₦airaland Forum

Higher National Diploma (HND)= 2 years Ordinary National Diploma (OND) + one year industrial attachment (that is, work experience) + 2 years HND. Basically 5 years.

Polytechnic (HND) graduates are meant to have more hands on, technical expertise than University (Bsc & Ba) graduates, who are expected to have better theoretical and managerial expertise.

However, HND graduates believe that they are unfairly discriminated against, primarily because most of the managers and recruiters in the public and private sector are university graduates.

If I understand the op correctly, he is tired of the endless insults, tribal bashing and blame game and he would prefer it if the Igbo declare Biafra so that another war will break out and all issues will be settled at the war front.

The irony is that his post will only lead to another round of insults and tribal bashing.

She had plastic surgery. Breast reduction surgery. She had back pain cos her boobs were too big.

There are more pictures on our facebook page. Don't forget to like the page.

Thanks very much Ify.

On sunday 12 February we had Valentine's with the "destitutes" @ "The Destitutes Home", 28 Okobaba Street Ebute Metta.

As usual, we brought food, drinks and gifts for the residents, although this time we focussed primarily on the kids.

December's Random Acts of Kindness was a double header. We had christmas parties at both the Motherless Babies Home, 2 Makoko Road Yaba and Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Centre, St Finbarr's College Road, Yaba.

As usual, we brought gifts for the residents of these homes and showed them love.

Items for sale @ Modupe Cole Child Care and Treatment Centre include beads, footwear (sandals, shoes, slippers), kitchen utensils (mops, ladles, rolling pins, etc), pillows, baskets, chains, etc.

November's Random Acts of Kindness was for children with autism. It held at the Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Centre, St Finbarr's College Road, Akoka, Yaba on the 27th of November, 2011.

As usual, guests brought gifts for the residents of the centre and were shown round the centre.

Guests purchased items that were made by residents of the centre. You can see pictures of the items below and even more pictures on our facebook page. You can also purchase items at the centre (St Finbarr's College Road, Yaba).

Guests were also introduced to Toma, a wheelchair bound resident of the centre who is a gifted artist and is seeking admission into the university. You can see pictures of Toma below and on our facebook page.

1) Adesegun Musiwa aka Becomerich (1-100), Nigeria1, Complove, Eguofor, Tayo4life, Bashali, etc. (I almost died of laughter while reading that classic thread in which he was praying for Beaf).

2) Mr Cork aka Corky Joe, Mr Nyansh, etc.

3) FStranger(1-100) aka YStranger, StrangerF, Igbaodun, Ojogbontomoye, Papatosibe, Anti-Tpia, Meonbooty, etc.

4) Blazay aka Lasinoh, Bootyonme, Gambrosia, Calloti, etc.

5) MrCrackles aka Brash.

6) Bawomolo (I will never forget that "Fleece Johnson" thread).

=Jokes

On October 29th, 2011, Random Acts of Kindness visited the Motherless Babies Home, 2 Makoko Road, Yaba. We brought gifts for the kids, played with them and made them feel loved. You can see pictures of the event on our facebook page.

Pictures of Fashola inspecting the trains, etc in Canada http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/05/15/in-pictures-fashola-inspects-trains-facilities-for-lagos-light-rail-in-canada/

Marina will become the main transport hub in Lagos when the project is completed. It will be served by LRT, BRT, regular bus, taxi and ferry services.

There isn't much work going on with regard to the red line, although the current NRC track in the area is being upgraded. Here is a link to the red line briefing document. http://www.lagosrail.com/_downloads/Lagos%20Red%20Line%20Project%20Briefing.pdf

Below is an artist impression of how Marina will look when the project is completed.

The Blue Line.

The Lagos-Badagry Expressway is part of the abandoned Trans-African Highway project. However, it is prone to massive traffic jams. This has stunted development along that corridor since people don't want to live and work in that area because of the traffic problems.

Therefore, the Lagos State Government is expanding the road. It will be a 10 lane expressway with BRT and LRT routes. Julius Berger is expanding the road (so far they've expanded the road between Orile and Mile 2 and expanded the Mile 2 Bridge), while Chinese Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC) is laying the tracks. It's largely going to be an elevated rail system (CCECC has built part oof the bridge along the Orile axis and they are also building elevated stations from Orile too Mile 2).

Here is a link to the briefing document and below is an artist impression oof the project. http://www.lagosrail.com/_downloads/Lagos%20Blue%20Line%20Project%20Briefing.pdf

The Lagos Rail Transit (LRT) system will be similar to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the sense that the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) will build and maintain the tracks, while the concessionaire will procure and maintain the trains.

Already, the concessionaire on the blue line has procured carriages from Canada (they were subway trains, but have been converted to surface trains). Lagos State Government will build a dedicated independent power plant to provide electricity to the system.

I had two maps of the project, but I can only find one (I can't find the map that shows the proposed stations).

Lamata has proposed 7 lines. They are:

1) Blue line: Okokomaiko-Marina
2) Red Line: Agbado-MMIA-Marina
3) Green Line: Lekki Airport-Marina
4) Yellow Line: Otta-Iddo
5) Purple Line: Redeemed Camp-Ojo
6) Brown Line: Mile 12 - Marina
7) Orange Line: Redeemed Camp-Marina

I'm going to search for the link to the briefing document and post it here. I'm also going to post artist impressions of the project and hopefully, I can take pictures when I next visit the area.

[size=14pt]Random Acts of Kindness (Lagos, Nigeria)[/size]

Random Acts of Kindness is set up to show kindness to the less privileged in our society. We invite our friends, relatives and associates and the public in general to join us in our monthly visitation to orphanages, old peoples homes, etc. At such visitations we donate items to the children/elderly, keep them company and show them love. You can join us too. Time, date & venue of our events will be published here ahead of time.

Even if you are unable to join us for our events, you can still make a difference by donating items such as toys, food (bags of rice, cartons of noodles, cereals, etc), drinks, toiletries (pampers, toilet rolls, etc), used clothes, etc (please do not donate cash). For details on how to make donations, contact us via the following address randomactsofkindnessng@gmail.com

Pls click on this link (from your computer) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Random-Acts-of-Kindness/205070749570573 or this link (from your phone) http://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=205070749570573&refid=5 to get to the Random Acts of Kindness facebook page. Don't 4get to "like" the page

andrewza: Why do Nigerian's all ways go on about South Africa

It's not really about South Africans. This is about an illness that inhabits the minds of a few. On Nairaland it starts off with the Igbo hates Yoruba, Yoruba hates Igbo threads. The illness morphs into South Africans, Ghanaians or African Americans hate us threads and in the face of extreme boredom, they add East Africans (primarily Kenyans) to the mix.

A key symptom of this illness is the tendency to replace reason with emotion.

Another symptom is the individual's inability to take responsibility for his own situation and a tendency to blame everybody else for what's happening to him.

Colonel Mustapha Haruna Jokolo, the former Emir of Gwandu, was ADC to Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.

Aare, His Excellency, President Adesegun Musiwa.

Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun (1926-78 )


Henry Oloyede Fajemirokun was a prominent Nigerian businessman and one of the country's dynamic indigenous entrepreneurs who promoted West Africa's economic integration.

He was born in Ile-Oluji in Ondo State, Nigeria on July 14 1926. Between 1932 and 1936 he attended St Peter’s School in his birthplace and later St Luke’s School in Oke-Igbo, from 1937 to 1940. He had his secondary education at C.M.S Grammar School, Lagos and Ondo Boys’ High School.

In April 1944, Fajemirokun enlisted in the old Royal West African Frontier Force and in 1945 served with the 2nd Echelon at Jhansi GHQ in India. After army service in 1946, he pursued an accountancy career, joining the post and telecommunications division of the colonial civil service. He was elected president of the Post and Telecommunications Ex-servicemen’s Union in 1948 and later became president-general of the Nigerian Civil Service Union until 1956, when he left to start a business career, which at the time of his death in March 1978 spanned a whole spectrum of ventures from insurance and engineering to shipping, centred around Henry Stephens and Sons.

He started business in the 1950s by exporting hides and skin, rubber, coffee and shea nuts. In the 1960s he started a massive importation of cement from Egypt and Poland. He received funding for this particular venture from a credit facility that had been provided to him by a British bank in London. He also ventured into commodity brokerage and in 1969 he bought and held a seat on the London Stock Exchange.

Later in the decade, as the chairman and largest shareholder of the Henry Stephens group of companies, he became a major shareholder in some leading companies in Nigeria. Following a decision to withdraw the wealth of the country from foreign nationals that was taken in 1972, an “indigenisation” decree was promulgated by the Federal Government. Henry Stephens capitalized on the euphoria of the contemporary nationalism of the period and acquired or represented major foreign operations in the country. It became the sole distributor for Xerox after the Daily Times, a company Fajemirokun had failed to acquire a stake in, left negotiations. Henry Stephens also acquired stakes in Johnson Wax and Fan Milk. The company was a pioneer in the Nigerian maritime industry and was one of the first Nigerian companies to own an interest in a shipping line

In 1970 he was appointed president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry; in 1972 he became president of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Mines; the same year he was elected the first president of the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce, followed in 1974 with the vice presidency of the Federation of Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce. Henry Fajemirokun was one of the two co-presidents of the Nigeria-British Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the Board of Governors of the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.


Henry Fajemirokun was not only a successful businessman; he was also a respected man in Nigeria. In 1968, in appreciation of his own contributions to the development of his province, the Jegun of Ile-Oluji conferred the chieftaincy title of Yegbato of Ile-Oluji on him. In 1971 he was given the title of Asiwaju of Okeigbo and the University of Ife conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. A few days before his death – in Abidjan, while leading a trade mission to the Ivory Coast – he presented a cheque for N 15,000 to help build a town hall in Ile-Ife.

Sir Louis Phillipe Odumegwu Ojukwu, KBE, (1909-1966)

Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu was an extremely successful Nigerian businessman and politician from the Ojukwu family of Nwakanwa Quarters Obiuno Umudim Nnewi south east of Onitsha in modern Anambra State. One of the most illustrious citizens of Nigeria, he had remarkable success as a businessman and also rendered distinguished public service in several fields. He was also associated with several philanthropic and cultural organisations to which he made generous material and tacit contributions.

He was born in 1909 in Nnewi and attended a primary school in Asaba and the Hope Waddell Institute. After formal schooling he joined the Produce Inspection Service as produce examiner in 1928 and later worked as a clerk with the large West African trading company of John Holt. It was here that the self made man who later became one of Nigeria’s foremost business tycoons and a multi-millionaire developed his business interest. He incorporated a textile company in Onitsha to supplement his income during this period, already exhibiting a little bit of his entrepreneurial spirit. While at John Holt, he noticed the severe strain a lack of adequate transportation had on Eastern textile traders He resigned from John Holt in 1934 to start a transport business with one second-hand truck that later grew into a vast transport enterprise. As a transporter he was a tireless worker and meticulous to detail; he was usually the first to inspect his transport vehicles for oil and leakages. His transport company (Ojukwu"s Transport Company) was the first major transport company to move the easterners to Lagos from the Asaba end of the Niger river after they might have crossed over from Onitsha on a boat.

He entered politics in 1951 as a member of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) which included him in the delegation to the London Constitutional Conference in 1951. Four years later Odumegwu Ojukwu was elected to the Federal House of Representatives in Lagos, but resigned in 1956 to become chairman of the Eastern Region Development Corporation.

Apart from his work ethic, his success was also oiled by the economic boom after World War II, working with the West African Railway Company and the newly inaugurated produce boards, he provided his fleet for commodity transportation and for other traders use. During the 1950s, he diversified his interest, bought some industries and invested heavily in the real estate sector.

His success, drive and ability led him to a host of other business appointments as chairman of the Eastern Nigerian Marketing Board, chairman of the Nigerian Shipping Line, chairman of the Nigerian Cement Company, first and founding President of The Nigerian Stock Exchange and director of a number of business concerns including Shell-BP. He was also a member of the board of Nigerian Coal Corporation. His last public engagement was as chairman of the Eastern Nigeria Marketing Board. He resigned from this position and also from office as chairman of the African Continental Bank, in May 1966 as a result of ill health.

His own company, founded on the Ojukwu Transport Company in 1934, had at the time of his death in 1966 spread its activities into construction and other areas, growing into a multi-million-naira group and employing thousands of workers.

In 1953, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal; he was knighted in 1960. In 1963 the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Law, becoming the first to be so honoured by that university. He died on September 13th 1966 at Nkalagu in his home state, at the age of 57.

Ojukwu’s death came a few months after the first Nigerian civilian government was ended by a military coup d’etat which saw his son, Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, ascend to office as Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria. Lieutenant-Colonel Ojukwu later declared the region, which he renamed Biafra, independent of the Federation of Nigeria, but secession was ended after a three-year bitter civil war in 1970.

Aha! So we've gone international. I was getting tired of those Igbo hates Yoruba, Yoruba hates Igbo threads. Let's go international. Throw some South Africans, Ghanaians and African Americans into the mix.

A short story.

In the 1980s, we had what I call the "donation circuit". Organisations (usually universities, town unions, foundations, etc) would invite the richest men in the country (including Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaji Aminu Dantata, Chief Sunny Odogwu, etc) to "launcheons" at which huge sums of money are donated. Chief Abiola and Alhaji Dantata were always invited for these events, although Dantata rarely attended.

However, there was one such occassion that Aminu Dantata attended. The invited guests made their donationas and Alhaji Dantata was the last to make his donation. The hall went crazy when Dantata's donation was announced because it was the largest. Chief Abiola asked to be given the microphone and promised that he would send more money. The next day the newspapers were awash with stories of a rivalry between Dantata and Abiola. This is similar to the claims and counter claims about who was richer between Alhassan Dantata and Louis Ojukwu (read this https://www.nairaland.com/609390/sir-louis-odumegwu-ojukwu-not ).

The Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri merchants

The states around the sahel region of west Africa have for long been involved in international trade and international relations. Indeed, before the advent of the white man to west Africa, the area presently known as northern Nigeria had greater access to European and Asian markets than the area presently known as southern Nigeria. This was because the Sahara desert served the purpose that the Atlantic Ocean would later play; that is the role of an international trade route. At that time, people in southern Nigeria did not know how to sail across the oceans, could not build ships that could sail across the oceans, neither did they possess such ships. The northerners on the other hand, knew how to travel long distances across the Sahara, using camel caravans. With these they were able to trade with states in North Africa, Europe, Asia and with other states in the West African Sahel region. For example, Mai Dibbalemi (c1400) of the Kanem-Bornu Empire built a hostel (known as riwag or madrasa) in Cairo where pilgrims and students from Kanem could reside. He also established an embassy in Tunisia. He fought the Fezzan, for example, to secure the trade route to Cairo.


Borno was important in the trans-Saharan caravan trade. Slaves were imported from the south and North African traders visited Borno. The fame of Borno stretched far and wide and was even mentioned by a Portuguese cartographer in the fifteenth century. Mai Mohammed also sent an embassy to Tripoli in 1512. Likewise Mai Idris Alooma sent an embassy to Tripoli and received musketeers for his army.


Lugard and Hausa traders

In the field of trade, there were three possible agents of modernisation whose activities, if wisely fostered, would have speeded up the introduction of the cash economy, of currency and of cash crops and the end of the old economy of barter, slave-raiding and slavery. These were: the trader from the coastal areas, the European trader and the Hausa trader (This excludes the Arab trader plying between Tripoli and Kano, the Levantine trader on the west coast and the flourishing trade between the northern part of the Gold Coast and Northern Nigeria; these trading systems were less susceptible to administrative controls).

Lugard’s antipathy to traders from the outside, whether white or black, might considerably have been redeemed by active encouragement of the Hausa trader. But here again the old Adam of his “instinct” seems to have got the better of him and his chief concern was to see that they and their “caravans” did not go untaxed. In the areas where there was sufficient security of life and property to permit the trader to take the risk of travelling alone and not in convoy, he could avoid the caravan toll-stations by striking off the road.

This made the Hausa trader a criminal and legitimate quarry. According to Lugard’s way of thinking, every Hausa trader was one toiler less in the fields; he deplored the Hausas’ “keen trading instinct” which brought about “an undue tendency to desert the paths of productive industry and to go to and fro through the country carrying goods on their heads for the pleasure of making a profit by barter. The problem is, how can this class be taxed except by tolls”

Alhassan and some of the other wealthy men I will write about made their money from the sale and transport of commodities like cocoa, kola nut, groundnut, etc. Unfortunately, Nigeria's overdependence on revenue from crude oil sales has diminished interest in this trade.

Alhassan's role in the purchase of kola nuts from forest areas of Nigeria for sale in the North was so great, that eventually whole “kola trains” from the Western Region were filled with his nuts alone.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo encouraged Coca Cola to set up shop in Ibadan (Kola was one of the main ingredients in Coca Cola at the time and is still used in some cola drinks). Unfortunately the plant was closed down in 2009 because of the unfriendly manufacturing environment in the country ( https://www.nairaland.com/326697/coca-cola-closes-last-concentrate-factory ).

Cocoa is grown in the south west, but we have not seen any plan by the governments of the region to boost production/improve the quality of cocoa produced.

In the north, Sir Ahmadu Bello created grazing areas where cattle rearers could feed their cattle. It was expected that subsequent governments would improve on this by providing irrigation, veterinary services, meat and milk processing factories, etc, but alas, the grazing areas have been abandoned. Alhassan also made money from the sale of precious stones, but this sector has largely been abandoned because state governments are dependent on crude oil windfall from Abuja.

In the south-south, farmlands that could have been used to cultivate palm trees and rivers and creeks that should have yielded fish have been polluted with crude oil.

I believe that in order to reverse this situation we need to implement the following measure.

If any resource (crude oil, solid minerals, fertile land, business opportunity, etc) is found on a piece of land, the resource and the revenue that accrues from it should belong to the individual who owns the land. He should then pay tax to the local government, which would also pay tax to the state government and the state government would in turn remit tax to the federal government. The tax revenue will be shared in this formula; 25% to the local government, 30% to the state government, 20% to the Federal Government and the remaining 25% should be used for emergency purposes (flood, drought, etc).

The federal government should relinquish some of its powers and responsibilities, which would subsequently be borne by state governments, local governments or the private sector. Such responsibilities include electricity generation and supply and road construction and maintenance.

The reason for the confusion is that the United Kingdom was united through marriage and conquest. They didn't have a referendum to determine if the subjects of the various kingdoms wanted unification.

Consequently, some people resent unification and in order to pacify them, a level of autonomy is granted to each of the home nations.

In times past, cultural and religious differences have led to resentment (eg, the problem between Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth Queen of England http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_of_the_North ).

Queen Elizabeth is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (this means that she is also queen of England, Scotland and Wales). Her husband is the Duke of Edinburgh (Scotland) and her son, Prince Charles, is the Prince of Wales.

Collin Jackson is welsh. He won gold for Great Britain at the World Athletics Championship (Stuttgart 1993). http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Jackson


Ryan Giggs is Welsh. He is being considered for selection for the British football team that will compete at the 2012 olympics. Ryan Giggs http://m.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/17/ryan-giggs-david-beckham-olympics?cat=sport&type=article

Gordon Brown is scottish. He was British Prime Minister. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Brown

However, because of rivalry, some scotsmen and welsh people do not consider themselves british (there are people on this site who do not consider themselves Nigerian, but say they are Biafrans).

This is a map of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The larger island is Britain. Scotland is shaded blue, England white and Wales red.

You can also see the island of Ireland, although, unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland (to the south) is not shown. Northern Ireland is shaded green.