₦airaland Forum

Source: Nairabrains.com

There is so much advice online on how to make money and become rich that the topic seems to present nothing new.

Another problem is that many of the writers of such rich and wealthy guides are not millionaires and are not even on their way to being millionaires.

This writer is not yet a millionaire but is on his way to being one. SO you can see this article as revealing what he is learning and putting into practice on the way to becoming a millionaire. This is practical and sure there may be times we fail to act as we should but with the commitment this could be the guide that gets you into the millionaire status in 2 years or less.

Let’s go;

1. Your Current Income

Is your current income sufficient to make you a millionaire in 2 years with careful planning, savings and investing? If not over to the next.

2. Increase the Streams of Income

One edge the rich have over the poor and struggling is that they have over time acquired assets that pull in money so they do not actually rely on just one means of income. You can’t save your way quickly to millionaire status without increasing your income. I try to devote some time to planning extensively on how to manage the current income I get. However an encounter with someone I respect made me understand an additional pragmatic way to fast track my move to millionaire status – Work on Increasing Income flows

3. Save the extra income flows

This doesn’t really need much explanation. Save a certain percentage of your extra income in a particular account specifically for investment savings. This means any money leaving that account goes only into buying assets and investments that will yield at least 2 digit annual returns.

4. Work out a Flexible Budget

Determine your personal fixed expenses like rent, feeding, bills (electricity, internet, phone etc). If you are like the average Nigerian young person that has to contribute to family sustainance have a budget I call ‘Family and Friends’. Then have general expenses which captures the everyday fun, social expenses you may need to incur as a young person balancing work and fun.

All these after you have set aside how much you will be paying yourself which leads us to

5. Pay Yourself in 2 Ways

You have always heard about paying yourself 10%. That’s bullshit! Unless you earn a substantially fat monthly income paying yourself 10% isn’t going to get you to where you want to be fast enough. So pay yourself in 2 ways; Long term/Investment savings and Mid term savings. Long term goes strictly into an investment account that you can never have access to except to use in investing in stuff that can yield at least 15% per annum without you needing to be always physically involved. The Medium savings can be used for investments as well but has a bit more flexibility than the LTS. This is where you dip hands into in cases of emergency so you will never have to touch your LTS for anything except to channel funds into investing in a well researched venture, idea or project.

5. Only buy Luxury Items from Yields of Investments

This forces you to invest and try to make sufficient dividends from your investments. To buy that car you have always dreamt of why not set a plan to raise the money from one of your investments no matter how long it takes instead of taking your salary for months and going out to buy a car with no assets to increase your income. Any luxury item you buy is definitely going to be a liability so it has to pay for itself by coming from dividends of an investment.

6. Only borrow money to leverage investments

Never borrow money to spend on luxuries and liabilities. Only take money from banks or friends for purposes of investing in carefully researched assets or projects that can yield back the borrowed sum as soon as possible. Borrowing money to buy a care (no matter what some financial advisers or banks tell you) is a no no for someone who wants to become a millionaire as soon as possible.

7. Learn to say no

To the girlfriend, the friends and sometimes even the family (in cases that can wait and are not too overly important). Once you have exceeded your F & F budget for a month all requests for financial assistance must be rolled over to the next month to be accomodated in the new budget. Unless you know you can carry that from your general living budget. Nothing should make you go into the LTS to throw money at anything that won’t bring income.

8. Work Hard

Only fools and lazy people try to excuse the reason people make money as pure luck. If you don’t work hard you don’t meet opportunities. DO your best at work. If you work for yourself do the very best you can. That way you get better at what you do and you potentialy make more. Face your work but Mind your business.

9. Think Big

Aim to have a certain big and ambitous financial networth in two years and work towards it. Aim for N10 million instead of N1 million. Even when you don’t get to be worth N10 million within the time frame you set for yourself you will be sure worth a few millions. You can always set the bar higher and keep the motivation flowing.

Recent Posts: 3 Business Ideas You Can Start If You are Brave Enough
3 Highest Grossing Movies in Nollywood in 2014

dickrider:
They must be high on madness. After voting in mass for the PDP who only deceived them with a second Niger bridge on paper. They should relocate to otuoke let GEJ fulfil his promise to them there. They are so hateful that they voted out their son Ngige for supporting APC.

They shall forever remain irrelevant in Nigerian politics. Bunch of tribalists

You, I think, are the tribalist as your shallow post reeks of one. Just reread what you wrote and weep ye daughter of Satan

source: Nairabrains.com

This is the latest upgraded version of the list of the richest persons in Nigeria. This list has been compiled through research and from various respectable sources.

Family fortunes or unaccounted wealth are excluded from considerations; likewise weath acquired through politics or dictatorship.

1. Aliko Dangote

Dangote, though currently has had lost billions of dollars shaved off his fortune due mainly to the stock market and devaluation of the Naira, is still by far Nigeria’s richest man. He is currently worth around $12 billion after a report from Bloomberg Billionaires publication claimed he has lost close to half of his all high 2014 wealth.

2. Mike Adenuga

Networth: $4.8 billion
Age: 61
Source: Telecom, Oil & Gas, Banking

Adenuga is the Chairman of Globacom, the second national carrier and second largest mobile telecommunications company in Nigeria. His company Globacom recently made forays into several African countries such as Benin, Ghana and Ivory Coast as it seeks to build what it calls Africa’s largest telecommunications network.

3. Folorunsho Alakija

Networth: $2 billion
Age: 64
Source: Oil, Private business

Alakija is the founder of the Rose of Sharon Group which also runs the Rose of Sharon foundation catering to widows and orphans. She is the Executive Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil holding controlling stake in the oil company which owns an oil prospecting license. The oil field her company controls produces a reported 200,000 barrels a day.

4. Jim Ovia

Networth: $1.5 billion
Age: 61
Source: Banking, Telecom, Investments

Named no. 30 in Africa’s 50 richest Jim Ovia is the largest single individual shareholder of Zenith Bank with a 9.3% stake. He is the chairman of the bank he founded more than 20 years ago. He is also a major investor in Visafone, a mobile telecom company in Nigeria as well as holding ownership in various real estate via Quantum Luxury Properties. In August last year, he started construction on a $1.5 billion petrochemical complex in Akwa-Ibom in Nigeria.

5. Tony Elumelu

Networth: $1 billion
Age: 51
Source; Banking, Investments

Elumelu is a well known banking and business leader in Nigeria and Africa. His billion dollar worth investments include a substantial stake in Transcorp, Nigeria’s largest publicly-traded conglomerate; a significant stake in the United Bank for Africa; and an extensive portfolio of real estate across Nigeria among other assets.

6. Femi Otedola

Networth: $700 million
Age: 48
Source: Oil, Investments

According to Forbes the Nigerian energy tycoon Femi Otedola heads petroleum marketing company Forte Oil, whose shares soared starting in the spring of 2014 but have fallen from the high levels reached in June. Otedola controls about 75% stake in the company. The company owns gas stations and fuel storage depots and manufactures its own line of engine oils.

7. Abdulsamad Rabiu

Networth: $700 million
Age: 55
Source: Cement, Sugar, Flour

Rabiu is majority owner and runs BUA Group, a conglomerate active in flour milling, pasta manufacturing, ports and terminals management and sugar refining. The group stopped operations at its BUA Cement unit, a cement trading business, after the Nigerian government banned imports of bulk cement in 2013. BUA Group operates two cement plants in Nigeria and reportedly spent $500 million for a new cement plant in Nigeria’s Edo State that is expected to open in early 2015.

8. Hakeem Bello Osagie

Networth: $650 million
Age: 60
Source: Telecom, Investments

Bello Osagie is the chairman of Etisalat Nigeria, the fourth largest telecom network with over 18 million subscribers. In 1998, he acquired a controlling stake in the United Bank For Africa, a large Nigerian commercial bank, but was ousted out by the Central Bank in the wake of allegations of fraudulent practices orchestrated by him. He also owns First Securities Discount House, a money markets and Treasury bill trading and financial services firm in Nigeria.

9. Tunde Folawiyo

Networth: $600 million
Age: 55
Source: Oil, Telecom

Tunde Folawiyo is the managing director of the Yinka Folawiyo Group, conglomerate with interests in energy, agriculture, shipping, real estate and engineering. His father, Wahab Folawiyo, a well known Nigerian businessman and Islamic leader, started the group in 1957 as a commodities trading outfit and served as chairman until 2008 when he passed away. The company’s oil exploration firm, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum, owns a 60% interest in an oil block that contains the Aje offshore field. Other assets include minority stakes in Nigeria’s Access Bank and mobile phone carrier MTN Nigeria.

10. Oba Otudeko

Networth: $550 million
Age: 71
Source: Manufacturing, Telecom, Real estate

Oba Otudeko is the founder and chairman of Honeywell Group. The conglomerate’s operations stretch across oil and gas, flour milling, real estate and marine transportation.He also owns the oceanfront Radisson Blu in Lagos, Nigeria.

Honourable mentions include;

Mohammed Indimi - $500 million
Orji Uzor Kalu - $500 million
Sani Bello - $500 million
O.B. Lulu Briggs - $450 million

NairaBrains.com - Money, Ideas, Business

King Togbe Ngoryifia Céphas Kosi Bansah is one hell of a king! He is not your usual King that sits in the palace to rule and decide over issues in his traditional domain.

King Togbe, 66, does not even stay in Ghana yet he presides over the issues in his kingdom. He is based in Germany and governs his kingdom and monitors what’s going on through Skype .

The Independent reports that, King Togbe was crowned in 1987 after his grandfather, the reigning king, died.

He was chosen over his elder brother and father because both are left-handed, an attribute that his people believe is unclean and indicative of dishonesty.

Bansah moved to Germany to attend school as a foreign exchange student, but decided not to return to Ghana after he met and fell in love with a woman named Gabrielle, who is now his wife.

NairaBrains.com

So you have this friend John who got a great job right out of university and has been able to move steadily up the corporate ladder without any problem. Why is that? What is John doing that you are not? Is it that John has some uncles in Abuja working things out for him or that he’s got some extra cash to pay his way through for employments? May be no. But something is sure, John has mastered some habits which keeps getting him good job offers to advance his career. These habits are what you should be emulating too.

John Knows How To Use Social Media

When you try to interact with John on social media, he always seems distant and stiff. The truth is that John knows that prospective employers, even the ones who did not get his resume, are looking at his social media presence to determine if John knows how to use technology, and to gauge John’s level of professionalism.

John Doesn’t Send Resumes To Online Job Listings Only

Nearly eight out of every 10 job hunters start their search online, but only 18 percent of those online listings result in a job hunter being hired. The reason is that most of the positions being advertised are already filled, or they are just listings created by recruiters to see what kind of candidates are out there.

John understands that while the actual listings may be relatively useless, the information is a gold mine. If a company advertises for an international sales associate, then John knows that the company needs sales professionals. He sends his resume to the sales manager and then follows up by phone.

John Networks Constantly

John takes his job hunt offline and goes to professional functions, job fairs and other places where he can mingle with potential employers. John invested some naira in getting some professional looking business cards printed up with a quick summary of his qualifications and his contact information on them and he gives those out constantly. John sets up a network of people who are helping him look for a job and that gives him the inside scoop on jobs that never get listed on-line.

John’s Correspondence With Employers Is Professional

When John responds to a potential employer’s email, he does so without using Internet speak such as “LOL” and without using cute emoticons. John is all business when talking to potential employers and that creates a strong impression that gets him job offers.

John Invested In A Professional Resume Writer

John’s resume stands out to hiring managers because John hired a professional resume writer who understands that a resume has to be concise and offer only pertinent information. A career objective and an indication that references are available upon request is not necessary and they don’t appear on John’s resume.

John Is Popular With His Friends

John has friends who work at companies that pay huge bonuses to employees who refer good employment candidates. There is a very good chance that several of those big job offers John had received came from companies that are paying John’s friends several thousands of naira to refer him.

There is a good chance that your friends have no idea that their companies have referral programs. Give your friends copies of your resume and tell them to look into the employment candidate referral programs where they work. If you help just one friend to make a big bonus by referring you, then your phone may never stop ringing.

John Returns Calls And Emails

When John gets a phone call from a potential employer, he returns that call instantly. John checks his email several times a day and returns any emails from hiring managers within hours. That kind of response time always impresses potential employers and will get your name moved to the top of any interview list.

NairaBrains - Ideas, Money, Business

For young people and students interested in innovation the Ericsson Innovation Awards 2015 has 35,000 euros up for grabs.

The Ericsson Innovation Awards is an opportunity for students and young people interested in change, developing ideas, putting theories to the test and exploring challenges as a pathway to their future career in the Networked Society.

To take part you have to register a team first. Find out about who can enter the competition.

The focus of the competition this year is on the future of learning. What will be the new learning tools and methodologies? How can we make learning accessible to all? What tools will we need when lifelong learning becomes necessary for everyone? What needs to happen when learning shifts out of the schoolhouse and goes online?

Prizes

First prize: EUR 25,000
Second prize: EUR 10,000
Third prize: EUR 5,000
All finalists and semi-finalists will be given the opportunity to be interviewed for a possible internship or permanent position at Ericsson
LinkedIn – endorsements and winner’s mark from Ericsson

Competition details here

The Bank is supposed to help keep your money safe and even make it grow. However if you are like most people in this country your bank may actually be helping you lose money through some little habits you overlook that your bank actually wants you to continuing having

1. Withdrawing money from the wrong ATM

Okay before the new Central Bank Governor came in the ATM fee was abolished. Now it is back in a new way. When you withdraw money from the ATM of a bank different from the bank that issued your card you are charged N65. Actually this should occur when you withdraw several times (3 or so) however trust the banks to grab at your money in any small way they can. So when you actually withdraw from the ATM of a bank other than yours you could lose N65.

If you are anything like what I used to be (I confess that I was the heaviest ATM user around until I decided to change strategy. Lol) you could be losing hundreds of naira to your bank and card issuer every month.

2. Having too many bank accounts

Actually this might not be too obvious until you start to get all sorts of charges. From charges for issuing of ATM cards (whether you wanted them or not) to all sorts of miscellaneous monthly account maintenance charges you suddenly find a few hundreds or thousands of naira (in some cases) missing from your accounts at month end.

If you must have several bank accounts restrict to 3 for now. Until you begin a multimillionaire (at least in Nigeria) you shouldn’t be splitting up your small funds in numerous bank accounts thereby losing substantial sums to various bank charges.

3. Signing up for SMS alerts

This one here is the chief culprit. I have lost count of how many times I get SMS alert in a month from my banks.

Some banks are so mean that they will even deduct the SMS charge for birthday SMS that they send you on your birthday! Terrible you say? If you can simply stick to email alerts. They may not come very often or quickly enough as SMS but you don’t get charged anything. If you are rich enough that you don’t bother about SMS charges then by all means go ahead and sign up SMS notification.

One particular bank (names withheld) was even sending mails asking one of my friends who didn’t sign up for SMS alerts to do so. Considering how cheaply they can acquire SMS credits (for an organisation that sends millions of sms like banks sms units can come as cheap as N0.60 per sms) and they charge you N5 per SMS notification you can imagine how much they make from SMS business alone.

4. Staying with the wrong bank

Well what more can I say. If you are with a bad bank you just have to change accounts quickly. Wrong banks will dip their electronic hands into your account every month in the name of one charges or the other.

I will not mention names of some banks that take your money in small small cunning ways (because I’m not retain for the repercussions hehehe)

source: NairaBrains - business, money, ideas

Starting from today we'll update this thread with new verified job openings in Port Harcourt city as much as we can.

Anyone who always has valuable info on real jobs in Ptown should also post them here.

Note that you still have to do your due diligence on any job and run when an employer asks you to pay money before being employed.

There let's kick this off;

Graduate Trainees at Grant Thornton

Grant Thornton Nigeria is a member firm of Grant Thornton International. Grant Thornton is one of the world's leading organizations.

Grant Thornton is one of the world's leading
organizations of independent Audit & Assurance, Tax and Advisoryfinns, with offices in over 130 countries. As part of its people and culture development policy, Grant Thornton Nigeria with presence in Abuja, Lagos and Port-Harcourt presently seeks interested young, dynamic graduates (Post NYSC) of any of the disciplines indicated below to fill entry level position of Graduate Trainees.


Job Requirements

Position Requirements:
Fresh graduates (No experience required)
B,Sc. Graduates of Accountancy, Economics, Banking & Finance, Mathematics. Statistics, Business Administration, Computer Science, Engineering or other related numerate disciplines.
Minimum of second class upper division
Good, passionate inter-personal skill and ability to work effectively in a team
Excellent oral and written communication skills smart, intelligent and likeable disposition
Analytical and lateral thinking skills
Passion for research and learning
Not more than 25 years of age

Apply Here

1. Chief Operating Officer at An Oil & Gas Firm

The ideal candidate would currently be in a role that is directly responsible for at least $100m in assets and potentially matching sales revenue with decent profitability, achieved in a company in the Power sector or similar industries

Responsibilities:
Develop a broad and deep knowledge of all programs and provide creative solutions to organizational and operational challenges.
Provide leadership, direction and management support and development to line reports and take responsibility for a robust, open and healthy management culture
Responsible for the measurement and effectiveness of all processes internal and external.
Foster a success-oriented, accountable environment within the company.
Direct short-term and long-range planning and budget development to support strategic business goals.
Establish the performance goals, allocate resources, and assess policies for senior management.
Demonstrate successful execution of business strategies for company products and services.
Advise the management team on key planning issues and make recommendations on important business decisions.
Ensure activities comply with organisational requirements for quality management, legal stipulations, and general duty of care.
Recruit, train, supervise, and evaluate department staff

Apply Here

2. Auditors, Retail at a Retails/Wholesales Distribution Company

Auditor's basic duty is to record sales figures to keep the company's financial records complete. They must also check the accuracy of figures and calculations performed by the sales staff to make sure the records are correct.
Monitor Employee Compliance

Auditors MUST have the retail chain experience and be able to coordinate retail businesses include tracking merchandise returns, bad checks and paperwork requirements to make sure employees are handling sales and sales records the way the company requires.
Oversee Inventory

Auditors may also be required to participate in store inventory. Comparing the stock that's actually on hand to what the records say is there is a standard tool for detecting theft and errors.
Provide Comparisons

By keeping track of sales for different employees, branches or stores, a sales audit will provide management with a comparison of who sells the most, which store has the most return, or if one particular branch has a high rate of fraud or error.
Provide Feedback

Auditors will be expected to provide feedback on employee performance, not only on sales but in whether employees are following company procedure, or if they're failing to file reports in a timely manner

Apply here

3. Electrical Engineer (Manager) at An FMCG Company

Trouble shooting skills:

Electrical Power System – PCC, MCC, Switchgears, DG, UPS

Electrical Control System – PLC (Siemens S200, Mitsubishi), VFD, Temp Controller

Instrumentation – PID Controller, RTDs, Photo-sensors, Servo Amplifiers

Boiler
Planning:

Preventive Maint planning for Electrical system

Spares Planning for all process, packaging and utility equipments

Defining the ROL/ROQ with suggested vendors for various spares
Management:

Handling a team of 5-6 Electricians/Elect Engineers for the routine activities on day to day basis

Carrying out the Break down analysis using tools like Why Why/ Fish Bone / Pareto

Studying the Load Distribution, Conservation and Controlling of Electrical Power

Monitoring the OEE

Support for all electrical projects, Improvements and Site Modifications

Apply here

4. Geophysist at An Oil & Gas Company

Preplanning projects before going on site;

Designing data acquisition plans;

Deciding on suitable seismic measurement and data-processing techniques.

Observing the reaction of recording equipment to detect irregularities;

Using computers for data management, quality control and communication between the office and field locations;

Interpreting and mapping of 2D and 3D seismic data;

Reporting on collected seismic data to the team, clients, senior managers or partners at meetings and presentations;

Measuring reservoir volumes;

Assessing potential oil and gas yield;

Thinking quickly and independently to solve problems, often with limited resources in remote locations;

Designing, testing, modifying and repairing seismic equipment;

Adapting data collection procedures;

Working closely with a small team of scientists and other staff who may be away in the field or offshore for several weeks at a time;

Compiling charts and reports.

Writing documentation and work logs.

Providing a wide range of geophysical support and technical advice/guidance.

Keeping abreast of new and emerging technologies.

Improving existing techniques in data acquisition and mathematical processing, as well as seeking to develop new techniques and methods;

Working within budget, resource and time constraints.

Apply Here

5. Project Engineer at An Engineering & Construction Company

Create and manage the vision for the planning and design of sports facilities including stadia, arena and event spaces.
Create and lead the vision for interview and design presentations including PowerPoint, and other multimedia software.
Demonstrate ability to lead the design efforts of significant architecture projects, with a focus on sports facilities.
Mentor the architecture and supporting discipline design teams to deliver the design vision from concept through construction.

Collaborate with the construction team to deliver maximum value, including the development and inclusion of design options and phased delivery of the client’s project

Participate with the Assistant Manager to:

Develop clients and client relationships.

Identify and develop opportunities to expand portfolio.

Develop a plan for recognition of design excellence.

First hand tracking of the progress and quality of work being performed by design disciplines/trades

Effectively and accurately communicate relevant project information to the client and project team.

Liaise with foreign partners on projects.

Ensure clients’ needs are met in a timely and cost effective manner.

Work with the assistant in the review of contractor quotations to ensure that only fair and reasonable pricing is recommended for approval

Communicate ideas for improving company processes with a positive and constructive attitude, and for developing this attitude in others.

Participate actively in company recruitment of technical employees on the field and any other related duty.

Salary: 1,440,000 Naira Annually

Apply Here

6. Head of Media & Communication at An Advertising & Public Relations Firm

Manage public and press release on behalf the company.
Create and manage an Image making and corporate branding team.
Create and maintain an international Brand presence.

Ensure that the company's activities are in line with best practices.

May become official spokes person of the company.

Control, Prepare and monitor Official communications.

Have an input to ALL departments’ external communications.

Job Requirements
First degree in International communications, Mass communications, Languages etc Bi-lingual , other certifications are required
Experienced
10 to 15 Years experience

Apply Here

7. Assistant Manager Operations at AN Engineering/Construction Company

Attend client meetings and assist with determination of project requirements

Assist the Managing Partner in the drafting and issuance of project proposals, RFP’s, tenders, budgets, cash flows and preliminary schedules

Prepare project organization which will include administration, logistics and communication charts.

Chair site meetings and distribute minutes to all project team members

Track the progress and quality of work being performed by design disciplines/trades

Use project scheduling and control tools to monitor projects plans, work hours, budgets and expenditures.

Effectively and accurately communicate relevant project information to the client and project team.

Responding appropriately to emergencies or urgent issues as they arise and dealing with the consequences with little supervision.

Embark on aggressive business development and Sales drive on all companies’ products and services

Market the company to increase awareness and presence in the industry.

Ensure clients’ needs are met in a timely and cost effective manner

Review field inspection reports from project engineer s and consultants throughout the lifecycle of the project

Issue contracts, letters of Intent, purchase orders, etc.

Maintain contract execution tracking log

Assist in the review of contractor quotations to ensure that only fair and reasonable pricing is recommended for approval

Create, track & manage contemplated change notices and change orders in the database.

Facilitate and prepare substantial completion certificates and ensure all required project close out documents are obtained

Communicate ideas for improving company processes with a positive and constructive attitude, and for developing this attitude in others.

Participate actively in company recruitment and other operations related activities

Any other related duty.

Salary: 1.8 Million Naira Annually

Apply Here

Church business is certainly now big business with several pastors now boasting private jets, some own more than one jet even. We have scoured all over for details on Nigeria’s ‘men of god’ who own private aircrafts and we present, in no particular order, this golden list to you.

We will update this list as we get more information.

1. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

The ‘bling bling pastor’ owns a Bombardier Challenger 601 aircraft which was recently involved in a money laundering brouhaha with 2 Nigerians and an Israeli in South Africa.

2. Bishop David Oyedepo

It is not clear how many private aircrafts this man has however he surely has minimum of 2 private jets. He owns a $35 million Gulfstream V Jet, a Challenger 604 and a Gulfstream IV.

3. Enoch Adeboye

He owns a Gulfstream IV aircraft.

4. Bishop Mike Okonkwo

We could not ascertain as at time of publishing the name of the private jet the Bishop owns.

source: http://nairabrains.com/2014/10/pastors-and-preachers-who-own-private-jets-in-nigeria/

Sheik Ahmad Gumi welcomed us into his modestly furnished, new apartment somewhere in a highbrow part of Kaduna town. He was there waiting for us, with broad sparkling grin that seemed to illuminate his gray beards.

As we exchanged pleasantries, the man who had sparked a national debate with two letters he had written to some Presidential aspirants, appeared much younger that pictures portrayed of him. Our main mission was to find out why he wrote President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) not to contest the 2015 Presidential elections and to have his take on the insurgency ravaging the North Eastern part of Nigeria.

The son of late Shiek Abubakar Gumi, in this no-holds-bared interview with our Kaduna State Correspondent, Luka Binniyat, and Mayen Etim, went on to claim that he was a marked man over his recent letters, and gave reasons. It is a must-read.

You wrote to Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) and President Goodluck Jonathan asking them not to contest the 2015 presidential election. What motivated that?

I wish to write more and more! There's no question of regret writing those letters and so far, I think the letters, to me, have achieved part of what I intended to achieve. First, to at least put the issue in national discourse; let's discuss issues not like the National Conference where we tended to tell people what they wanted to hear

The supporters of The President and the retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari have reservations about your comments. And there are people who agreed with you. What more would you want to tell Nigerians about your fear for 2015 election? "Buhari's Supporters, irrational, fanatical, sentimental?

Yes, my fear about the 2015 election is that when I look at the parameters of 2011 election and what led to the crises, I didn't see anything that have changed. In fact, the factors are more aggravated now. What's coming now to explode is a big bomb. My letters addressed the factors. It's about a Nigerian citizen telling Gen. Buhari, please step down for peace, unity and stability of Nigeria because your followers are fanatical, irrational, sentimental and they are many, not few.

So, please ... and look at their reaction (intolerance). Just telling their man to step down, and they reacted this way; what more if they were hoping, dreaming - because I tell you they're sentimental and irrational - hoping their man will be president and suddenly he's announced the loser, how will their reaction be like? And who can control them? You see, the flames of war, when they start nobody can control them.

Jonathan/Buhari are false lights

It's just like insects in the bush. If there's light or flame they think it is good for them; they rush to it and fall into flame, killing themselves. So, there's fake light. We're creating fake light. In the North people think that General (Buhari) is light whereby they can get salvation, but it's a false light, it will destroy them.

And in the South too, the government has false light. It is saying, "followers", especially Christians, "this is your salvation, saviour" - it's a false light. Why? Anything that will cause polarization of the society even if you have the upper hand, you really don't have it because the other hand will try to undermine you. So, in a stable society, there is a correct light whereby every segment of the society is comfortable, relatively and reasonably comfortable.

"A big section of Nigeria will be uncomfortable with Jonathan continuing as President"

If there is any section of Nigeria which is afraid and suspicious of your leadership when you've not won, then don't contest in the first place. Because everything in this democracy was designed to have a peaceful and mutual understanding and consent of the people as put in the constitution.

But in this case, if President Jonathan wins, a huge part of the society will feel uncomfortable and frightened by his continuation. The natural thing to do is to give the chance to another person to contest; this is just natural everywhere in the world.

"And what about Boko Haram?

Why the Boko Haram issue has two perspectives - the perspective you, the press, have been bombarding Nigerians with and the true perspective seen by the victims. Let me tell you what the victims see in Boko Haram; We are almost one full year of a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. people gave the government benefit of doubt at the beginning. The National Assembly sanctioned the state of emergency and that means that soldiers can liquidate or kill anybody without trial. That automatically puts you out of the area if you are an outsider.

You cannot go and see for yourself what's happening. Powers were given to them and also huge sums of money. With these huge sums, nobody would have taught that after this long period of fighting Boko Haram we will still be fighting them. Soldiers at the fronts were being eliminated, outnumbered, and many civilians incarcerated. The Army were just there arresting civilians and putting them in prison. There is no military strategy to fight Boko Haram.

source: Vanguard

delishpot:
My brother, wetin make wectalk nau? She sidon outside with her two bobby hanging out. People dey pass, dey look them she no worry. She felt $€xy and cool. Then google put am for map she come remember modesty, come dey sue them say dem show her bobby. Me even think say dem take ger bedroom photos put for the google map sef. I no kbow say na main riad she sidon flaunt them. On that ground to me google no guilty.
On the other hand, if she dey sue them say na only she get right to publish her photos and bobbies for paper and maps, then I say she go win this case cos google for pay her or take her permission before showing her photo. That is to say, she no dey vex out of modesty, she dey vex say dem no pay her before dem use her photo.
E be like asawo go shout Гape, if you nor pay after service but sing sweet song and shout good business if you pay her well after the show.

Lol. She needs settlement before her image is used abi?

Thanks anyway

They are the Ogas at the top in the comedy business. The list is not necessary in order of highest earning;

Bright Okpocha (aka Basketmouth)

Basketmouth is one of Nigeria’s most recognisable faces in comedy. His annual income consists of several endorsement deals, Globacom (He has been the longest serving Glo ambassador) and several more. His ‘Basketmouth Uncensored’ sells out annually in locations like South Africa, London and the United States. He has been one of the most consistent comedians in the comedy industry. He has also invested in brick and mortar businesses like night clubs. His annual income (life performances, endorsement deals, TV shows etc) is estimated in the range of N150 – N250 million with his flagship ‘Basketmouth uncensored’ showed pulling in over N100 million per annum.

Ali Baba

Acclaimed as the godfather of Nigerian comedy Ali Baba who is also known as Atunyota Alleluya Akporobomerere (what a mouthful) is credited with starting the revolution that brought in a wave of comedians such as Basket Mouth, Opa Williams, Julius Agwu, Okey Bakassi, Gandoki, Gbenga Adeyinka D 1st etc.

Ali Baba took comedy business to another height in 1998 when he registered his company, “Ali Baba Hiccupurathird.” That same year he erected three billboards in strategic locations in Lagos: Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island; Osborne Road, Ikoyi and in Marina. He paid N150, 000 for each billboard per year for two years. The billboard carried a simple message, “Ali Baba –Being Funny Is Serious Business.”

Ali Baba is the richest comedian in Nigeria if not the whole of Africa. He once had a 2 year endorsement deal with a multinational firm worth N100 million. Over the years he has invested in banking, events management, entertainment/recreation businesses.

Julius Agwu

The Rivers state born comedian is a vastly talented person combining his comedy talents with acting and occasional song-making. In 2013 he released two singles ‘rejuvenate’ and ‘mama soup’ and took his growing comedy show ‘Crack ya Ribs’ to London. He also organised the ‘Laugh for Christ Sake’ show. He owns real laugh entertainment an event management firm along with choice properties in several states. he is rumoured to be well connected politically and eyeing a political position in the upcoming elections.

The 40 year old makes his money from live shows, his hosted show ‘Crack Ya Ribs’ and advertisement endorsements. He made around N20 million when he launched his book at age 40 recently. Estimated annual revenue is between N150 – N200 million

Francis Agoda (aka I Go Die)

The comedian I Go Dye is also a businessman extraordinaire. The United Nations Millennium Developmental Goal Ambassador is believed to own a few businesses which include a property and real estate company and a bottling water company nearing completion. The Delta State-born humour merchant acquired N14 million worth White-Diamond Cadillac Escalade Hybrid 2012 Model (Platinum Edition) and a reported N7 million worth Range Rover Evogue.

His annual income is estimated to be around N200 million

Gbenga Adeyinka

Gbenga as well as being a comedian is a well known event anchor and MC. He has a show Laffmatazz and anchors a very healthy number of political and social events all year round. He has a very lucrative deal with Nigerian Breweries over the past few years. He earns between N100 – N150 million per year.

AY

AY is thought to make N1 – N2 million per show and runs A.Y. Live events which basically is an events organiser and management firm. His AY show won Best TV Comedy show in 2008; his monthly AY’s Open Mic Challenge has also provided an avenue to unearth fresh talents. Linked to owning a club (or at least working on launching one) he pulls in at least N150 million per annum.

full list: http://nairabrains.com/2014/10/10-highest-earning-comedians-in-nigeria/

In many online forums the discussion on what is an acceptable salary is always ongoing. While inflation and other factors contribute to a growing cost of living in Nigeria and other parts of Africa salaries and wages unfortunately do not always rise along.

Therefore the question arises, ”What is the average amount the average starting Nigerian worker can earn in 2013 for it to be an acceptable salary given the prevailing economic conditions?” What will be seen as an average acceptable entry level salary across telecom, oil and gas, services, education and indeed all sectors for a worker to be able to afford an acceptable standard of living? How Many People Already Earn a Comfortable Starting Salary in Nigeria?

We took the time to research and look into the answer to the above questions. In compiling our answers we interviewed several workers (that can be classified as middle class or average in income levels), scoured through tons of online discussions on the issue and conducted third party research.

While it may be difficult to claim a general average salary that will be good enough for all interests we explored and bring to you what we have found to be a reasonable estimation of what an average salary should be for Nigerians in 2013. But the fact is that what we put forward may be far from the reality on ground!

To get a hang of what a suitable average salary could be we first look at the basic costs of living facing the average worker;

- Housing: For someone living in an apartment that is just okay enough we estimate a monthly cost of N12,000 – N15,000
- Transportation: N10,000
- Feeding: depends on the number of stomachs dependent on the entry level worker but we estimate between 1 – 3 persons depending on the worker for food daily. If cost of feeding each person a day is average N400 (could be far higher of course if meals are eaten out at restaurants) we arrive at N400 for each person per day maximum and multiply that by 3 persons and by thirty to get N36,000
- Welfare (clothing, entertainment etc): We can assume N20,000 monthly will do for this
- Miscellaneous (to cover other wants, and expenses that may need to be made including savings): N50,000

The above (very generous estimations) give a total N131, 000 on the extreme side for average entry level salary all things being equal, for the average Nigerian worker with at least a Higher National Diploma.

The real situation

From our findings the average salary scale for entry level workers (Degree/HND Holders) for some popular sectors and the percentage of the workforce they employ is as follows;

Oil & Gas (2%): N100, 000 – N250, 000
Telecom/IT (7%): N70, 000 – N180, 000
Banking & Financial Services (13%) – N50, 000 – N150, 000
Hospitality, Media, Services Sector (33%) – N30, 000 – N100, 000
Others (55%) – N15, 000 – N45, 000

From the above we deduce that majority of Nigerian workers at the entry level earn far below what would pass as a highly acceptable average salary given today’s economic situation.

Share your thoughts

source: Ngcareers - jobs, companies, salaries

Orlando Pirates and South Africa’s first choice goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa has sadly been announced dead after he was fatally shot by armed rogues on Sunday at his home.

The South African Police Service confirmed the news, announcing they had opened an investigation into the beloved player’s death.

Provincial Community Safety official, Sizakele Nkosi-Malubane, told reporters of Meyiwa’s efforts to protect girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, reported by Reuters via Eurosport:

“Two guys entered the house and demanded cellphones, money and other valuables,” Nkosi-Malubane explained. “Senzo tried to protect Kelly because one of the men had a gun pointed towards her.”

The Orlando Pirates have also offered their condolences to fans and family of the deceased goalkeeper.

source: NairaBrains - business, tech, people

Already we have seen and heard reports from several persons on how they lost money to these scammers. So after some research we bring to you this short article to inform you on ways the strategies these scammers use so you will not fall victim in these ember months.


1. Customs Auction Cars


They are everywhere on the internet; forums, blogs, websites and facebook. They list cars at all sorts of ridiculous prices and claim they are cars confiscated by customs and top custom officials want to dispose of them discreetly. Attempting to do business with them means you will lose your money and never see any car.

2. Sugar Mummy Connections

They are everywhere on the web, posting spam links and phone numbers on comment sections of websites and on social media like facebook pages. They promise to connect gullible young men to rich older women who need sexual gratification and will in return pay them handsomely.

When any potential mugu contacts them he is asked to part with a certain sum as registration/application before he will then be connected to a rich sugar mummy.

3. Shell Recruitment SMS from a Youth Corper Friend

This particular tactic works om many people. In fact someone I know almost paid in N25,000 to the account of these hoodlums. He was saved because he called someone to verify before paying and the friend he called knew already of the scam and warned him to leave the bank immediately with his money.

The scope goes like this;

You get a text message from someone who apparently knows your name and where you did your NYSC. The message reads something like, ‘Hi (your name), longest time. This is (so and so name) from our NYSC days in Akwa Ibom. I now work with Shell. I just learnt they are recruiting and so I wish to let you know as a friend. You can reach the HR manager on this number but don’t mention I was the one that gave you the number’

The format of course varies but the generally scope is to appear like an old friend from youth service days and then before you know it if you call the number they start the brainwashing and you may just end up paying some money into their account as my guy almost did last week.

4. Job Offer scam


Th godfather of all job scams are perpetrated by government agencies and institutions. The immigration job scandal comes to mind as well as the Imo state 10,000 jobs scam under former Governor Ikedi Ohakim. While nothing is done about this ugly trend it encourages private individuals and organisations to demand money from applicants who they have no intention of providing with a job.

The key to staying ‘unscammed’ is to never ever part with your money. If it’s too good to be true then it probably is.

source: NairaBrains - business, money, people

Bosses come in a whole lot of different shades; they could be egomaniacs or totally disorganised that you sometimes wonder how they got to be the boss in the first place.

There are many types of bosses (haven’t I said that before?) but they generally can be broadly grouped into a manageable list of behaviour types.

If you feel you’ve got a crazy, angry or plain stupid boss here are some ideas on how to cope or even handle them pretty well. We hope they help.

If Your Boss is Abrasive Become a Sponge

Scrub his ass (well .. not literally though) and become a sponge. Try and soak in his ideas on how things should be done. This type doesn’t really want to feel like they don’t know what they are doing.

If He is Inconsistent Keep Him on Track Subtly

If He is Indecisive? Take the Decisions You Can and Wait for the Rest

If He is Hot Tempered Try to Keep Ignition Points Far Away

If He is Rude Ignore Him

An Unorganised Boss? Fret Whenever He Gets His Desk Clustered or His Schedule Muddled Up

If He is Lazy Use the Initiative

If He Talks Too Much Be Silent

Ngcareers - Get Matched to the Right Opportunities

If you are working in an organisation and not taking advantage of internal job openings to advance you surely are not doing yourself any favours. Many large organisations regularly have need to fill in jobs and while they may advertise publicly, in some cases, nothing stops someone with relevant years of experience working already in the organisation to apply.

However to apply for jobs within your organisation you need to consider the following;

Talk to Your Superiors

Find out from people who should know about the internal vacancies and whether the company is looking to fill from exclusively outside the company or whether they will also consider internal applications from employees. When you can be sure this is the case you would have a sure basis to dust up, rewrite you CV and send in your application. Get informed on the application process and follow it to the letter.

Follow Your Company’s Job Openings Page

If your organisation does its recruitment through its own HR department chances are that it may have a career section on its website where new jobs are listed. Be sure to keep track of the page for any openings that may be relevant to your career path.

Secure the Right References

If the opportunity you are applying for requires significant differences from your current job you may have to find and include references that will indicate your good background in the areas required for the job.

Don’t Take Things for Granted

That you are already an insider or an employee for the organisation doesn’t guarantee anything or give you any undue advantages over other equally or more qualified external applicants. So you should be doing your best to understand what the position you are applying for entails and follow the rules.

Stay Positive

After sending in your applications it’s all you can do to go about your current job as effectively as you used to. Remain positive and committed even when the selection doesn’t favour you.

Ngcareers Company Reviews - gain insights on companies you want to work for

Lol. More grease. Garri is big business. Package with groundnut

There are probably hundreds of thousands of articles out there on CV writing and tips to create a very successful Resume. Still thousands of job seeking individuals make the same mistakes every day and thus deny themselves the opportunity to get invited to prove what they can do for employers and organisations.

What does a successful CV mean?

Creating a successful CV doesn’t just lie in designing a good looking beautiful piece of document. A CV ‘s success is solely determined by one factor; how often it gets you an interview. If a CV doesn’t get you an interview after submitting to several jobs then do the right thing; discard that CV and write or better still get a professionally written one.

CV Success is measured only in the rate at which it gets you invited to the interview table. That is the most important work of a CV. It is your salesman in your absence; it gives the prospective employer an idea of what you are and what you might be able to bring to the party if considered.

1. Choose a Clear Design and Layout

Employers spend around 20 to 30 seconds scanning your CV, so it needs to remain clutter-free and easy to read. The last thing a recruiter wants to do is to go hunting for the information that they are looking for so don’t hide it amongst an array of elaborate graphics.

2. Get the Basic Sections and Outlines Right

For a CV with potential high impact you should learn to leave out the non-important and useful sections and outlines and include the basic sections that will project your personal information, education, work experience, skills and achievements/milestones

3. The Right Page Limits

It is ideal for a CV to be 2 pages or at most 3 pages in length. Anything above becomes a lot more difficult to get the target employers to read through with the limited time they have. Your intention with your CV should be to convey the maximum possible projection of the suitability of your candidacy within the limited time the recruiter/employer has to go through your CV.

From the first page your CV should start convincing otherwise having a 5 page CV wouldn’t help.

4. Tailor to the Role

‘One size fits all’ is probably the most mistake jobseekers make in their job search. They keep pushing the same CV to hundreds of employers for varied job adverts and applications. To increase your chances for each job application you make take some time to study the job details and tailor your CV to align with the requisitions of each job as much as possible.

This doesn’t mean you pad your CV. It means you are willing to look at your CV over frequently, adding useful information or removing useless, non-relevant bits according to the content of each job.

5. Follow the KISS Way

Keep your CV Simple; No need going all Shakespearian or trying to impress with sophisticated words, phrases and sentences. Your CV is not the right document to display your superior vocabulary and complex writing skills. Make the CV easy to read and written in direct active and not passive style.

6. Go in Heavy on the Skills Section

If there is anywhere in your CV where you need to come out blazing with all available relevant information it is in your skills section. On Ngcareers talent platform employers use job titles and skills to search for prospective individuals they may contact for a job opening.

An employer may use titles like, ‘business analyst’ ‘project manager’ etc or skill sets like ‘adobe photoshop’ ‘technical writing’ and so on to filter and narrow down their searches to get candidates who have the exact skills and experience they seek.

If you have any skills or practical knowledge relevant to a job you are applying for don’t forget to outline all of them in your skills section of your CV

7. Achievements.

Milestones in Place of Duties/responsibilities. Instead of just outlining duties and responsibilities handled at each job why not make it more result oriented and catchy to the employer by outlining the milestones, achievement recorded on each or all of the specific duties you handled for each previous or present position held.

eg something like, ‘Recorded an expenses reduction of 20% through best cost control practices’ will be preferably instead of ‘Monitored expenses and operations throughout the company’

8. Minimise Error as Much as Possible

Not just grammatical errors also avoid errors of syntax.

9. Make the Most of Experiences

If ever you had a work experience that is relevant to the job you are applying to don’t let that slip. Even if you had volunteer work experience or non-paid internship work you can include as long as it is relevant to the job you target.

10. Review and Update Regularly

This goes without saying that as you improve and get better as a career individual you should also preiodically do major review and updating of your CV to reflect new work experiences, skills acquired and educational achievements made.

source; Ngcareers.com CV Services

All you need is a good communication skill. You don’t need an impressive CV. And you’ll make money more than any salary you’d dreamt of.

How does it work?

Can you sell?

The fact is that selling is one of the businesses that can actually pay you for your time, and even pay you more.
The first 5 years of my corporate work experience were spent balancing books and making forecast – the privileged routine of an accountant. Then I was jump-started into HR. In all this, there was a field I dreaded – I couldn’t steel myself to imagine being one of them.

Selling!

Doing what a salesperson does – I feared it.

You shouldn’t blame me, should you? Each time the image of folks who run around vehicles at bus stops and motor parks hawking one ware or the other came up in mind, I shuddered. Selling must be a punishing assignment, I would think.

But I was wrong!

Thank goodness I now know better. I am now fully and deeply into selling and I enjoy every moment of it. Of course I read some books and I asked questions before I started. The Laws I’m about to share now however emerged from my daily and ongoing experience.

Law 1: The Law of Knowledge states that you must know your product inside out.

It’s a very difficult job selling a product you don’t know much about. The marketplace is stocked with emotionally rational consumers who make all effort to avoid what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. No one wants to be cheated.

We all try to avoid it.

So, it’s not enough that the sales manager had briefed you about the product.
If it’s feasible, use the product yourself. If you can’t, do a research on it. Before I’d download any app on my android phone, I made sure I checked the ‘reviews’ section to find out what previous users were saying about it.

Law 2: The Law of Relations states that the people you have formed relationships with are your first and best customers.

It’s a lot easier and more effective if you phone your friend, or your pastor, or a former colleague and you politely (familiarly) request for a meeting to introduce something you are certain will be beneficial to him. Great sales are often closed at informal meetings like lunches, dinners, or at casual visits.
It’s fine if you think that you’re good at tugging at people’s shirts at bus stops. It’s great if you believe that you are an expert at ‘harassing’ people around and shoving your product in their faces. But I repeat: you don’t get much sold through such methods – and it’s too harrowing an approach.

Law 3: The Law of Volume states that the more sales calls you make, the higher the probability of making sales.

Volume speaks sense when it comes to a game of chance. It’s easier to get a lucky dip out of many tries. The probability of picking a yellow card from a pack of cards is higher if there are many yellow cards in the pack.
It isn’t different in selling either. If you build a contact list of 50 people, your chances of making sales are higher than if your list has only 10.

Law 4: The Law of Relevance states that never underrate anybody on your contact list.

It’s perfectly normal and natural to assume that some folks can’t afford to buy what we sell. This may be because of their financial capacity or several other factors known to us. But that’s a common fallacy. It’s a mistake in selling.

You’ll be surprised that people buy products for different reasons. It may come as a shock to you then to find out that some guys actually borrowed money to get your product.
The icing on the cake however is that some people may not have the capacity to buy but they can refer you to people that can buy.

Law 5: The Law of Neutrality states that it’s safer not to take sides with either success or failure in sales.

You want to know what can ruin a perfectly great day for you? Let a person you’d been dead sure would buy your product turn down your offer. If you’re too emotionally optimistic in such a case, your self-esteem and confidence will take a crushing bash. This may affect your eagerness to go sell more

source: Ngcareers - Jobs, Companies, Communities

chifreke: As far as i have not been given employment.....after i read my brain out...till now...to hell with all of them! i need federal work.....or nothing

See the brain and mentality of someone seeking paid employment?

What did you say you read your brain out on again? Porn magazines?

bbpreye.:
nawa!

Fool!! You quoted the whole article just to post nawa!

As the year ends many people will obviously look at interesting ways to take off the rest and rejuvenate for another work year.

Whether you are in business for yourself or a career individual working in an organisation if you are taking some days off this year end here are some interesting places you could check out for your holidays as complied by the Ngcareers Blog

1. Ibeno Beach

One of the numerous fine beaches in Nigeria is the Ibeno Beach in Akwa lbom State. A lover of water sport finds the Beach which stretches to James town on the Atlantic most inviting.

2. Rojenny Tourist Village

Rojenny Tourist Village is in Anambra State, just at the outskirts of Onitsha market town. Rojenny Village is one of the leading tourist resorts in Nigeria. Among the many attractions of the village are amusement park, joy rides and sporting/relaxation facilities

3. Yankari National Park

Yankari National Park has become the most developed Wildlife park in Nigeria with a lot of attractions for visitors. The park is famous for its variety of animals available for viewing round the year, though the animals are better watched between November and May period of the dry season when the animals converge around the Gaji River, Baboons, Waterbucks, Elephants, Crocodiles, Bushbucks, Duikers, Warthogs, Hippopotamus are among the anirnals commonly seen at the park.

4. Obudu Cattle Ranch

Obudu Cattle Ranch is located in Cross River Slate towards the Nigeria-Cameroon border in the South-East. The Ranch is over 1,524m, has temperate weather condition to ensure green vegetation and grazing of cattle round the year. The Ranch is a tourist delight as a result of its divergent attractions. There are a natural swimming pool, horse riding, beautiful waterfall to behold, gorilla camp, bird watching, sporting facilities and accommodation.

5. Agbokim Waterfalls

Some short distance away from the Nigeria-Cameroon border is the very captivating sight called Agbokim Waterfalls. The Falls situated in Cross River State lies less than 30km from Ikom and is highly recommended for picnics. The falls are pleasantly surrounded by green vegetation.

6. Mbari Cultural Centres

The home of Mbari sculptural houses. These sculptures are robust art manifestations of the prevalent social life and a monumental art sacrifice to “ALA” the earth goodness. In Mbari, Imo State there are very many objects like the terrorising beast, the plastic forms of symbols of the prevalent deities among which is the “ALA” herself, the Amadioha (Thunder god), the Ogwugwu (forest god) each deity with his or her mystical messengers such as snakes, monkeys, rams, tortoise and owl are properly represented. A number of symbolic models were sculptured or painted. These sculptures reflect the lgbo aesthetics. The Mbari Cultural Centre is an open air museum and found in Ikenegbu layout Owerri and at Eke-Nguru in Aboh Mbaise.

7. Oguta Lake Holiday Complex

The holiday complex situates in Oguta local government Area of Imo State about 40km (forty kilometres) away from Owerri, the Capital of Imo State. The lake is qf fresh water and the second largest natural lake in thecountry after lake Chad. To complement the complex water-based recreation services, there are other interesting attractions to watch.

These include:
(a) Golf Course with 18 standard international holes.
(b) Relic of war (mini bunker) constructed by the defunct Biafran Navy during Civic war.
(c) Natural confluence of Oguta Lake and Urashi River.
(d) Cruise boat services.
(e) Golf Club Bar House/Oguta Lake Motel for refreshment, lodging and feeding.
(f) Mini-children recreation park

8. Ososo Tourist Centre

Ososo town, on the boundary between Edo and Kogi States, is hilly and rocky. It lies about 40 kilometres from Igarra and 200 kilometres from Benin city in Edo State, The rocks and hills present a beau tiful scenery. There is a non-catering Rest House on top of a hill at Ososo, which grants a wide view of parts of Kogi State to as far as the Niger. From the Rest House can be seen some distance away a crater take with colourful fishes. An amusement park is being developed as part of the resort which has tem- perate weather for long periods in the year.

9. Ezeagu Tourist Complex

A half-hour drive from the burstling capital city of Enugu State is the Ezeagu Tourist Complex. The complex exhibits one of the natural wonders of nature. Measuring about 22 hectares in size, it comprises a lake, a cave and a waterfall (spring water). Its splendour is expressed by the almost 5 kilome tres long Obinofia cave whose sheer size and compartments is awe-striking.

The surrounding scape is a marriage of various land forms with unique weather condition and exo- tic vegetation. The cave has several tunnels branching out in different directions. Some of the tunnels are inter-connected, often opening up into largechambers which are two to three high and up to ten metres wide.

10. Abraka River Resort, Abraka

Located in the quiet University Town of Abraka, this Motel is ideal for those who want to escape the noise and tension of city/urban life. Hence guests can swim, boat, sport-fishor simply bask in the warm sun.on the exquisite sand-beach as the glass- clear Ethiope River flows lazily by. There are also lawn tennis, squash rackets and badminton courts as well as a children’s playground.

source: Nigeria's top Career Blog

Have you ever looked at your boss and wondered who on earth in his right mind promoted this man? Or muttering to yourself: does this man think I’m the clean-up guy? Simply because he is so disorganized and poor in planning that when it becomes an emergency, he pushes all the responsibility (accompanied by both pressure and sometimes blame) to you and expect you to clean it all up.

It is either his desk is perpetually a heap of complete mess, a beautiful complete work day is ruined (once in a while) because that document that took you hundreds of hours of untold hard work and research to complete and submit to him for a client suddenly cannot be found or untold amounts are being spent replacing things that suddenly cannot be found, even though this guy is not necessarily suffering from multitasking overload.

Working with a disorganized boss can be quite an uphill task; you don’t know what next to expect. It is even worse if he is a habitual procrastinator. Many times you are tempted so badly to recommend that he takes one of those time management or project management courses, so you can actually have an easier time doing your job, but then, how do you tell a man that he has bad breathe?

When you have that boss, who doesn’t check his e-mails frequently and turn around to accuse you of not forwarding him a particular important report you actually sent hours ago, the man who constantly begins looking for a particular report when it is most needed, the man who often puts a call across to you at 3 AM and expect you to make a presentation for a client at 7 AM; a job he has prior information on for weeks or the guy who is always making you consider putting a resignation letter due to the unnecessary pressure his time mismanagement approach is putting on you, you may have to try these few tips.

1. Be one step ahead.

You’d have one hell of a bad time working on that job if when he screeches ‘Ben where’s that report?’ and your response is somewhat ‘it’s not ready yet sir…’ You can be sure to get the reprimanding of your life. So before he asks for the report, have it ready. Before he asks for update on that project, have it handy. Before he screams for updates on a particular client, be sure to have your details ready and feed him with it before he lands, else, you’d be in for a really hard time.

2. Don’t assume anything.

When your boss’s management style is one in which he reacts to situations instead of being proactive, then you have no business assuming anything. Don’t assume he’ll see that report simply because you’ve emailed it to him. Don’t assume he read that report you submitted on his table just because he received it from him. Don’t assume that he called that client you are managing his project to rectify a few things, just because you told him and don’t allow yourself have a bad day because the client shows up and laments bitterly how slow the work has been.

3. Be ready for anything.

Don’t stay awake staring at the ceiling after you get a call from him at 3 am telling you that you are catching a 7 am flight to Port-Harcourt to make a presentation. Don’t even think it is a dream, because like a big joke being acted out, you’d be in Port-Harcourt in a few hours’ time, and did I mention that you’d be making a presentation? Oh! Yes, so get ready and be prepared for the worst.

4. Leave no room for unnecessary rebukes.

Be at work at the right time, prioritize you time, don’t wait for his supervision to do you work, because the next time he’d talk to you about it, he’d be asking if it is ready for submission. So be on top of you game and take it easy, because you may be in this for the long haul.

5. Offer help when you see them struggling with things.

Many times, such people are overloaded with work and have their hands practically full. It will be a plus on your side to take some of those off their shoulders, especially when you hear them lamenting of not knowing what to do or worrying about a particular project. You can be sure to earn their respect or at least have an easier time working on the job.

source: Ngcareers.com - Jobs & Career Community

Many times, some employees get us so angry with their disposition and attitude to customers; we are tempted to report them to their supervisors. At some other times, you cannot help but marvel at the amount of impunity displayed by employees but what we often forget, is that as employees, we often do just about the same. An employee (especially a customer/consumer facing one) may not live up to expectations in relating to customers due to several factors.

Stress and Work Pressure

Take an instance of a frustrated customer calling the customer care line of one of the major telecommunication firms. He has been having issues with his blackberry subscription. Unknown to him, the customer care representative that took the call had already attended to over eighty clients, many of whom had tacked, verbally abused, insulted and appreciated her; not to mention her supervisor who had been on her neck telling her how that her Average Handling Time per customer is high and how she must meet her daily target. By the time this guy calls and begins raining abuses, she may be forced to call him to order or drop the call on him – an act that surely will get her fired if caught.

Many times, employee impunity could be a direct response to intense pressure. At other times, it could be as a result of an overgrown sense of establishment and or entitlement. Direct contact staffers and front desk staffers are more prone to this kind of lackadaisical approach to work. When they would have handled so many customers and are getting worn out from work, one customer would come in from nowhere and would begin raining abuses on them, once he feels he is not being attended to, the way he should, even when the attendants are not at fault.

Many times as the worker being put under intense pressure you’d be tempted to just damn the consequences and give the guy fire for fire and make him understand how it feels to be thoroughly insulted in public but hey, if you still need the job, then you don’t have to go through that route.

The Familiarity Issue

Have you noticed the eagerness with which new employees attend to their responsibilities? They tend to be the first to show up for work and have this consuming desire to do as much work as possible. But a few years down the line, when familiarity with the boss and everyone takes over and people begin showing up late for work with all kinds of excuses, calling in sick for the dumbest reasons and lose the very zeal that they started with in the first place. It has been discovered that most professionals don’t get to continue growing on the job after a few years. They just doze off on the job and activate cruise control. This is a very critical condition for an employee to find himself or herself, because when the firing axe falls, you can be sure that it will surely meet the head of that employee.

Whether you see it from the pressure perspective or from the i-have-arrived perspective, one thing is sure your job is on the line and if you are not yet ready to lose it, then you may have to fall back in line.

source: Nigeria's Top Jobs and Career Site

fowowe411: Sent you my details am interested(AAUA)

Ok. We will surely get back to you.

Don1Dee: But under strike?

They kick off immediately the strike is called off

blackchukky: Pls what of oau

If you are a student of Obafemi Awolowo University you can send in your details as well. We still require campus reps outside the above schools mentioned.

Active, smart students are needed to earn money serving as campus reps for a fast growing research firm.

The campus reps will do the following functions;

- collate data on student audience as described by the research team
- promote academic services of the firm through posters and handbills
- act as awareness creators and attention grabbers for the organisation

Campus reps will easily function during their leisure period and will only communicate with their manager via phone, skype and or email.

Vibrant campus reps are needed in these following schools;

1. Abia State University, Uturu
2. Adamawa State university
3. Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka
4. Anambra State university
5. University of Uyo
6. Akwa ibom State University
7. University of Nigeria Nsukka
8. Enugu State University of Science and Technology
9. Benue State University
10. University of Calabar
11. Cross River State University of Science and Technology
12. Delta State university
13. Ebonyi State University
14. university of Benin
15. Ambrose Alli University
16. Gombe State university
17. Imo State university
18. University of Lagos
19. Lagos State University
20. Nasarawa State university
21. Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye
22. Adekunle Ajasin university
23. University of port Harcourt
24. Rivers State university of Science and Technology
25. Zamfara State university
26. Obafemi Awolowo University
27. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology

Interested students in any of the above schools should send their name, school, level, phone number to chukswriter@yahoo.com.

NB: This part time work will only last for 2 months maximum and promises to be exciting!!

Before you complain that Peter Jackson’s Lord of The Rings only had 3 parts, I have 2 words for you – The Hobbit.

First of all, shout out to the good man who dug up this agreement, scanned it and emailed it to me. As we say here in Blighty; you Sir, are the dog’s bollocks. Thank you.

I think the first thing that struck me about this agreement is how strong ASUU are as a union. I wonder how other unions will feel if they see the kind of stuff ASUU managed to extract from government. Part of the reason for this, in my opinion, is immediately obvious when you look at the list of the people who negotiated for both sides. While the ASUU delegation was led by its President and senior members, the government side was led by Gamaliel Onosode and some other Professors and ex Pro-Chancellors. The highest ranking members of the negotiating team from the government side appear to be some civil servants who acted as ‘observers’.

This is not to invalidate the agreement of course – the government clearly signed it so they should honour it. But when you look at the composition of people purportedly negotiating on behalf of the government, ASUU were already 1 nil up even before anything was signed. Does anyone know why things were done this way? Was it that relations between government and ASUU had broken down to the point where they couldn’t sit round a table and trash out the issues? Not even a minister?

To the agreement proper – there were 4 main issues to be negotiated namely 1) Conditions of service [salaries] 2) Funding 3) University autonomy and freedom 4) ‘Other matters’.

Here are the highlights of the agreement as I saw them

1. ASUU asked for and got a special salary structure for themselves called Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure II (CONUASS). This CONUASS was further made up of 3 components – 1) CONUASS I [the previous one from 2007] 2) Consolidated Peculiar University Academic Allowances [CONPUAA] 3) Rent.

The CONPUAA was apparently to capture all the other allowances that they wanted but not captured in the CONUASS. Stay with me. The reason why they were allowed this was because the committee agreed that ‘Nigerian academics represent the critical mass of scholars in the society’ and as a result of this they ‘deserved unique conditions that will motivate them [...] to attain greater efficiency’.

2. In exchange for this new pay, ASUU agreed to be of good behaviour and not do anything that disrupts the academic calendar to get whatever it wants i.e. no striking.

3. Next thing they did was to look at the countries where Nigerian academics frequently migrated to e.g Botswana, Ghana and other developed countries. Based on this they came up with a salary structure that would prevent this kind of brain drain. They called this Table 1. The highest salary anyone could earn based on this table was N7.5m per annum.

But ASUU then seemingly looked at the government’s condition and took pity on them because the government didn’t have a lot of money and then gave them some sort of ‘discount’. This gave birth to Table 2 in which the highest possible salary was N6m. The cynic in me thinks this was simply a clever negotiating tactic but I wasn’t there.

4. As far as I am aware from all of ASUU’s statements since the strike began, the government has complied with this CONUASS salary structure. Indeed it will be difficult for the government to not pay them the salary they agreed to. It is the next bit that seems to have caused all the problems and it’s easy to see why.

Something called Earned Academic Allowances was also agreed to by both parties. In essence, this was supposed to be a kind of piece-rate payment where ASUU members as academic staff were paid a fixed amount for each unit of work they did. So for supervising postgraduate students, a Professor was to be paid N25,000 per student while a Lecturer 1 and Senior Lecturer were to be paid N15,000 and N20,000 per student respectively.

For Teaching Practice/Industrial Supervision/Field Trips, a Professor was entitled to N100,000 per annum. Further, if a Professor did more than one field trip in a year, he would be paid separately for each one. Even though this money was for field trips, such an academic staff would be entitled to mileage and overnight allowance in line with government regulations. It’s unclear why, after being paid N100,000 for a field trip, the same person will then be entitled to mileage and overnight allowance. What is the definition of ‘field trip’ I wonder?

There was also Honoraria for helping to conduct exams internally or externally ranging from N45,000 for Master’s to N105,000 for Doctorate. For moderating external undergraduate or postgraduate exams, there was a separate honoraria ranging from N60,000 for 50 undergraduate students to N80,000 for more than 10 postgraduate students.

To encourage young academics to ‘further’, postgraduate study grants were to be given – N350,000 per session (up to a maximum of 2 sessions) for a science based masters and N500,000 per session (up to a maximum of 4 sessions) for a science based doctorate. The figures were N250,000 and N350,000 respectively for non science studies.

I am not too familiar with the intricacies of academia but another N200,000 was to be paid to external assessors for the position of Reader and Professor. Call duty and clinical hazard allowances were to be paid to those who qualified to them per existing government regulations.

It is unclear what a Responsibility Allowance is (at least to me) but a Vice Chancellor and Librarian were entitled to N750,000 per annum for this allowance while ‘all other officers’ were entitled to N150,000.

Excess Workload Allowance was to be paid per hour to teaching staff ranging from N2,000 per hour for a Graduate Assistant to N3,500 per hour for a Professor.

You can see the problem with these allowances – there is no way for the government to know how much they will cost in advance. They could cost N10bn or they could cost N100bn. Lecturers would simply submit the bills and the government would have to cough up the money. You can also see that ASUU played a clever hand by giving the government a ‘discount’ on the base salaries while loading up with all sorts of allowances elsewhere. For a lecturer earning say N3m per annum, it wont take much for he/she to earn an extra say 50% of that salary through all these allowances. The government isn’t there on the campus so it will simply get the bill to pay. And I have not even mentioned corruption.

5. There were other non-salary benefits in the agreement as well. Each academic staff was entitled to a car loan equivalent to his/her annual salary charged at 2% for administrative cost (stop laughing). They were also entitled to a car refurbishment loan for those who wanted to refurbish their old cars, again charged at 2%. At least with a car loan you get to see the new car if you want to, but refurbishment? That’s just money in the bush.

For housing loans, each academic was entitled to 8 times his/her annual salary to buy a house. After 6 years service, an academic would be entitled to a sabbatical leave. If this sabbatical was abroad, the university would pay the ‘transport’ costs for the academic, a spouse and up to 4 children. If hospitalised, an academic would be entitled to 6 months paid sick leave which could be extended for another 6 months.

Retirement age was increased from 65 to 70 and any one who retired as a Professor would be entitled to a pension equivalent to his/her final salary. Indeed even if the Professor retired before the retirement age of 70, he would still be entitled to the final salary pension provided he had served as a Professor for 15 years in a university.

University staff and their spouses as well as up to 4 children under the age of 18 were entitled to health insurance. There are various other benefits in the agreement but these are mainly standard stuff like maternity and 26 days leave.

What I find interesting is that while the section on pay was quite specific in what university staff were entitled to, as soon as you get to the other sections, everything turns to a ‘recommendation’. So for example it was recommended that the government spend N472bn on the universities in 2009, N498bn in 2010 and N549bn in 2011. Somehow, the Federal Government was also supposed to fund the State Universities (at least recommended to) on a per student basis i.e. N3.7m per student in total from 2009 to 2011.

Another recommendation was for the state and federal governments to spend a minimum of 26% of their budgets on education. Of this amount, at least 50% was to be allocated to universities. Bear in mind that this was a negotiation between ASUU and the FG – the primary and secondary school interests were not represented there but ASUU was effectively making a recommendation on how much they should get from the budget. In all this, there are 1.2m students in our universities while we need to find a way to get 10.5m children into school.

It was also recommended that the Education Tax Fund be changed to a Higher Education Fund i.e. solely for the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. This would be hilarious if it wasn’t so scandalous – after taking 50% of the budget, the universities were to take 100% of the ETF as well. You couldn’t make it up but then, when you start negotiations from the premise that there is a critical mass of nation transforming scholars in our universities, this is not a surprise. I wonder if the mumu NUT who are threatening to go on strike in solidarity with ASUU know that ASUU don’t really give a toss about them.

Universities were also to access the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) for the training and development of their staff i.e. more money for ASUU and government was to grant universities duty-free importation rights for educational materials. Given that even our churches have been known to terribly abuse such waivers in the past, this is amusing to say the least.

Where the agreement descends into outright farce is when it reaches the section on autonomy. Having demanded and obtained all the above things from the government, ASUU then proceeded to add insult to injury by asking that university autonomy and academic freedom should be ‘enhanced and protected’. Note that this agreement wasn’t exactly reached with smiles and good-natured banter – it came after a strike that eventually forced the government to the negotiating table. So ASUU were not only asking the government to give them as much money as they could demand with a straight face, they were asking to be left alone to spend it and run their affairs as they wish ranging from changing the laws impeding university independence to allowing them admit students as they saw fit. You want the government to look after you and your family by paying everything you want and you want the same government to grant you freedom and autonomy. Eh?

As I’ve said several times before – this dispute is all about pay and nothing else. The thing with recommendations is that they are just that; recommendations. You cant take someone to court for not following a recommendation. So it was up to the government to follow those parts of the agreement or not. But ASUU weren’t messing about with the parts that concerned them. The numbers were clearly specified which is why today they can say the government is owing them N92bn in earned allowances or whatever the figure is. It is also the same reason why the government feels it can throw N30bn at them and ask them to ‘manage’ it. Afterall its ASUU’s word against the government’s.

You hardly come across the word ‘student’ in the agreement at all. And there is nothing specific about infrastructure in there other than the large sums of money the government was supposed to give the universities. There are many people today making ignorant noises about government ‘honouring the agreement’ and even coming up with things that are not in said agreement as ‘ASUU’s demands’. There really isnt anything for anyone in here other than ASUU so personally I’d say, leave them to fight it out with government.

Who in Nigeria wont like free medical insurance for their family? This is why I get confused when the whole debate about education comes down to pay. Even if we had the best universities in the world, there will still be a case for paying our lecturers more. 99.9% of humans beings, when asked if they wanted more pay, will respond ‘Yes’. So why exactly is this the pillar on which the arguement always rests?

You can also see the sinister side of ASUU in the draft amendment bill with the way they were eager to tightly regulate the private universities via the NUC to protect themselves… going as far as recommending up to 5 year jail terms with no option of fine for anyone who so much as uses his property for the operation of an unapproved university.

Be that as it may, I think the government should honour this agreement. It should pay every last penny. That is the only way it might learn a lesson for the future. How you can send a team of ex-academics to negotiate with a team of academics on your behalf is beyond me. But hey, I don’t know what went down in those days. Once this strike is over, prepare for the next one because as sure as night follows day, it will come.

Ultimately this document shows the impossibility of reaching an ‘agreement’ after one party has forced a negotiation via hostage taking. There is absolutely no way in this life or the next we are going to have anything approaching education reform until we break out of this death spiral of strikes and pay deals. The conversation we need to have has not even begun at all. My suggestion will be that the government should just pay ASUU whatever it is it wants right now and then begin talks on university reform i.e. the lecturers need to be in class when negotiations start. That way, we can know what everyone really wants.

source: http://aguntasolo.com/