₦airaland Forum

Hey pple,

Can anyone give me info on how to go about getting clearance from NDLEA? Their website isn't helpful at all

@tkb
you know I've always been loyal now .

seriously sha, best of luck. . .

@thread
I'm just coming out of a funk. . .allowed some of the office wahala to get to me but I"m fine now sha.

My plant is practically running so I'm now busy, have been given more responsibility so yours truly has to up his game, no more laying about (technically. . .lol)

I'mma have to be censoring the gist now sha, some of my colleagues come on NL and the boys dont want to misfire. . .

ok. . .I think this dude was a past president of NSE, he sounds like someone that knows what he was talking about, I always used to wonder what he was doing in govt esp since one rarely heard about him.

As far as I'm concerned, Yar adua wasted Nigeria's time as far as the power sector is concerned, He didn't add anything.

debosky:
Just spent 8 days working in the desert at one of the gas processing facilities. . . .mehn those guys working permanently there deserve every penny of the armed robber salaries they get paid. Spending just one week there has made me blacker than charcoal and I think I actually felt my brain cells being roasted after a while.

I've always suspected deserts aren't flat and just sand dunes like we see in the movies and I've confirmed that now - the landscape is simply breathtaking at some points. Seeing the sun rise with nothing in the way is just awesome. . . . till it starts to roast you and you run inside for cover.

Got introduced to like 50 different people - i'm sure I've forgotten 90% of the names already. One of the great things about this job is the variety of people you meet - Romanians, Filipinos, Bosnians, Norwegians, Americans, Frenchies, Ecuadorians, name it.

A downside is all the politics - almost every group has an agenda and you need to understand it first of all and then find a way to convince them to to get your own work to proceed.

I did enjoy getting out of the office for a while, but I am glad to go back to my normal 8 or 9 hour days - those 12 hour shifts are a killer.

take away the desert and you're welcome to my world (minus the armed robber salary ). . .


@thread
today is my confirmation interview. . .it's been postponed thrice (once at my instance), I just dey wait make them ask me "do you have any questions or comments about the company?". . .

waiting for 6.30 to come so I can go home. . .

Double N:
I'm in a quagmire as regards my career at the moment. I have recently gotten admission to a school in Scotland to do my MSC in a very promising field in ICT and just yesterday got a Job Offer from one of the foremost insurance firms in the country(In their IT department). Quickly pounced on the offer cos i have been out of sorts in my current place and the benefits are very good though the pay could be better. Kinda confused on whether to just defer the admission indefinitely till further notice or plunge into the deep and head out for the MSC. . What do you think guys?

this depends on how old you are and what your definition of acceptable risk is. . . I would consider career growth, I'm wary about working in organisations where you are not part of the "core business" because when push comes to shove you aren't really vital for the company to survive although these days IT is becoming core to just about any industry.

moonraker:
2nd Generation NLer but mostly a spectator ]

Surprising how alot of peeps here

who just opened accounts up in here have

more mosts than me, oops

guy how we dey do tuesday now?

johnie:
^^^
Ajumogobia? Said to be going to the UN as permanent representative.

I hope some of the names on the list have cleared their names of the various allegations against them.

e.g.

Bello Haliru - AG Siemens contracts
Madueke - NYSC
Stella Oduah - ND Militants training
Orubebe - Okah/SNG

I just like that guy jo. . .funny thing is, I remember watching his first screening 4 years ago and thinking "who is this evil looking person"

Hey pple,

Just had the worst day ever at work. . .allowed myself to be goaded into losing my temper, got corrected by my boss' boss(he was nice about it though), had a disagreement with one of the chinese engineers I'm sort of close to. lost my temper again, broke a screw on a newly replaced piece of eqpt by over-tightening it. . .(In that order o)

funny thing is both people I lost my temper with are in the same dept(electrical execution) and so there's gist going round that dept I'm the devil(despite the fact that I'm "close" to the people) . . .

I'm sort of upset with myself but at the same time there's this feeling of fulfilment you get when someone gives you crap and you give as good as you get. . .smh see me thinking I had finally put my hot-tempered days behind me. . .dont know if I'm going to apologize yet,

on a brighter note, weekend roster for the month is out and I'm off next weekend, I'm sooooo going to abuja this village don tire me. . . [size=4pt](maybe if I'm a good boy and I work hard one day I fit be like Ajanlekoko )[/size]

you guys are all something else o. . .i have overshot my break by more than an hour just cos I wanted to finish reading this thread. . .ROTFLMAO

It's sunday and I'm posting this from the office. . .God pass all my enemies sha

debosky:
@ netotse

Do you have any gas compressors or turbines in the plant? Those are my current obsession (well the turbines have been a mini-obsession for 2 years now ).

Just finishing a one week factory acceptance test on gas compressors for one of the projects I'm involved in. Safe to say I haven't had this much mechanical engineering involvement since my metal-work fun days in secondary school and early university. Been following the technicians around the factory and making sure that I actually understand what they are doing.

Rotating mechanical equipment are a beauty to behold, especially dismantling and putting them together again, and darn expensive too. Good thing I'm only doing this for a week - any more talk of thrust bearings, vibration and rotor dynamics and I'll start seeing compressors in my dream like netotse.

we dont use turbines o. . .you cant imagine my disappointment when I found out they use combustion engines(no mind them jo  ), Vibration measurement is practically a part of my daily life but I dont go into details like the mech guys. . .small small I don dey sabi wetin dem dey do sha. . .scammers that they are

@jcob
no vex jo. . .the telcos here dont try at all, but I go try dey show face small small make we plan how to run things. . .

@tubabie
so you are officially denying tkb? speak now or forever hold your peace!!!

@thread
I now see why some people get irritated when you ask them questions while they're working, We will be troubleshooting something and someone who can clearly see from the look on your face that whatever we're trying isn't working will now come to me and tap you and when you turn he now asks "what is happening?" or any other irritating question. . .if it was just once It wouldn't be such a big deal but when 10 people do it everyday it gets annoying, and then there are the people that see you on the corridor and ask you why you are holding up the plant. . .meeennnnn if no be say I be small boy I for don dey give people dirty looks

then there are the people(in this case fellow engineers) that ask you questions they could easily answer if only they would take the time to read the darn manual or look at the circuit diagrams. . .that's why they were created in the first place, if you've attempted to read them and you didn't understand that would be an entirely different kettle of fish. . .[size=5pt](I was once like this but I've been cured of this malaise. . . )[/size]

I still love my job though. . .

one more thing sef, why do we like lying to people in this country? I saw an article in a newspaper about how my plant has been completed and will be commissioned soonest. . .I come begin dey wonder whether I had forgotten how to read or I had suddenly become blind. . .God dey sha

jay bee:
^^^^
looks like dis power side of Elect Engineering is ya passion cos i could have sworn that control is not only more attractive but highly flexible/desirable

omo it's power all the way for me. . .even though i'm starting to see electric motors and sensors in my dreams now. . .smh

AjanleKoko:
You're just beginning to learn that mech in industry is usually treated as the core of engineering, and we just get to support them. LOL.
That's always the case in manufacturing. Unless you are in power or telecom, that will generally be your lot.

Good to read from you though.

the boys are ok, we're waiting until we can be like you o. . .How's your end?

@tkb
tubabie ke? _{abeg forward me your jazzman's no. e get one person wey meself get eye on. . .lol}

@Jarus
The higher you go the more difficult it becomes to leave work and go back to school o. . .meself still dey strategize on how to fit Msc into my plans o. . .

hey pple,

for the past week i've been chasing (yes literally chasing) a 58 year old engineer round the plant, the guy walks(and works) as if he runs on energizer batteries. . .he's commissioning a hot gas generator for us, he's one of the few ppl coming to commission eqpt that isnt chinese so this time I havent been cut-out of the loop heck i understand him better than all the chinese folks sef

Meeeeennnn the past 5months have been rough, knew next to nothing about engineering in industries outside power but now all man don dey form experts, lol.

I'm learning how not to be overawed by ppl with experience, you never know whether you know the solution till you voice it out. . .

on the worklitics side, my colleague just resigned and I'm certain my workload and stress levels are going to increase:::God dey.

Mechanical engineers can be so annoying . . . their execution engineers have better training than electrical, even though my department is cross-purpose mech guys still have better training and er'thing, I just dey look all of them. . .

as expected, my social life is non-exixtent except on the odd weekend I get to go into lagos and those aren't many. . .odeshi sha, wouldnt trade being an engineer for anything in the world[size=5pt]('cept maybe a rich engineer)[/size]

@ netotse would u mind giving me an info on companies that do this training their location and general info. Thanks

go to www.tridentelect.com, also search for electronics-tutorials.com or something like that on the internet they should help

[Quote]
@ netotse thanks alot would be grateful if u can help.My options are electronics/telecoms. Wld need info on how to improve in that area.[/quote]as per telecoms, there's a telecoms professional thread in careers, you could ask questions there. . .as per electronics, have you considered doing one of them short courses offered by companies? they cld teach you the hands on stuff, i think there are some 3 weeks courses try searching dor tridentelectric on the internet. . .

all the same when i have access to a desktop computer I'll look for some links for you. . .

what part of electrical engineering do you want to know more about? i cld try to help you. . .

hey pple,
it's been ages, work is somewhat stressful, there's so much to learn and so little time, my plant should be up and running in a couple of months and at any given time there are at least 3 different locations where new machinery is being installed and of course there's only one of me .

on the paperwork side, I'm having to create maintenance plans for equipment(something we have a lot of. . .lol) and at first it seemed like I'd never get a handle on it but after receiving a deadline from our departmental 2-i-c the work became surprisingly easy. . .lol

There's nothing like responsibility to make you sit up o, knowing that the plans I propose will be implemented has been enough reason for me to make sure I know exactly what I'm supposed to work on(enough late-night reading sessions mennnn).

on the work politics front, I've been trying to argue less and so far so good I'd put my success rate at 50% some folks think I get too pedantic .

All in all, works good, my social life is non-existent. . .sadly. . .lol

@debosky
if you're saying what i think you're saying. . .congrats

nope, LNG isnt part of the civil service. . .electrical engineers are needed everywhere, from aviaion to power to defence to agric etc, but working with a parastatal might serve you better than the main civil service, parastatals usually recruit seperately and pay better even thoughterms of service are not very diff. . .i think if you work in a parastatal you're called a public servant(not sure. . .) i sha know all civil servants are public servants but not all public servants are civil servants

@Ajanlekoko
see as you just finished me and my ilk. . .lol

@wallie
mennn those amts get as them take be o. . .The kinda ppl you'll most likely get will be ppl that'll spend every free moment on naijahotjobs(prolly with you own internet connection sef. . .lol). Any job that intends to pay a graduate(recent ones sef) less that 80K post tax in a major city prolly would find it hard to hold on to decent employees.

of which, my first salary looks shamefully similar to oyb's first salary sha. . .*smh*

and, truth be told though. . .Those your amts aren't very diff from what obtains presently in the power sector(that's why there aren't many (honest)top notch engrs in it)

@sissy
welcome back. . .it's been a while

@BB
tell ileke-idi o, i no know wetin she dey find for politics

i dont understand why anyone would want to do that. . .

i've never posted in this thread before. . .

sent you a mail. . .

ok. . .i'm back, where's er'one?

I'm still trying to get used to the amount of freedom i have at work. . .seems i got used to there being one person that was like a demi-god. . .but here it's not that simple.

I temporarily have some responsibilities that are meant for a higher pay grade than I am currently on and the only person that seems to realise how stressful this might be for me is my HOD, a number of people think I'm just showing myself. . . meennnn life as a working somebody is stressful.

I've also realised I'm a tad too argumentative especially when I think I know more abt the issue at hand than other pple. . .so I'm working on that.

P.S. I've picked up basketball and swimming once a week to make sure the stress doesnt get to me(met one *cough* at the pool. . .thankfully her father isn't in my plant )

hey pple,
it's been a while, been here for two months but it feels much longer, there's a hell of a lot to learn but so far i think I'm doing ok. . .

had a spat with some dude trying to pass his work on to me and he went to run his mouth to some dude who called my departmental 2-I-C, thankfully I was in the clear this time but it has made me more calm sha. . .office politics don dey tire person o. . .

Our readiness to run the plant is being audited now so everyone is on their toes. . .mennn the fear of auditors is the beginning of wisdom. . .lol

Working aroumd so many expats can be tiring, sometimes I wonder what experience they have that makes some of them feel/act so superior. when i go to the power station it's mostly finnish folks and they are stuck-up to a T, there's no poimt trying to greet them them go just do as if you no exist(those guys dey consume alcohol like no mans biz). We have one chinese electrical engineer on the commissioning team wey no sabi anything. . .i'm not kidding in the slightest.

@oyb
happy birthday man

show face jor. . .

Fredaogb:
Hello haus, Since some of you have already done the test and are already in the system, I'm sure you will have some valuable information to offer those of us that will be writing ours this weekend. Wot is the test format like? Kindly do us favour by telling us what to expect! Thanks

BORNTOWIN:
Hi all,

Please for those who have written the aptitude test before for Lafarge. What is the format? What do I expect. Applied for Plant & production supervisior

from what i hear, it's pretty straightforward, GSE abi wetin dem dey call am, the tricky bit is the spatial reasoning. . .also make sure you read the instructions clearly. best of luck!

semid4lyfe:
Feeling bored with my regular sections so I just decided to pop in here

It's been interesting & revealing reading the last 3 pages

Moving on. . . . .

my friend. . .start posting your own gist jo

@thread
It's official, I must learn chinese o. . .na so me and one chinko babe dey MCC(motor control center) alone yesterday, the babe just dey ignore me. . .I say 'hello'. . .nothing, Good morning: no reply, I come use the only chinese wey all of us sabi: ni hao(means how are you doing?) the yeye girl just dey ignore me o. . .na when I come clear my throat loudly she come say hello back. . .*hiss*, no be her fault, she no too fine sef

The site is crazy, I cant wait for the plant to be ready so all the chinks(there are more chinks than nigerians on the site) and expats will leave jo. . .on site, we have the chinks building the plant, a team from group HQ ensuring that the plant is built according to standards and a commissioning team that is trying to rival the united nations, and then there's us, the OP team(operations preparatory team, we're the ones that will run the plant when it's completed) communication is a big problem as there are only 3 chinese interpreters so most times you have to make do with sign language, although technically, since the plant hasn't been handed over the chinks own the site and all we're supposed to do is watch and learn.

I've been thinking, there are a lot of chinese people on site, they have their own hierarchy, their own camp, kitchen, doctor et al, some of them have been in nigeria since the beginning of the project(2 years +), I wonder how much they're being paid and if it's worth it to them, If they're happy, what they think about the conditions etc. Although some of them are widely travelled, they seem to have contracts on every continent.

on the official front, I've got my confirmation objectives so it's time to haul ass. I'm still trying to find my feet in this place, I've only being out of plant attachment(which was prematurely ended) for two weeks. Out of close to 15 engineers, only 2 of us are electrical engineers, can you imagine? At first I thought my mechanical counterparts were ignoring us on purpose but I was wrong, they're pretty cool despite their obvious handicap (being mechanical engineers ). We're closer to them than we are to the electrical execution folks likewise them and the mechanical execution pple**.

**errr. . .I'm in a preventive maintenance department, we dont fix stuff, our job is to make sure nothing spoils, so if anything needs to be fixed, it's execution people that do that. . .we work harder than the execution people cos we have to constantly monitor the equipment so we see the faults before they develop into serious incidents but of course they dont agree. . .haters


@ oyb
met your guy. . .na fine boy o. . .seems sharp enough.

Tboy4rever:
hi tollu, nice of you to welcome me on NL, but you wont know what it means to have a franchise business of a world leading company and yet dont know how to push it up, suppose I find a financier NOT maggas wouldnt I be happy.

I have a contract proposal with a state government but they are waiting for the year budget to be passed, before they will know whether to proceed with my proposal or not,

For a business with the best products that knock rivals off the market, I think I will keep the hope in top gear, cioh :-

maybe you could shed more light on this your franchise, someone might be able to give you valuable advice