₦airaland Forum

hopara1:
Pls there is nothing like 5coaches its course

https://www.nairaland.com/search?q=coach&board=47

You'll see pages upon pages referring to coaches of blocks... just sayin'

China just banking on Nigeria (and Africa) this decade...

First it was Western Europe, then North America, then Eastern Europe, then Asia & India. I wonder who we will turn to in 30 years to develop our country, Latin America? Anybody except ourselves right? SMH

165kg... wow!
street value 1.4 billion naira. wow! I wonder how much of forex we get from drug trade. We should add this to the GDP na.

As an aside, one of the goods being exported is Cassava flakes... just add water

Thank you thank you thank you sir! We will always remember you for what you are doing for Nigeria's, Africa's and the black man's pride, self reliance, economic and social development.

It's people like you who give us such hope, who inspire us, and serve as a point of pride. Bless you!

But that lady in red tho... looking nice and very portable

All the banks suck. We barely tolerate them because they help keep our money secure (somewhat). They charge fees to keep money, fees to take out money, fees to send money. Never ready to loan money, but ever ready to take it.

Some of it is due to idiot drivers, for sure. But look, 99% of our roads have potholes, nails and other rubbish at the margins, armed robbers and police waiting to waylay us; why won't we hug the center of the roads? That's the safest place to be so you can swerve to avoid all these other things I talked about. Also when it rains, most times the sides is where the water accumulates, hiding dangerous potholes.

After I've gotten used to driving on such crappy roads, you want me to automatically adjust for those 1% of the stretches that is smooth and lined? Don't worry, give it 3-6 months, that nice road will also develop large craters.

In my part of Delta state, near Asaba, we've had 24 hours of light for the past 4 months. I can charge my phone anytime, and mosquitoes don't chop me at night since the fan is always on. We're on 100% Solar only, no gen, and we are not connected to any NEPA pole.

At least for the forseeable future, I'm immune to all this PHCN, disco, NDA, fuel scarcity talk, at least as it concerns my home sha.

My suggestion, make an offer to the seller that you are willing to buy, but after an experiment: buy a few blocks and cement, get permission from the current owner and start erecting a small shed on it. You don't need foundation, or even try to do any lintel, just build a small square wall about 5ft per side, 5 coaches up. Then wait a few months before paying any money. During that wait time, add another coach of blocks every few months, which should start drawing attention.

Since it's nothing permanent, the owner should not object, and it should draw out other interested parties. I think this is cheaper than lawyers or police, and at worst, you'd lose 10k insurance. At best, you can go ahead and complete it when you've purchased the land.

After having to buy the same land twice, then paying for police and lawyers, this is now my preferred method to see who owns land. Any objections, then I walk away from the deal.

aloeman15:
You realize that most batteries will need replacing by then.
Also, solar panels don't give 100% of their power rating.
Lastly, they also suffer wear and tear, with maintenance required.

That's why I picked 3 years… that's the benchmark for replacing batteries. This means, yes, every 3 years, you're going to pay 80k for a new pair of batteries. Generally, the only maintenance panels require is a manual wipe every few months to get back to optimum, though their rated power output does degrade at about 0.5%/year. Let's assume 90% power rating, which is fair, which brings us down from 1kW to 0.9kW; still in the same ballpark as a 0.9kVA generator. I doubt the generator stays at original performance for its lifetime (it will derate as it ages, and burn more fuel and oil per watt produced, and need more expensive servicing), so I'd argue the degradation curves for the two technologies is similar.

To be fair, let's assume that the I better pass my neighbour generator will also be replaced around the same time, after running for so many hours/day. I've not met such a gen that did not need replacing after a few years. The fuel and servicing costs don't go away, so if we wanted to extend this to a 21 year comparison (the expected lifetime of panels and other electronics apart from batteries), I'm still fully convinced solar would be the way to go. In fact let's compare:

900VA generator is 140k (if you buy it seven times over 21 years), fuel per day is about 300naira, servicing per month is about 2k.
7*20k + 21*360*300 + 21*12*2k = 140k + 2268k + 504k = 2.912M total cost of ownership of gen in a 21 year period.
Even if you managed to use only 1 gen in that period, you're still looking at
20k + 21*360*300 + 21*12*2k = 20k + 2268k + 504k = 2.792M

Equivalent 1kW solar system, 4 240W panels + 14 12V 100AH batteries (2 batteries, seven times) + 24v 20A pwm charger + 1kVA inverter
4*70k + 14*40k + 15k + 50k = 905k total cost of ownership of solar in a 21 year period.

We're assuming of course that fuel, generator, and batteries will stay the same cost over that time. My prediction is panels, battery and electronics prices will reduce, gen prices will go up (to match reduced demand), fuel will fluctuate, and labour (servicing) will only get more expensive. My estimates might be off by 10% in either direction, but it doesn't invalidate the clear trend that solar is going to be the clear solution over the medium term.

refreshrate:
Seriously you're comparing price of I better pass my neighbour with the cost of your solar panels?
Like seriously ?

NOTE: I don't sell panels, and I don't make any money supporting either side of the debate.

If you're considering the cost of an I better pass my neighbour generator (0.9kVA) to solar panels (1kW), then of course the panels and batteries are way more expensive. However, if you look at the total cost of ownership calculations where I illustrate that, over 3 years:

900VA generator is 20k, fuel per day is about 300naira, servicing per month is about 2k.
20k + 3*360*300 + 3*12*2k = 20k + 324k + 72k = 416k total cost of ownership = 416k/900 = gen: 462naira/Watt over 3 years

Equivalent 1kW solar system, 4 240W panels + 2 12V 100AH batteries + 24v 20A pwm charger + 1kVA inverter
4*70k + 2*40k + 15k + 50k = 425k total cost of ownership = 425k/1000 = solar: 425naira/Watt over a 3-year period.

We may be quibbling over 10k-20k in actual cost difference, but it's certainly not like 5x the cost.

The main issue with solar right now is the sticker shock that you have to pay for it all upfront. Imagine the sticker shock if I also said you have to pay for 3 years worth of fuel, oil, and servicing when you first buy your generator. If a company is able to structure payments for a solar installation that will cost you, in monthly terms, the same as an I pass my neighbor generator over 3 years, then the costs start being comparable. That's really what I'm talking about.

aloeman15:
I think we can ask for 'layman's terms'.
Based on current appliance and fuel costs, also assuming you're buying all the equipment brand new-
How much for solar for 1watt?
How much for petrol for 1watt?
How much for diesel for 1watt?
Oya. Ansaram.

OK let me see if I can try, to calculate cost amortized over 3-year period, if you were to use gen only (no connection to PHCN)

900VA generator is 20k, fuel per day is about 300naira, servicing per month is about 2k.
20k + 3*360*300 + 3*12*2k = 20k + 324k + 72k = 416k total cost of ownership = 416k/900 = gen: 462naira/Watt over 3 years

Equivalent 1kW solar system, 4 240W panels + 2 12V 100AH batteries + 24v 20A pwm charger + 1kVA inverter (prices from konga.com, pscsolaruk.com)
4*70k + 2*40k + 15k + 50k = 425k total cost of ownership = 425k/1000 = solar: 425naira/Watt over 3 years.

Also consider that fuel cost might double (86-145), or not even be available, servicing will get more expensive, etc. in that 3-year span.
We should probably be calculating cost per kWh, but if the hours of use are the same in both cases, the ratio of cost will still be the same:
462/425 = 1.08% (i.e. it would cost almost 10% more to run your gen daily for 3 years)

One could argue that you won't run the gen constantly since you'd be connected to PHCN (2k/month?), for which you'd have to pay 3*12*2k = 72k. And in return you get 1-2 hours of light per day on average.

Then I'd retort that if you ran only DC equipment, you could skip the inverter and save 50k.

One could also argue that the numbers can be skewed in any direction (e.g. you spent less on fuel, or you paid more per solar panel), but the ratio is not going to range more than 0.8 (solar is more expensive) to 1.2 (gen is more expensive), which for me implies that with savings in the right places, your cost would still be about the same.

I don't want to even consider diesel because that's a whole different level of ballin'

refreshrate:
Keyword: messes.
Understand that then read your posts again.

What do you mean? Who buys "I pass my neighbour"? No be masses?

Neduzze5:
Chai!!

First of all, it was rice. We said okay, we will substitute with Indomie.
Then tomatoes, we said okay, we will use fish peppersoup...

Now na bread, bros, wetin we wan use substitute bread na??

Akpu with ofe nsala. Serious. If I chop am around 8am, I'll be OK till 5pm

SavageGarden:
Why is it that Nigerians migrate to the west and the same greedy lifestyle of Nigeria migrates with them.

Why are Nigerians here always competing to see who has
the latest benz,the biggest house or who can throw the
biggest flashiest party.

What is wrong with our people?

How silly is it for a man to buy a $600,000 home in Houston
Texas ,a city where an average decent 4 bedroom home is
$130,000,and he drives a Mercedes while madam drives a
lexus SUV and madam has to work 3 jobs as a nurse to
support this lavish lifestyle or the creditors would come
knocking.

Go to Nigerian parties the women are like peacocks
showing off their latest feathers.

What is wrong with Nigerians?
Why are all the conversations centered around money and
material posessions,their mansions and their material
goods.
What is wrong with our people?

It's because, fundamentally, at the heart of it, we are poor. This is a poor man's mentality. Most of our songs are about "show me the money", "I get money", "I spend money", etc. If we had a society where the middle class was large and able to afford a good living, all these shows of ostentation would simply disappear.

Salym:
Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Birnin Kebbi, Bauchi and the likes have been capital of independent hausa city states for hundreds of years. Colonial masters met such cities as the capital of the emirates within the Sokoto Caliphate with thesame structure like a modern country sub divided into states. The colonial masters retained such cities as the head quarters of the different provinces. After state creation, the states adopted or rather continued using the names such locations used for centuries. The only exception in the North is Kaduna that was a regional head quarter rather than a historic city.

See sense. Not sure what the story for Enugu is, but the explanation for Northern states makes so much sense.

Eh... good for him. But I figured he might have thought "abeg, that slim girl you married has a 50% chance of turning fat after 2 years, so might as well marry her fat now and get used to it"

Beehshorp:
Bubu please u and I know that the solution is not prayer.. Every reasonable Nigerian know dat u and ur party are the problem.. So what den do we pray for? Ur resignation would be the answer cos with that we would achieve a better Nigeria

Seconded. Bartender, beer for this man! And please tell asun girl to bring two plates.

No, no, no. We like to resort to prayer instead of using our brains. God gave us brains to solve problems so we won't have to keep asking for his assistance in every single matter.

Alexbond:
And watz d investment about?

Does it matter? They invest $8.5b this year, most of it going back to China to buy Chinese equipment and labour and to shipping companies; they get to extract $85.0b in value over the next 10 years; we won't maintain whatever it is; and we still won't have any engineering capacity when all is said and done. Smh

Lather, rinse, repeat. Nigeria, providing value to foreigners since 1800s.

specialpolice:
u r a joker though u aint landlord but what OP should do is to break the lock because landlady has already broken the law without following due process such as applying to competent court, getting a bailiff with a policeman accompanied by official quit notice signed by a margistrate!!!!!

And when the tenant disappears without a trace for who-knows-how-long... who do you serve the quit notice? At least now the tenant is forced to say "hello" instead of silently clearing all his things out like the previous guy...

calitobrigonte:
Let me b concise. My rent expired last month. I went to move my things on Sunday evening (2 days ago) but I met the chain and padlock dat u see in d pix. All I owe is about 6k 4 electricity bill. Is it proper 4 her 2 lock d apartment? What should I do?

Note that she didn't give any eviction notice!

So you left your junk for 1 month without paying? Can you imagine? I would be furious if I was a landlord and you took off for 1 moth with your property in my place. I can't rent it out. You're lucky your property did not grow legs and walk...
She's right to lock it up. You wanted to leave her with the unpaid bills too abi?

thesicilian:
I tire o.
If you drive behind a truck, it can roll back and crush you especially if the road is a slope ...
If you drive in front of a truck, its breaks can fail and it will crush you...
Now one cannot drive beside the truck...

Since we cannot drive on top or under the truck, I guess the new rule now is to park the car by the roadside any time we see a truck ahead?

I stay enough far behind trucks unless I'm going to overtake so that I can react to rollback or swerves. Even then, as I'm approaching, I look at the road ahead of them, to see if there are potholes or other obstructions that will make them swerve. Then I honk loudly and pray nothing happens as I go past. I've survived a worn tire thread once (though the tire ate my fender to pieces and scraped off part of my bumper).

For those who like to put head and get close to trucks, I give them extra distance. My best friend, a far better driver than I am, tries to teach me to be more aggressive, but I'm ok going slow and giving distance... I will arrive there 10 minutes later at the worst.

I just noticed that "the masses", when they buy a gen, might go for a 0.9kVA or equivalent ("I better pass my neighbour" Tiger brand). If a 1kW solar solution can be sold for 15k-20k, then I could see solar going after the lower end of the generator market. Most people would be happy with the ability to charge their phone, turn on some lights, and a fan. If they just disconnect from PHCN, then they can pool the 2k-4k monthly bills.

refreshrate:
This price, masses?

Please ehn dont ever go into politics i beg you with the name of whatever it is you worship

I just saw this post, but I think your response deserves a reply. There are lots of people who spend about 60k-80k on a 2kVA generator. They may not be "the masses", but it's still a significant market. If they were then to power that gen from 5pm-5am (to run AC or fans while they sleep), how much petrol would that be per month? When you add the cost of servicing it, you can easily start approaching 5k-10k/month. That is, if you're lucky enough to buy fuel at a decent price, with all the chronic shortages we've been having. I also think as you require more power (a heavier gen), you would also require a larger solar installation, but the cost of running a gen+2years fuel remains on par with an equivalent solar installation.


With solar, at least fuel shortage or high price is no longer your concern; there's very little noise (the charge controllers do have fans), and certainly no air pollution.

This project is becoming traumatizing: I'm broke, heavily indebted, demoralized; I've taken to drink, I'm having sleepless nights, and I'm very short tempered; I have more bad dreams than usual, and can't focus on anything. We're not due to finish this project till December, no tenants, no new business leads, and still plan to sink 2M before completion. I must admit that I have also contemplated demolishing the whole thing and vowing never to do anything worthwhile again, especially not in Delta state.

I'm only able to write this after spending 1 week feeling dejected, then slightly recovering my spirits. This post is a quick summary of all the things that went wrong with this build.

In summary, we ended up settling in May 2016 for 1.8M to buy the land again (already paid 1.8M to first owner, youths, etc). Long story short, the land tussle was between two ancient gentlemen, and the argument went back 20+ years. You don't realize that as you spend 30k here, 10k there, 70k another place to mobilize police, transport and lodging for a lawyer; 50k for security; 10k for informants; 10k in fuel going up and down; it adds up to a lot. Lesson learned: try to engage with all aggrieved parties immediately and leave police out of your business.

Some memorable events:

2015-11-18 The building was brutally vandalized with all walls almost entirely broken. Spent almost 400k on police, security, lawyers, to fight whoever was responsible, to repair, and to buy more materials that were damaged.
2015-11-23 Plumber cut into decking concrete and rebar. Had to re-inforce and recast that section.
2015-12-02 Temporary staircase put on wrong side (engineer assumed door was in wrong place). Had to spend time and money to fix this, break open the wall that was supposed to have the door, and to demolish and recreate a new temporary staircase
2016-01-12 Some youths and old man show up and chase off workers with cutlass. This happens periodically for several months.
2016-01-14 Panels arrive, doors fabricated, but had to be left outside for 3 weeks because downstairs was not completed. Paid almost 50k for security because of existing land tussle.
2016-03-17 Temporary staircase pushed off by our land tussle guy, and bamboo damaged. Spent money to restore it.
2016-04-07 Temporary zinc and wood structure inside building to protect decking. 90k materials and labour. Ultimately, this fails to keep decking dry.
2016-06-10 Panels removed because of extensive leaking. Specialized labour to disconnect and delicately move it cost 60k. Of course it will cost again to put them back.
2016-06-11 New roof begun, but only 90% complete before I have to return to base in Ilorin. Suspect sabotage.
2016-06-16 LGA men show up, halt work, take 120k of materials from site, insist that 240k must be paid before we can finish the roof.

This is all I can remember, but I will tally cost overruns here:
1800k - land
400k - police issues/security
200k - misc mistakes by personnel
150k - roof mistakes
240k - 2nd payment to LGA (didn't get a receipt the 1st time)

So, in addition to the reasonable costs of building (which includes land, tax, youths, materials, labour, transport), the overruns caused by all our issues is about 2.8M

This is enough to make me sick and weak at the knees. This is a very heavy price to pay for my inexperience, and my desire to help move Nigeria forward. Sometimes I wish I had just used this money to just start an import business, or some other low-risk business but I had high hopes. I pray to learn from these mistakes and pray that in the coming years, I will smile about this episode in my life.

As of 2016-06-27, heavy rains enter building and decking is heavily soaked. The rain is damaging the walls and water is dripping unto the materials and batteries below. No money for 2 months so we just siddon look. The irony is that I could have left the leaking roof alone, saved my money, and still have the same situation. July is going to be absolutely awful as the rains play havoc with this building.

Saw this picture of a solar installation in Nnewi (courtesy of Solynta https://www.facebook.com/SolyntaEnergy/photos/a.479031498866287.1073741829.325033507599421/715867765182658/?type=3&theater).

I like the roof design, and might copy it for our next building... hopefully we can get some good ideas of how to make it rain-proof.

RichYoungNigger:
Anambra state.
We don't have big companies, we don't have oil, we don't have tourist attractions, we are a small state.


But we are the richest state in Nigeria and the economy or the state of the government doesn't affect us.

We are the king

What are you talking about? Anambra generated N14.793bn and received N63.65nb, for an IRG/FED ratio of 23%. It doesn't generate oil revenue (as you say), has a lot of trade, yet is highly dependent on the federal government. It's revenue of N14.793bn is towards the lower end of the spectrum.

milloguy:
If you haven't committed just go with them...I have never heard of police kidnapping...common bejng stubborn only brings deadly beating

You do know that if you go with them, you can still be subject to a beating when you reach station... They will invent all kinds of stories, introduce you to some friendly mosquitoes, and after all is said and done, you know that you will pay bail, from 4k-50k, even if you did not do anything at all. Police na one chance oh.

Brayss:
It a group of death...bt we ar goin 2 qualify i bleif in super Eagle,we are the Giant Agbaya of Africa

There, fixed it for you

KevinDein:
Some guys on this thread claim players' lack of commitment is the reason for Nigerias below par performance in football in recent years. Some others believe is because of the whacky administration by nff. They all have solid point.
But I also believe that Nigerians are some of the most terrible football fans around. How the hell is your team gonna do well when you've already given up on them even before they get on the field?
Real fans believe in and stand by their team even if all the odds seem against them. ASK LECEISTER CITY

Erm... I've spent the past 30+ years of my life watching Super Eagles fall hand time and time again. This is not a case of "odds against them", as it is a case of "they have no business playing ball." I've gone from national pride, to enthusiastic, to hopeful, to frustrated, to annoyed. At least Ghana, Algeria, and Cameroon have performed well, and so instead of wasting my emotions on some lackluster footballing from the Super Eagles, I know I can count on the above countries to actually play.

I've said it before, if I was president, I would withdraw Nigeria from all international football associations and endorse Ghana and Cameroon. I'd happily pay the fines - which is cheaper than sending all these players and hangers-on abroad to embarrass us.

Na only qualify we sabi... go and play ball and make us proud, dem dey fall hand.

Abeg Super Eagles... just kuku ma withdraw from the qualifiers so that other African countries can get a chance to play good football at the world stage. See, even MakaveliTheDon don talk am:

MakaveliTheDon:
at the end of the competition the group will finish in the alphabeltic order.
Algeria( King of african football)
Cameroon ( Backbone of african football)
Nigeria ( disgrace of african football)
Zambia (rising star of african footbal)