₦airaland Forum

Ramanto:
I was trying to apply but had to stop when I was asked to pay 500 naira. Is that normal?

NIN verification is a requirements to apply for both the MSC and the PhD. Try to verify and validate your NIN. It costs just N500.


Though I am of the opinion that NIN verification should be free. It's more like registering a company with the CAC and then after given your RC/BN/IT number, you are now required to pay money to verify it.

hammed71:
so any plans of going back

My thesis supervisor has been trying everything within his power to make sure I get a PhD. I am very confident that next year I will get a PhD.

But the problem now is me making up my mind on leaving the country. I want to stay within the country for atleast a year before leaving. And I want to leave the country married so that I won't have to see another winter single.

That is the plan for the moment.


Sorry guys, I am in the village, I went for Christmas. I will soon update the thread as soon as I am in Abuja.

One thing we are told repeatedly in life is not to give up easily. For men, the society expects you absorb alot of life's dynamics and the tides thereof. It was with this that I decided to chest the expenses that comes with the vehicle, of course if you have bought a car, you will know you have to do some little maintenance. This was a complexity that I had to deal with, however, Hernes (2008) said that ‘the mind grappling with complexity, then becoming part of that complexity. The mind establishes labels in order to understand what is going on, but then the labels become part of what is going on.’ Throughout the month of September, I had to combine work with vehicle issues. By the end of September, I had the same conclusion as the biblical Job "What I feared most has come upon me." and T. S. Elliot summarized my life:

We shall not cease from exploration,
And the end of all our exploring,
Will be to arrive where we started,
And know the place for the first time.

I already mentioned in the previous pages about the work I do, just to recap, I have not been treated differently by life, I have had to work in a place opposite of what I studied. While the pedagogy of learning expects that skills are transferable, however, for career growth, we all need to align ourselves in one field, one that we studied anyway. So call me a tax guy, a process automation analyst, business developer, business analyst, whatever, this is what I do. I may not mention names, however, we deploy revenue applications to states, and FG and some government agencies. If I mention names, it will be very easy to decode where I work. So I spend most of my life trying to understand revenue collection from regulators (Government) reference point. I understand perfectly all state taxes, who should pay and who shouldn't pay. While in France, we got a contract to deploy Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty, Consumption Tax, Gaming Tax etc for a state government. So it's my work to decode how these could be automated, process engineer it, try to shut down accountants or tax officers technicalities and ways they reduce revenue for government. To simply put, I know alot about revenue/tax collection at state levels. This is what I do.

While I France I have been working. So the decision on coming back to the country had nothing to do with where to work, I only have no job if in France. As long as I am in the country, there are alot I can do. I am always engaged.

Before coming back to the country, I already knew I would be spending atleast one year before thinking of leaving the country again. Since I will be spending quite sometime, I need to organize myself. So I got a place rented in the capital city of Abuja and also bought a 2012 Toyota Camry, the latter will become my worst nightmare.

While standing infront of the exit door of the Abuja International Airport waiting for my friend to pick me from the airport with the newly bought car, I received a bad news. The car just turned itself off on their way to the airport. Imagine the first time of seeing your car was on a towing van? It was not my first car, what happened? How did I enter into this mess. That's for a later time, for now, I will use Bolt to leave the airport and to meet the car on the road with my sister and my friend all standing like passengers on the road.

I like to organize myself, I hate to rush things. I try my best to plan everything I do before I do them. I avoid alot of mistakes while doing this, though not in the case of this vehicle.

I have always loved Camry 2012, before leaving the country, I knew it was my next car and I worked towards it. I watched the price move from N3m to 3.5m to 4m to 5m. So while I plan my return, I already knew this was the car of my choice. I told my friends to look out for one so I don't get to spend much money on Uber/Bolt or even struggle in public transport. One of my friend in Lagos saw Tokunbo Toyota Camry, 2012 model (The way I like it) and sent me the pictures. I quickly forwarded it to my guy in Abuja who went to inspect it. He sent me the VIN and I contacted the nairaland ComputerGlobal guy for vehicle history. I ran two checks on it including the one with auction pictures, everything turned green and ready to go.

I still called my former colleague for his engine check device (forgotten the name), told my guy to go pick it, which he did, inserted it in the car and sent some pictures, there was absolutely no issue found. Since everything seem to be looking good, I proceeded to exchange euros for naira in preparation for the purchase. It was N4m and it was bought in Royal Brims Autos Mabushi Abuja (Don't ever go there).

3 days after the purchase of the vehicle, the first issue started the car was packed and unused by anyone, yet it was leaking oil. I recall asking my guy to look out for oil leakage (I later learned he wasn't very thorough, he only depends on the sound of the engine and how smooth it changes gear to make decisions) and there was no issue found. So how did this start? We changed the first oil seal, it was still dripping oil, then the next was the one between the engine and gear box, meaning they have to drop the engine. This is a car that has never been used. The registration was ongoing. They removed the engine, changed the seal and the leakage stopped, but created many problems. It was Paul Shrivastava (1987) who said that "when a triggering event occurs, spontaneous reactions by different stakeholders solve some of the immediate problems, but they also create new problems – thus prolonging the crisis and making it worse."

The new problem that was 'created' by just changing the oil seal was that the new mechanic, call him engineer, didn't only couple everything back, he also forgot to add water to the radiator, so while my friend and my sister were on their way to the airport to pick me, as they never expected anything to happen, they didn't pay attention to the temperature gauge without knowing there is no water in the radiator, the engine over heat itself, burned gasket and and the car turned itself off.

So the first time of seeing the car was on the road, in a vegetative state, hopeless and I used police to arrest the Auto Repair guy and the owner of the place (this was the next biggest mistake of all time).

So in a single day, I was welcomed back to Nigeria, became like a real Nigerian, experiencing all the deceits, fraud, and corruption that exist across the entire country. I entered my house by 11PM the day I came back, after spending the entire day at the police station with the most useless Nigerian police force.

I will go on to experience one of the worst car issues, burning more than N1m within a month, including buying a new engine for the vehicle before deciding to sell it before it takes everything I came back with


Let's continue tomorrow guys.

emeritus007:
Welcome home Mr Physics.
You have my best wishes sir.

Thanks boss

omorttee4u:
Welcome Mr physics. Feel at home anywhere as long as you are able to find that comfort.

I follow your thread for a very long term now and your zeal is an inspiration to others. I wish you best of luck in anywhere you find yourself. I'm sure you can't work just anywhere in Naija lecturing job might be fine sha. I envy your vast knowledge. Keep it up man.

Thanks bro for the warm wishes.

For the lecturing job, I haven't considered it yet, maybe later in the future. Very much engaged at the moment. Have lots of job offer within the country, fortunately, I employ, I don't look for one.

atom080:
mrphysics pls help answer the question i ask you on freelance writing on fiverr

Hey boss, there's alot already on Fiverr in the business section of nairaland. About SEO contents, just watch one or two youtube videos about it and you are good to go.

oyekan1997:
Yes. 2022/23 PTDF overseas scholarship is ongoing. I just want your general advice on writing a good motivation letter, country of study and scaling through the interview process. Thank you.

Making your SoP unique will give you an edge over others. When you read other people's SoP, don't duplicate it, try to create yours which is peculiar to you alone. Pay more attention to the first paragraph of your SoP, it should be interesting. Avoid add secondary school interests on a particular subject or how ones parent or friends always suggest a particular field to you. Look for what is current in that field, write about it, link it to oil and gas industry and thats it for you.

PTDF is a very good scholarship. I wish you the best in your application.

emeritus007:
Welcome home Mr Physics.
You have my best wishes sir.

Thank you sir. I am happy to be back and to live among you guys for sometime. Lol.

Compliment of the season!!

oyekan1997:
Welcome Mr physics, I wish you the very best of luck in your future endeavors.

By the way Mr physics, PTDF overseas scholarship is back again, what do you advice in terms of writing motivation letter, choosing country of choice and scaling through the interview process. Thank you so much.

I am not sure about any ongoing PTDF scholarship, I am only aware that last year's applicants have been shortlisted.

sauceEEP:
Welcome back to Nigeria....

Thanks bro.

It feels like I have never left the country in the first place.

finest0007:
Mixed feelings on this one. Welcome back though.

I understand bro, thanks. I am old already in the country.

As I prepared to return to the country, I had to make some hard choices. First of all, I didn't tell anyone save family that I was coming back. This was to avoid unnecessary advices from people who would discourage you from coming back but also fail to give you money to stay back and continue your life.

I had over 1 month to the expiration of my Visa, I also had the option of extending it to one year. Now, the scholarship will end August 31st 2021, from then onwards, you are on your own. My accommodation will also expire by August 31st 2021, same with almost everything. If you must continue to stay, then you must get something doing. I decided to come back. Friends over there offered to share their accommodation with them, well, as good as it sounds, I hate inconveniencing anyone. And again, I understand how it works; you stay one to two weeks and then they realize you are a burden to them.

The Nuclear Industry was the deal breaker. It's the table upon which I took my decision. The only option available was finding a PhD. It's extremely difficult to find a job in the nuclear industry without a PhD and even with a PhD, it's still very difficult. Now in France, most jobs require you to have background in same field, except you are going for the low hanging jobs like food delivery, cleaning, workshop, farm, etc. which I knew I can't do.

I weighed everything on an imaginary weighing balancing and decided to come back to this country to meet you guys

The day was 12th August 2021 as I alighted from the Turkish Airline, a connecting Flight that took us from Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport. I was excited to atleast come back home and meet my people after 2 years.

Immediately I stepped out of the plane, the air around felt very warm, I looked around and the air wasn't as clear as what I am used to in the last 2 years. I also perceived some bad air around and I knew I was back to the country.

We walked into the Port of Entry (PoE) and was greeted by some neutral looking officials. I used the word neutral because you could feel they wanted to ask for money but could not perhaps someone somewhere is watching them. They were not happy neither were they sad, they just forced themselves to do their job. No one asked for money from me, not even as I gift and I didn't give anything to anyone.

Stepped out of the Airport and being the environment I was used to before I left, I met with lots of Airport Taxi guys who were doing everything they can to drill a hole out of your pocket. Well, and sadly, this was the beginning of my problem for the next one month.

Sorry guys,

I was down with Malaria and Catarrh, the current general sickness and was unable to update the thread as I promised.

Good a thing, I am much better now and I can update you guys about my experience since I came back to the country.

So let's go.

How is everyone doing?

It's been a long time I posted on this thread.

As you may know, I am back to the country since end of August and have been with work and other engagements.

Maybe I will take a little time to narrate my return experience.

Do I miss anything in France? Maybe the clean air and security.

How are you all doing?

The chances of winning depends on the party's ability to bring out it's voters.

I see alot of lobbying and vote buying to bring people to the poling unit.

Blessing185:
People dey increase their car year of production,u dey decrease ur own..

2009 and 2010 have same body nah. This could be 2009

Modrovdeux:
So, Borno pays VAT ?

The question isn't right. States do not pay Tax. The question should be, so Borno collects VAT? Or is VAT collected in Borno States? Which is yes. For all government issued contracts including state government contracts, VAT is deducted at source. Most states especially northern states stick to this and don't bother (Maybe for the moment) to go out there and collect tax as they should.

noiZ:
It is the responsibility of the FIRS to collect VAT and not state boards. Though Southern governors are currently contesting this.

States collect and remit to FIRS

Daboomb:
Is it his English you dont understand or What is on the Receipts or that you Northerners dont pay VAT but you love to share from VAT paid by Southerners?

This Parasitism has to STOP or dont you northerners have shame at all?

Propaganda my foot!

Calm down bro.

Some states tax systems isn't fully explored. They are lots of tax that you should pay that you aren't paying. For VAT on restaurants, be sure that Borno State IRS hasn't gone for those taxes. Their tax system is still being developed to fully collect all necessary and required tax. I know this because we are tax consultants to Borno State Government.

You might have to visit www. birs. bo. gov. ng to see the taxes that are automated at the moment. We are working on onboarding all taxes. But you should know they collect VAT but may not have started visiting restaurants.

Odumanudo:
You are the olodo here. Food sold in restaurants are subjected to VAT. Though basic food items are exempted but if processed or prepared to be sold for a profit, then is taxable.
Please, hide your ignorance.

You are right.

However, for most states they haven't explored their IRS options. They haven't reached to where they should reach or collect what they should collect. Some states are more advanced than others in terms of revenue collection

Trumann:
Show us documents showing they collect VAT or get out of here, foolish blockhead.
You should be ashamed of your level of stupidity.

Bro calm down, I think it depends on the strength of their board of IRS.
So they may not have started collecting from restaurants or even know they should collect VAT from them.

LagosInter:
Blocked via software? Or is it a hardware stuff?

Bros, I don't know how they do it. What I know is that your car will be having issues and the engine check light won't come up. They disable it. That is what happened to me.

LagosInter:
You mean car history check could be blocked

Car Engine Check Light or sensor could be blocked. Some car dealers already know you might be running this check on their vehicles, so they block it. Your scanner will show No issues found but it's a lie. This is what happened to me.

captainking:
Are you aware you have kazeemized your car?
You fixed the issue.. Yes.. Car is no longer factory standard..

I mean how does it concern me? When it was factory standard and I was spending money on a lot of things, how did the factory standard fix the issue?

See, after sometime, I replaced the thermostat, and the gasket burnt, that's the last one.

I have relative peace of mind now and can use the car AC.

seyigiggle:
sorry about what your bad experience.

1. check for coolant leak. this is a major cause of rising temp due to trapped air bubble (take this more serious).
2. bleed the coolant system to avoid air trapped (also very important)
3. change the thermostat

revert after these has been confirmed ok

Bleeding depends on the engine type. If it's a V6, you bleed, but not V4.

Her problem is a known one and could easily be solved. It happens

kokanepyramid:
What I’m saying is bypassing and making the fans work 24/7 will have effect on several components of the car, like plugs, emission system, fuel consumption and lifespan and performance of the engine.

Overheating can be caused by bad radiator(leaking or blocked), bad thermostat (stuck in closed position) or fans not working. Gasket is not the cause of overheating, overheating only affects gasket. Notice the difference. Changing gasket doesn’t solve the problem. The OP only changed gasket reason the problem resurfaced.

If you have a collision due to brake failure that damaged your head lamps for example does replacing the headlights alone stop reoccurrence? You’ll need to fix the brake issues to stop reoccurrence that’s my point.

I understand your point bro, understand mine. I quoted your response.

I had similar issues and it's been resolved I guess. Though every morning I check my water level and while driving I keep an eyes on the temperature reading too

kokanepyramid:
All these yarns are hogwash your Kazeem tells you.
I’ve owned a BMW 325XI for 5 years and a Honda Accord for 3 years I’ve never bypassed anything in my cooling system. I change my oil once a year( I use synthetic oil) and my cars are still delivering. Never had a breakdown other than that related to a weak battery. My cars have never slept in mechanic workshop for whatever reasons and I use them in Lagos traffic and travel interstate sometimes.

Bro, it depends on the engine.

Like I guess and for mine, Toyota Camry 2012-2014 have Aluminium engine not the steel ones. So the major problem is the overheating. Solve it and have peace. I drove a Toyota Corolla and it never gave me any engine issue at all. Only the normal shock, stabilizer leakage, etc issue.

kokanepyramid:
You’ve only fixed the symptoms not the cause, all the above steps will kill your engine faster.

There’s an optimum temperature the engine is meant to operate at, and you are obviously running it below it.

The radiator coolant, fan and thermostat are working together to ensure it stays at that range.

Buying new gasket doesn’t solve overheating issues. Gasket got damaged cos engine overheated hence you are to find what actually caused the overheating before replacing gasket.

I saw you added something new. I have responded in my earlier quote to you.

I didn't just recommend changing Gasket.

In my case, everything was fine. Water wasn't leaking rather, I guess, it evaporates when hot. Hoses are good, pump working just fine.
But after changing to double cell, and removing the thermostat, everything seem good for now.

But the wahala is just too much for a good and clean car as mine.

kokanepyramid:
You’ve only fixed the symptoms not the cause, all the above steps will kill your engine faster.

There’s an optimum temperature the engine is meant to operate at, and you are obviously running it below it.

Bro, I have had to learn it the had way. The temperature should be at the middle. Mine is always at the one close to the middle gauge reading. Sometimes it goes to the middle but return towards cold. It's much better than getting high. And the engine is built to be strong, so I don't care. Alot of persons did this and have been driving their car for a long time.


The problem I believe hasn't been found but I am thinking that the thermostat fails to open when the engine is hot.

From my experience in my studies, it could take 10 seconds to move from the middle to high or even less. I have experienced same. So it's better the water is warm than hot. Changing gasket is not something you should be repeating.
They were coming to the airport to pick me when the gasket burnt on the road. My first entrance into the car was when it was being towed. So I have experienced bad stuff but I will overcome it. I plan on selling it but towards the end of the year. I can't spend 4m+ on a car only to be having issues upon issues.

greggng:
A month tokunbo stressing you like this. I guess you didn't carry out due diligence before buying this ride . First , you have to go learn about car with a view to getting more experience on how car works . This might sound naive but is truth ...otherwise you may be forced to sell this ride to someone that understands what he ought to do. May be they sold a lemon to you . Take it to a good mechanic for proper check up

IF you have experience with car you should know you can be a victim too. I bought mine and I did all verification you can think of. Everything was green, no issue. I did two VIN check, one with picture and the other without. Nothing was tampered with. I used Engine Scanner to check and nothing showed (Didn't know this could be blocked), a mechanic verified before payment was made.

But what you don't know is that the issues I have experienced is twice worst than what Mskrisx is currently experiencing.