there are houses below 1.5 million.

All I am trying to say is that, there are other social economic issues to be resolved before coming to the issue of advance rental payments. We do not have in place the socio-economic safety net i.e. social security, un-employment benefit etc, that otherwise will offer both the landlord and tenant a breathing space in the event that the tenant is temporarily unable to meet his tenancy obligations.
I am talking from experience, I have properties in Nigeria. I have been trying to eject one of the tenants for the past one year. I have given them a grace of 8 months rental, ‘cos my lawyer says that will make then leave sooner. And for the same reason, we have gone to court and they signed an undertaking sanctioned by the court saying the will leave by April ’09. Not having paid rental for eight months prior to April, they are still in my property as I write now. We had to wait for the time to expire, and then get the court to have the agreement doc signed by the CJ, and then get the martials to execute the court’s decision. That is if we eventually get the court’ final decision, ‘cos the court sitting has been postponed a few times, ‘cos the judge was ill. In the meantime this people are still occupying my property without paying any rent.
There’s also another one with similar story, he hasn’t paid his rents for 7 months either.
Imagine I would have taken a loan from the bank to build the property, relying on the cashflows from the rents to upset the bank loan; I will be experiencing a micro crisis at the moment.
For all I care, the Lagos state government can pass a law compelling property owners to charge rents weekly. On the other hand, there has to be some sort of balance to defend the interests of both property owners and tenants. I.e. they might want to include in the law, that in the event that a tenant defaults on a month’s rental, his/her tenancy will be automatically forfeited and will have another 2 weeks to vacate the property. And no prolongation of issues by the courts exposing the property owner to more revenue loses that will not be not be compensated for by any institution.

Hi Ichommy,
Find below the swift add of GTB in Lagos:

GTBINGLAXXX GUARANTY TRUST BANK LIMITED LAGOS NIGERIA

Ciao,

Poster,
You come accross as decent and upright, but this is one side of the story.
Personally, I must say the experiences you've described in your post are very unfortunate. While life and being in a relationship has all the potentials to be great and wonderful, your experiences have been the opposite. Having said this though, it might also be very important to have some sort of self reflection and self-criticism as it were, since it takes two.

are a complete nightmare and turn a sane individual into a frustrated bitch!

People will take you as far as you let them, in as much as we are products of our experiences and other factors, I will say: do not allow yourself to be put down and be turned into a bitch (as you said) by these individuals. Try and break yourself from the negative impact of these experiences. The heroine lies in you! Time will heal your pain and in due course you will meet the kind of people you bring you the love, peace and harmony you deserve.
But if you allow negative experiences to take over and dominate you, you might come accross the right guys and lose them 'cos of your negative radiations without you knowing it. Or they might sence this and scram.
We are often surrounded by happiness and peace. We can make our cups either half-full or half-empty.
Be good and good luck with life.

When will all these madness stop in Nigeria?
Sapeleguy, you come across as though you might be educated, but you seem to be playing stupid all in the name of showing support for some old-age culture and tradition. There is nothing wrong in upholding some things from our cultures, but do we have to remain backward and allow medieval values to deprive us of development and civilization?
I am still yet to read any rational / objective arguments from you as to how this measure from the Oba will contribute to the well-being of the Edo people. So long you are not forth-coming with such, this only makes it more obvious that this measure is crap.

Poster,
Like someone already mentioned, what's the big deal?!
For you information, the present president of the world, Mr Obama was not raised under his fathers care. He has ended up too well, beyond what most children raised by their biological parents will ever achieve.  Spread the love if you have it, it will only make the world a better place.

@ElRazur

am  compiling a list of shady car dealers, and your name will be on it.

Good idea, ElRazur.

Mr Seller / Frendl,
Potential buyers are asking legitimate question on the car (Nice ride though) you are offering for sale, and the only answer you can come up with in your defence is:

Jealousy,  Still available

,  Then I am compelled to say you are an extremely mediocre / low-level marketeer, and by your reaction, you are increasing the odds against yourself.

@IYKE

Think about it, what would cause someone with a "decent" salary (lets say $80K to $100K+) in corporate America to trade living in America for Nigeria? Sure they may be offered N12million to N20million+ and with some other benefits, but if you factor in all the other hassles that they have to contend with in Nigeria (lack of - light, roads, health care, schools, fill in the blank) is it really worth it?  I guess that's the question each person abroad has to answer before deciding to accept an offer with corporate Nigeria. 

Speaking for myself and at this stage in my life, its only money that will make me to accept an offer with corporate Nigeria, and it has to be at least twice what my current combined family income is, and based on my math, it looks like I may just be here for a very long time!  I have seen a friend of mine who is a top assistant to the head of a telecom outfit in Nigeria in action, I have seen his oga and the staff in action, and there is very little to be desired there.  Its really hard imagining going to work there every day - unless of course the price is right!

True talk Mr Iyke.
I work in the financial sector, and my company decided to off-shore job positions to India about six years ago. I was one of the trainers who trained the Indian colleagues that came over from India (Classroom and on-the-job). Intellectually, they are not any better than an average Nigerian. But the "Nigerian elements / factors" some of which have been rightly mentioned by Iyke constitute enormous stumbling blocks that will require extraordinary financial insentives to persuade some good professionals from Diaspora to consider returning home.

@ Asha.

You may argue about many things if the subject of your discussion is D’banj, but one thing we all can’t take away from him is the fact that women, both young and old, are crazy about him.

BS. The same applies to stars like Mick Jagger, Stephen Tyler (Aerosmith), Ozzy Osborn and the list goes on. I must say though that D'Banj is far good looking than these guys, but the fact remains that Money and fame will make some people go to un-imagine heights, And lose all their sense of what makes a person morally valuable. This is just life!

Hell no!
I find outgoing and independent babes interesting and attractive.
Bring it on,

Imagine some property on sale in this forum going for N1.2 billion. Is there any sanity in this?

This is a question for the market to answer.

“People can afford to use ill-gotten wealth to purchase a property without mortgage at any cost provided the location is right for them”

This is part of the answer to your above question, whether ill-gotten or not, there is a lot of money circulating in Nigeria, whether these funds are circulating in the right manner / turned around properly, is another discussion. What applies is that, there is so much money chasing the properties that are available in locations where there are very high demands. The demands might be due to trend, hype, me-too syndrom etc
Of course, the global economic crunch might impact the Nigerian economy i.e. oil revenue and other by-falls, but as long as the population continues to increase and there is absence of adequate and well organised policies in place to deal with this development, I am afraid the issue of house prices in Nigeria will remain a problem. The impact of the global economic downturn on the Nigerian housing market will be minimal
Talk about ill-gotten wealth, even in advance countries, this prevails aswel, ever heard of the Mardoffs and Allen Stanfords of this world?
Further, the housing market is not regulated by the government in Nigeria as applied in developed countries.
The root cause of the current global recession goes back to the US and it’s sub-prime mortgages. Mortgages sold to people who from un-set was clear that they cannot afford such mortgages. This sub-prime mortgages were further securitised (Turned into negtotiable financial instruments traded on exchanges with these mortgages and colateral).
Like some people already mentioned, the mortgage culture is not that prominent in Nigeria. Most houses in Nigeria are cash and carry fortunately or unfortunately.