₦airaland Forum

This is a repost from one of my projects, back in 2016. I was building a 100% solar-powered hostel for students, because we wanted to show that it could be done. It was experimental, but and at one stage the problems and money lost to many factors was about 2.8M. https://www.nairaland.com/2583312/building-solar-powered-hostel-learning-experience/4#47018143

In summary, we dealt with people vandalizing and breaking buildings, wasted materials, omoniles, paying twice for land, police taking money but not doing anything, LGA people stopping work, I got a cutlass on my arm (thank God it wasn't too bad), and so much more. The most memorable that I lost money was for:

1800k - land (paying twice)
400k - police issues/security
200k - misc mistakes by personnel
150k - roofing 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

That 2016 I really suffered enh... my life savings gone, with no sign of relief. I could not continue anything for over 1 year, but thankfully, things are looking up, and we're building out the estate this year and next. I don't consider it a whole loss, but a temporary setback.

I also got into a mini-importation business with a reputable Nairalander... I would import small electronics for hobbyists (Arduino, circuit boards, multimeters), and they would store in their warehouse. Customers would order from my website, and they would use their logistics to send to the customer. We made a few sales, but things were slow and didn't really pick up. About N700,000 worth of materials remains in their custody, but that person is no longer returning my calls or emails. I didn't even see the money from the few sales we had, and I have to write off that loss.

On two occasions, I lent 500k each to two different ladies, one to start provisions store, and another to be selling drinks. These were honest young ladies that people could vouch for, so I did my homework. Unfortunately due to personal circumstances, they had to use their profits for personal matters (hospital, helping their mother, etc). 2 years later, I'm still waiting for the loans to be repaid. I'm still hopeful, but this is yet another loss.

To total these major investment losses: 2.8 + .7 + .5 + .5 = 4.5M not counting other smaller business attempts that failed.

officialJP:
Yahoo Yahoo. I give Alfa 50k with no positive result, don't quote me cause am a born again Christian now

I swear the only people that really make consistent money in Yahoo Yahoo is Alfa. It's a really reliable business as there are new desperate people every week, dropping 50k-500k in your lap for the cost of some chicken, shells, some herbs, and some chalk. And most of the times, your clients supply their own materials, so you don't even have to invest anything.

Dollypizzle13:
wawuu. I'm a newbie in cryptocurrency and I learnt that you can never lose your money and that if you do you'd still gain the amount back if not double. Is that true? And have you earned your money back?

Currently, speculating on cryptocurrency is a gamble. The most famous of them (bitcoin) went from about $1000 in early 2017, to $18,000! by December 2018. Then it crashed to about $6500 by May 2018, and as of mid-November, just fell steeply again to $4500. Of course, people only see the incredible rise in 2017, but forget that it's very volatile. Some people were very very lucky, but as with these things, you have to get in the game very early.

You can lose money - and many many people lost money. You have no control over what it will be within one month. I do not advice it, and anybody promising anything (including getting your capital back) is shitting you.

lexy2014:
so Ireland will just enter nigeria and b going to MTN and Nigerian banks carrying out investigation and according 2u "they wont even need d help of Nigerian security/police? then after doing all this they will now "wipe out" d kidnappers, their generation & families? pls in which country have Ireland done this kind of thing b4?

No... hence why I used the words "warrant" (from a Nigerian judge, which should be quick to get since it's such a high-profile case), and "slight diplomatic pressure", suggesting that they will not just enter Nigeria anyhow. However, our police forces will really be a hindrance to their investigation efforts, let's be honest.

There hasn't been a recent case of ambassadors kidnapped (the more publicized ones are the US Ambassador to Brazil in 1969, and the US Ambassador in Kabul, 1978), but you can bet that if one theirs (US, Ireland, UK, Israel, China) is taken on Nigerian soil, the repercussions will be swift. The ones we know were by powerful, well-connected rebel factions with a political agenda. Simple criminals will be wiped out, and our government will not shed one tear.

Nigeria (and most of Africa) is really a puppet state, in spite of our gra-gra and claim to independence or sovereignty. Our security services, equipment, arms, are procured from other countries, who monitor all we plan to do, and with their embedded agents (mostly Nigerians of course) influence policy. Our leaders are beholden to them in one way or another, and cannot be said to "think freely". You think foreign governments haven't been covertly/clandestinely entering and departing our porous borders unannounced, neutralizing threats and situations, while, pressuring individuals and companies to provide information as needed?

lexy2014:
Were will Ireland c d kidnappers, their generation & families to wipe out?

Assuming they are even able to get to him, and successfully neutralize his security detail:

1. What's the mobile number/sim used to call for ransom? Who owns it? If it's fake/stolen, then:
2. Who has that number been calling?
3. Which cell tower is closest to that phone when it calls?
4. Which cell towers has it contacted in the past few days/hours?
5. Does background noise reveal anything about the location? Market, generator, music, traffic, stream/river, birdcalls?
5. What sites does it contact (if it's a smart phone)? Facebook? Wassap? Banking? Google?
6. Who's the account that tends to use these services using this MAC address?
7. And if the criminals are quite foolish and don't turn it off: what's the GPS location of this phone?
8. If any pictures are sent, what's their GPS signature?

These are already part of company records (you only need to ask 4 phone companies, 4 social media sites, 1 search engine, 4 or so banks), which would only need a warrant or slight diplomatic pressure to obtain. Then you build from there and locate your targets. Seize phones, root/crack them, then widen your search to include friends and family. If a government really wanted to send a message, they could go further. They won't even need help from Nigerian security/police forces, really.

okomile:
Lucky he is in Lagos and taking selfies!!!!


Kidnappers on the prowl looking for their next victim.

U will fetch them millions as ransom.

Go peacefully back to your country.

Good luck in your future endeavors in other countries.

I cant shout

Kidnappers touch an ambassador? Unless you want Ireland to wipe out the kidnappers, their generations, and several villages.

But seriously, what we didn't see in the pictures are the security detail, and possibly other escort speedboats.

ZombiePUNISHER:
He collapsed because of 200k
Buhari has killed the country
Poverty everywhere

Yes oh! 200k no be beans. After working, sacrificing, and saving, even after paying for house, kids, food, etc. For somebody to just take it all away at the blink of an eye. Even why I lose 2k, I wan cry, talk less of 200k.

This is their usual MO: talk in superlative terms about this technology to federal and governments around the world, trying to gain some traction with an unproven system. It's an interesting idea - using smaller vehicles overhead, which require less infrastructure to build - but does not move as many people as traditional trains.

If they get assigned the contract, money will just get siphoned... it's the way of people in government

VictorRomanov:
You understand what privatization Is?

Oh yes, in Nigeria it's when government officials sell off state assets at huge discounts to friends and family, then pocket the change for a job well done. Then those private buyers do their best to extract money from a captive customer base without really improving services, while receiving fresh government funds to "revitalize the sector".

Even after NEPA was "privatized", with assets sold off at a fire sale, government still spends billions of Naira on power? Why? If it's been privatized?

What's with all these fake promises?

Mizk:
I think this is commendable, but who are you selling it to, and how would you handle the proceeds?

Oh we know he's going to sell it at discount price to his cronies, and send the remaining change to some Swiss bank. Standard procedure. After "privatizing" NEPA, what do we have now?

RockHard:
The only thing we have that is closest to an informed estimate of population spread are the telecoms data (attached below) because it is unbiased in any form, and it clearly shows the SE as the least populated while the SW is the single largest/most populated. Oyo and Ogun population alone are more than those of the SE combined (without including Lagos or Ekiti, Ondo, Osun or Kwara and Yoruba-speaking Kogi).

It's a shame when a country refuses to conduct its own credible census, and we have to rely on other's guesses.

This is the number of active voice lines for a total of 143 million... it's distorted by the fact that most people own multiple lines, and the numbers in SW are boosted by people from North and SE residing in those states (esp. Lagos/Ogun/Kwara/Oyo)

If they are going by pure populations in the different zones, then they haven't accounted for the few million SE people spread all over.

Na wa oh... and this is just so they can flex and pour André on their wristwatches this Christmas.
Lives wasted. RIP. Please people be careful.

If you're thinking of going home to village this year, remember that people are not smiling. Better to slow down, stay in Lagos or wherever and send small change than to lose life in these ember months. Every year we lose so many to the crace of what should be a festive season.

nextstep:
Funny, these are very intelligent people who don't realize that it's their intelligence, persistence, and hard work - not the charms - that's the reason for their success. I'm not saying what they're doing is right, I'm just saying they could have achieved all this and more without any charms.

Ironic too is that these are very intelligent people whose skills Nigeria could be harnessing to build software, build companies, and innovate. Unfortunately, the leaders that stole billions will now imprison these very same minds that could help us generate trillions.

Topmaike007:
I am suspecting you.........why should dey not give them 5 years each

The bolded. These people have committed crimes, and ordinarily should serve their term. Their crimes stem from poverty and lack of opportunities, but does not really diminish their technical brilliance - which can be harnessed for good.

What's going to happen is that, rather than spend State funds to rehabilitate them, invest in them and their ideas into useful positive things, we're going to spend State funds to prosecute and incarcerate them. After their 5-year terms, what next? They will be just as poor with fewer opportunities (being older, bitter, with a criminal record, and out of the latest tech), and society won't really be better off for having such brilliant minds among us. The irony I was pointing out is that the prosecution by the State will be on behalf of senators, presidents, governors, LGA chairmen and civil servants (who constitute government), that have stolen this country blind.

I'm not supporting crime, 419, yahoo, yahoo+, or whatever we're calling it now, but our response is typical of how we waste our natural resources without thinking of how to really harness them.

PrecisionFx:
monumental waste of state funds.

government-backed collateral-free loans are a waste of state funds? Ask those in the US about their various government backed loans for farmers, small businesses, war veterans, and minorities...

djon78:
Do you guys even look at yourself

I asked before what is economic value iof 10k and some people are saying they were given 5k

You are giving someone a loan of 10k and 5k??

This is purely a socialist scheme simple

First of all, according to the terms, the first loan is supposed to be 10k. Then after one repays that - and establishes credit-worthiness - one can request more, up to 50k. That some people are saying they collected only 5k, I can't speak to that, so let me just talk about what has been published.

Second, this is all without collateral, so the amounts have to be small: enough to help a petty-trader or small business, but not enough to tempt somebody into absconding.

Third, 10k may not mean much to some people, but to the road-side corn seller, it practically quadruples working capital. How much is roasted corn? N50 - N100 depending on location and cycle in the season. 1k is perhaps 50 ears of corn when she buys (or is the cost from clearing, planting, harvesting if it's from her own farm). Now include transport, firewood, and other materials. Let's be really generous and say her cost of corn is 30naira, and she sells for 50naira, and that she can move 50 ears everyday. That's a total profit of 1,000 per day (50 x (N50-N30)). That's what some of these women use to send their children to school, and add to the household budget. If she's able to borrow the money and pay bulk prices for corn, even if she's still only selling 50 ears per day, now her cost per ear drops to 20naira. That's 500N extra profit.

How about the person selling cold drinks while running along our express-ways? 10k can allow him to co-invest in a small cooler which can keep his drinks cooler than the competition, and customers are more likely to buy from him. The okra and tatashe sellers, they can afford to buy larger amounts of stock and/or diversify and move more units? Or the person selling charcoal? You think they clear more than 2k/day in profit? Which is probably more like ZERO profit to put back into the business, after using the money for daily needs.

And finally, about this notion of socialist scheme: this is at its core a capitalist scheme: the money is expected to be paid back; it's for business and not for consumption.

Don't underestimate the power of 10k. It has transformed many lives. I guess we don't really grasp the level of poverty in this country.

djon78:
Trademoni is a socialist scheme
There is no iota of economic value it adds to the economy.
Why didn't they use this money on 10 000 to 50 000 SMES

Socialist policies just give feeding money to ordinary people to chop daily food.
Maximum in less than 2 weeks it is back to square one

If they have wanted, to cater to the poor, they should have copied what Mohammed Younis did with Graemean bank in Bangladesh which gave finance to the poorest in the country.
It added economic value to millions and he won Noble Peace prize with it due to its impact.

Tradermoni is a loan scheme. The money is supposed to be paid back. It's given to small- and medium-scale businesses for business development, so how does that equate to socialist policy? It's quite similar to the Grameen bank ideology of stimulating economic prosperity from the bottom. This is the start of something we've been asking for a long time: government-backed loans to businesses.

Tradermoni is not a handout to feed... it's a loan to allow you to grow your business. 10k may not seem like much, but it can make the difference between perpetual subsistence and actually making a decent profit to grow - just like that basket-weaver in Mohammed Younis' background on Grameen. It has flaws, and there will be profiteers, but it's the first serious initiative from government for years. The unfortunate thing is rather than continuity, it will be abandoned, just like the NAPEP scheme was.

Funny, these are very intelligent people who don't realize that it's their intelligence, persistence, and hard work - not the charms - that's the reason for their success. I'm not saying what they're doing is right, I'm just saying they could have achieved all this and more without any charms.

Ironic too is that these are very intelligent people whose skills Nigeria could be harnessing to build software, build companies, and innovate. Unfortunately, the leaders that stole billions will now imprison these very same minds that could help us generate trillions.

deji68:
in ibadan there were only given 5000 Naira ...... i hope the balance of 5000 is still intact

SO is the government trying to tell us that the've distributed _at least_ 5000naira x 1million people since July or so?

About 5billion naira? In loans? Because this money has to be paid back...

phemmyutd:
Remind us how many South East votes Buhari got to get to Aso-Rock?

Atiku can not even get upto Jonathan votes against Buhari in 2015

Too true...
I'm not a PMB fan, but it's like these PDP zealots don't remember history, even if it was just 3 years ago.

FunkyAlhaji2015:
Women in this generation have totally lost it.

How will a single woman have a cook? Something is fundamentally wrong

Growing up in our home, my mum properly drilled my sisters. We never had outside help even though the means was there.

Up to this day, none my sisters have hired help.

Cooking can be learned by anyone who wants to. We should be trained to take care of ourselves.

Women in this generation have totally lost it.

If you mean, they have lost the mindset that they must be domestic servants, when they have the economic means to hire one, then yes, I'm happy they have lost it. I agree that people should be able to take care of themselves, but what does that have to do with choosing to hire help? There was a time when men needed to go hunt their own food ... I doubt most men on this forum know how to create a bow and arrow from sticks, stones and animal skins.

A single male bank executive isn't castigated for having domestic staff so he can spend his time more productively... why then does it irk you when woman who makes her money from social media content (which also takes time) does the same?

You have 16 awake hours, which you can either spend earning money, or spend it on chores like cooking. 1 hour of her time on income-generating activities more than pays for 10 hours of cooking activity, so why waste time on chores like cooking? It's good to cook yes, but why is it wrong for a single woman to hire a cook?

mbaboy:
No risk no gain. Atiku economically sound than the lifeless one in aso rock

We do not need inflation; we have already experienced price doubling from 2015 till now. We do not need foreign investors who will come and take wealth. Yes, they'll bring 1 billion dollars, but then they'll repatriate 10 billion dollars in profits. I don't blame them, that's the nature of business.

What we need are Nigerian investors. We need our elites to stop being unfaithful to Nigeria.

They have money (some actually through legal means), yet choose to spend it on foreign real estate, foreign goods, and foreign services, believing that it somehow validates their existence. When all is said and done, after the flashy cars, the flights abroad, the caviar, expensive wines, and foreign hospitals, most of them end coming back to be buried 6 feet under the same ground they abandoned in their hometowns.

Elites of other countries invest in their own countries first. They encourage their young and invest in their ideas. Our elites - including Atiku from this rubbish - obviously do not believe in us.

Anybody who subscribes to the fetish of foreign investments has refused to learn the lessons of the past 100 years.

It was English elites/investors who invested in England.
It was German elites/investors who invested in Germany.
It was American elites/investors who invested in America.
It was Japanese elites/investors who invested in Japan.
It was Korean elites/investors who invested in Korea.
It was Dubai elites/investors who invested in Dubai.
It was Chinese elites/investors who invested in China.

I'm being verbose, so that the lesson sinks in. Nobody has developed their industrial base, the source of their internal security and prosperity, by leaving it to outsiders. Why does anybody think Nigeria's case would be different? From the palm oil colony days till now, after all the "foreign investment", which Nigerian company today can we boast of that mines dirt from the ground and creates a spanner? A common spanner?

Yes foreign money eventually flowed to these countries, but it was the local elites who first believed in themselves, who built the environment, who built the factories, who employed their own people. Once you get to a certain stage, you can invite foreign developers on equal terms: you invest in their country, they invest in yours.

naijaguy123456:
The Igbo are leaving their villages in high numbers for Lagos, Ibadan and other south west cities thereby leading to overpopulation. Nigeria belong to all of us but if Igbo leaders can't develop the east, it's time they appoint Yoruba people to help manage the east of Nigeria. Imagine if we have Fashola as governor general of eastern Nigeria ?

And what about all the indigenes of Ibadan, Ilorin, Osogbo, Ogbomosho, Abeokuta, Ado-Ekiti, also coming to clutter up Lagos? The biggest problem is that Lagos attracts people from all over because it already has such a large economy, but not the infrastructure to deal with them. If I tell you how many people I've met from Ogbomosho... you'd think that city was void of people.

What we need is Federal gov't (not only states) to stimulate development in other parts of the country. You can't talk about Igbo leaders developing the East, when it was Federal money (from Cocoa, Peanuts, Palm, and Petroleum) that developed Lagos. Even when Eastern leaders ask for ports to be developed/reopened, or for the Niger to be dredged, or bridges built, Federal Gov't drags its feet for decades. How can a factory perform well in the East when it's 500+ kilometers from the ports where machines and materials come in, over bad roads? Does that make any sense?

Federal takes the lion share of revenue from the areas that generate the national wealth, and also takes the majority of taxes. If states could keep half of the income tax and resource exploitation on their land, they'd have money to develop their states. Instead, that money is funneled to expensive real estate in Abuja and Lagos via (mostly) government officials at the federal level.

People eat crayfish and shrimp... yet get repulsed by crickets and grasshopper? Funny humans

Well OP, what have you done to make sex enjoyable and satisfying for her? Your comments, and most of the responses I've read so far, have been solely from the man's point of view... No problem in having a big libido, but you can either solve it within the marriage, or solve it outside marriage (which comes with its own baggage that's not worth it).

One big reason women "don't like sex" is because the experience sucks. You're the man, you're supposed to lead her in experiences with you... are you making sure it's fun for her, or a chore?

I'm not saying this is the case with you, but the vast majority of men just want to kiss small, press bobbi small, rub puna small, and then climb, not knowing that it takes 30+ minutes for a woman to become fully aroused. And when the action is going on, the man is just concerned about his own pleasure, not really paying attention to his woman's desires, what feels good to her, how she wants to be pleasured. And afterwards, most men just roll over and sleep, or watch TV, or otherwise ignore her after satisfying his desire.

You know that the largest, most sensitive, sex organ is the brain, so stimulate that organ with sweet words and kind gestures throughout the day... you know, be romantic. Is she exhausted by the end of the day? Are there things you've done to upset her? Anything else she's going through with family or work? Do you smell nice, or unwashed after a full day of working hard?

Unless it really hurts, or there is some underlying psychological reason, women enjoy sex too (we're all wired to enjoy it).

If you choose to go down the path of seeking satisfaction elsewhere, you will grow to resent your wife, and the women you're doing extramural with... eventually you will bore of them, and be on to the next. If things get serious enough (e.g. baby with that other woman, or she starts threatening your marriage), you'll realize it was just easier to invest more effort in making your wife happy.

Nothing wrong with surgery, but it seems people are never satisfied, and end up making the same mistakes as MJJ. See this progression of Lil' Kim, and at last LaToya. If you ask me, the first picture - before the surgery - is the prettiest. Tonto is already at stage 2, and it will just be downhill from here.

mimimile93:
[b]1. During the worldcup NFF president said that this is the first time Super Eagle gone for international competition without having to sort for funds or sponsors. All thanks to PMB who made sure everytin was in place for the Super Eagle. As u could see we won the best kits for the worldcup. White women were ready to give our men free sex just to have our kits. The whites were rushing to buy our jersey. Some whites claimed citizens of Nigeria becos of our kits.

2. Before now our movie industry was nothing to write home about but since PMB came in everytin changed. Nollywood is now among top 3 movie industries in the world. Our actors have signed contracts with Hollywood, Bollywood, Zeeworld etc. Our movies our shown on the international outlets.

3. Who knew Wizkid and Davido (globally) in 2014? Even 2face and Dbanj who went to US almost every week were never known. I remember a month when Psquare went for toyr in Texas and I called my cousin who based in Texas and asked if he knows Psqaure. Nigga was like 'What's that sh!t?' I told him Psquare were Nigerian top act. He said they ain't know in Texas.
PMB came in and changed the game. Create the international market were business strive. Recently Davido was called to perform in a country he never heard of. All thanks to PMB.
Even Amenrican rappers like Big Sean and Diddy claimed citizens of Nigeria.

4. Who knew Nigeria before now?
PMB came in, turned everytin around and international leaders are troppin into the country in thousands. Even Prince Charles came.

5. Brazil had to installed our language 'Yoruba' in their school curriculum.
Asian lady dresses in Edo wears.

The list is endless[/b]

I think you're confusing coincidence with causation. All of the things you mention are due to years of hard work by many people. The fact that moin moin was done when PMB came in does not mean he was around to wash, grind, season, prep the beans, or even start the fire. He didn't even go and fetch firewood or water, but you want to credit him for it. I don't buy your answers one bit.

In fact, PMB slowed down Nigeria's trajectory by 4 years. We were already a growing economy (7-9%); we had come from #40th in GDP to reach #21 by late 2015; we had a bustling economy with lots of people - Nigerians abroad as well as foreigners - investing; foreign music artists and slay queens were coming to make money here; and so much more. PMB came and all that dried up within 6months, thanks to his illogical response to falling oil prices.

janemena my babe. I wish I could have seen her... I'm on that road almost daily.

For those talking about traffic hold up, please pay attention to the traffic light - It's red. That's why the kekes and others are waiting.
I know we don't have much experience with traffic lights in Nigeria, but this one is one of the few in Nigeria that has worked consistently for years, thanks to successive governors.

mimimile93:
but all these u hav listed wouldnt hav been possible without PMB.

Ask me how and i will explain.

OK, please explain. Because I've been seeing comments about appreciation for our media in North Americas, Latin Americas, Caribbean, Europe, and Asia, way before PMB showed up. It's not since 2015 that oyinbos have been dancing to our music in UK clubs, or that the African diaspora in Haiti, Jamaica, US has been exposed to aspirational living portrayed in our movies. It's not PMB that brought Tiwa, Davido, Wizkid, etc to international acclaim.

Chieftroller:


Onye Ego
And nl zombies will come and be disturbing us with just 30k per month salary

abi oh.

This house castle make sense die. Haters are free to jump inside lagoon

mimimile93:
All thanks to PMB.

Have u guys noticed ever since PMB came onboard, we are internationslly known and locally respected..

So not because of the fact that people are consuming Nollywood and our music globally, or being exposed to our culture by youtube bloggers of Nigerian descent, among other places.