I doubt this story! How on earth will an hotel arrest visitors because they cannot locate the person that checked in. Are we thinking at all? Is there no process to lodge in an hotel? Standard hotel will require some form of ID and advance payment before giving you a room.

.

This beautiful bird of mine that I have caught by the window side.

What shall I do with you?

My instinct is to build an adoring cage for you.

Keep you away from awful weather and predators.

Feed you with the best grain available in the market.

Make available squeaky-clean water.

Place the cage in my lovely veranda

So, I can adore your golden feathers with many colours

And let you sing to me at night and in the morning

—-
http://oddmemoir.com/my-beautiful-bird/

After the death of my grandma, I felt a big hollowness in my life. I knew I needed to find a companion and I tried all possibilities to have a soulmate. I beat my complex and, on several occasions, I did ask some ladies out on a date. For three good years, I kept on searching actively. I even tried some matchmaking websites and media programmes. All to no avail.

I was respected at my place of work and many patients would thank their star to have me on their cases. I have recorded a high number of successful surgeries. Despite all my prowess in the medical field, due to complication in my weird skin colour (read it here), I could not get anyone to hold my hands or call mine.

I accepted my fate, I stopped searching for soulmate and redirected my focus more on my profession. Career wise, I have many publications with ground-breaking discoveries in world renowned journals. I cannot count the number of awards, recognition and nominations in my name.......


http://oddmemoir.com/why-did-you-bleach-my-skin-part-2/

read the concluding part

http://oddmemoir.com/why-did-you-bleach-my-skin-part-2/

Growing up was a nightmare for me. I was constantly ridiculed at school and in the neighbourhood. I was nicknamed bright purple, a name I picked up while reading out an essay in class about myself. Talking about my skin colour, I was neither fair nor dark in complexion as my classmates described me. My skin colour was a mixture of all rainbow colours, thanks to my mom and dad.

As per the story that I was told by my grandma, my dad, before meeting my mum, bleached his skin from very dark chocolate brown to Micheal Jackson’s white. Same goes with my mum. They both liked fair complexion and went for it, changing their original skin colour. Just as the old saying that ‘you can change the frame, but the picture remains the same’, they gave birth to me and I came out very dark in complexion.


They could not bear the sight of my complexion and in addition, how would they explain to the world that two ‘white’ Nigerian parents gave birth to a very dark skin coloured boy. They started applying bleaching cream to my skin from my one week old of age. .....

http://oddmemoir.com/why-did-you-bleach-my-skin/

My name is Adetunji and this is my story;

About 25 years ago, I said to my parent; “I have a dream girl”. I can still remember vividly, how my father rolled on the floor laughing wickedly at me on hearing this statement. Also, I can never forget the harshness in the tone of my mother warning me to focus on my study. I was too young at age eleven and did know of how to better explain my predicament to my parent. No one understood my message but rather I became the laughingstock of the neighborhood as my story went viral faster than any video on today’s YouTube platform.

All through my six years in the secondary school, I kept to myself and became an introvert both at school and in the neighborhood. The first time I met Bunmi, my dream girl was on the very first day that I resumed class JSS 1. We were paired together on the same desk in JSS 1B. And all this happened in my dream. I was having parallel replication of similar event but different realities. In real life, I resumed on that very same day in class JSS 1B but was paired with a male student. And there was no resemblance of Bunmi in the whole school.

For the first 5 weeks, I kept on having dreams every night about myself and Bunmi with different versions of activities in school. I knew something was wrong, I tried telling my parent, but I was misunderstood. The regular dreams became part of me. It was only on weekends that I was not having dreams about Bunmi.

Honestly, I never had such a close friend and we perfectly understood each other. In real life, I had no friend and was always alone. We were both kids of about the same age and we grew together as time went on. I became fond of her and was always looking towards time alone so that I could speak with her. If I wanted to see Bunmi, all I needed was just to sleep. With time, sleeping became my habit and I was popularly referred to as uncle Jonah in class as I was always sleeping........

http://oddmemoir.com/my-dream-girl/

It is true that we do not really appreciate the value of what we have until after we may have lost it. And in most cases, it is often too late. But in my case, I was just so lucky to have a second change with my manager after all we went through (link to the story). It was unbelievable how she found a way to love me with the lies and hurts. I cheated on her and even left her for Ada, my super slay mama. I had never felt at peace with myself like I felt when Tinuke opened her arms to hug me. It was then I understood the popular saying that “The love that I seek for many years was right beside me, but yet I couldn’t see it”.

The pregnancy was barely three months old on the day that I proposed to Tinuke, my manager. I knew deep in my heart that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. And I was not ready to gamble with time or choice. Besides, we were already over-ripe for marriage at 40 years old. We agreed to have our wedding ceremony as soon as possible. We would not want to go through the stress of packaging a protruding belly in an expensive wedding gown......
http://oddmemoir.com/wedding-bells-are-ringing/

Thanks

basty:
This is one of the best story I have ever read on Nairaland.
This is great and an award winning story.
Keep it up.

http://oddmemoir.com/i-found-love-in-a-strange-place/

http://oddmemoir.com/i-found-love-in-a-strange-place-part-2/

http://oddmemoir.com/i-found-love-in-a-strange-place-part-3/

links to the three episodes

The news of my break-up with my manager filtered in the office faster than when we first got entangled. However, no one really knew the underlying cause. Even though I was not sure of how to end the relationship with Tinuke, my manager after I met Ada. I did not want it to be in that way and definitely not to be caught red-handed by Tinuke herself.

Our love ended the same way it started, no formal introduction and acceptance. We did not talk about it and we continued our official office relationship like nothing ever happened. Indeed, she was really broken. The following Monday after the horrible event was really tensed with unspoken words at office. I knew I had hurt her deeply.

With the breakup, I was supposed to feel relieved, as I was not really sure of my love status with Tinuke while we were dating. However, the opposite was the case as I felt a big hole in my heart after the breakup. I became more confused with comments from my colleagues, who initially were always asking me if I was sure of my engagement with Tinuke during our courtship period. After our breakup, they started making comments like, ‘you guys were going to make a perfect couple’.

Tinuke withdrew from general engagement in the office and was always alone in her office. She resorted into using more of emails for official communication and she minimized physical meetings with me. This created a bigger hole in my heart. I never knew my life was that much tangled with her. Honestly, I missed her. I missed her beautiful caring soul. I missed those behind the door quick kisses........

http://oddmemoir.com/i-found-love-in-a-strange-place-part-3/

The six months following the mind blowing night experience with Miss Tinuke, my manager were filled with mixed feelings. My manager, despite her strictness at workplace did not care about revealing our relationship status to other employees. And on several occasions, she exhibited the traits of a jealous bride on seeing me getting a little closer to other female colleagues. However, she was able to clearly separate personal life from official engagement. At work, we retained our manager-employee relationship even though on some occasions behind the doors, we stole some kisses.

Till today, I still do not know how the news of my affair with my manager got leaked within two weeks of our entanglement. It came as a big shock to almost everyone in our office as it was so unbelievable. Gentle, broken Mr Ben with Miss lioness!!! The question on everyone’s lips was, how did it happen? I could read the unsaid question on everyone’s mind, are you sure of your engagement?

I also had the same question on my mind without any fulfilling answer in my head. One thing did change at work, I stopped referring to her as Miss lioness. That also was put to a halt by my other colleagues or at least, they stopped referring to her as Miss lioness in my presence. Miss Tinuke also became friendly to everyone or probably that was what I saw. Work continued as usual with less customers’ escalations and some gossips about my love relationship with our manager.................

http://oddmemoir.com/i-found-love-in-a-strange-place-part-2/

It was the following Friday after the encounter I had with my manager at her place (link to the story). I was just rounding off my activities for the day looking forward to a splendid weekend. Even though, I really had no plan for weekend, but I was a bit relieved to have two days away from office environment to be free from guilt that has almost crippled my emotion. The week had been filled with emotional guilt. I felt so uncomfortable in her presence. On the hand, Miss Tinuke, my manager acted so indifferent from start of the week. No-one could have ever had an idea that we had a smooching and cuddling experience at her house. I was not sure if she did remember or she was too drunk to recount.

While my eyes were still fixed on my laptop screen with my head dissecting previous weekend’s event, I heard a silent voice from the door; Ben! What are you doing this weekend? It was my manager’s voice. At first, I did not know what to say. “emm. mm…mmhm, nothing in particular” I stammered. The she gently walked into my office while closing the door behind her. She said, ‘There is this new night club at Wuse 2 area, if you don’t mind, we can go tonight’. I nodded in affirmation and requested for the time to pick her up. We agreed on 12.am and as she was about to exit my office, she came back and planted a kiss on my cheek. Instantly, my heart melted.

After her exit, I was dumbfounded by her act. My mind was racing so fast as if it was competing in Formula One world championship. I was never a fan of love or relationship at work. Even though, there was no clear policy about relationship between employees in our company, we had never had a similar story and I just could not fathom the after-effect of this journey. In addition, I was not sure of my commitment level, I could not tell if it was lust, love, pity or fear. In short, I was confused......

http://oddmemoir.com/i-found-love-in-a-strange-place/

My Schengen Visa application process went smoothly. I picked up my stamped passport after 2 weeks from submission date. I spent the six hours of flight time from Abuja to Paris thinking about the miracle. It was really a miracle to have moved from ‘sack threat’ to representing the branch in the company’s annual retreat. I knew I bounced back with full force, but I was not sure if that was enough to impress Miss Tinuke to the extent of nominating me for the retreat. I could not find any logical answer to soundly justify the mystery. Finally, we arrived at Paris-Charles De Gaulle’s airport. I took the train from the airport straight to Gare du Nord which is the closest train station to my hotel located on Deux Gares street.

The retreat lasted for 10 days. It was awesome as we had a lot of team building activities with interesting seminars. Also, great insights were shared by top management and it was an opportunity to network with colleagues from other countries. It was also an avenue to meet in person and even take selfies with big names on our company page. We had so much to eat ranging from croissant, falafel, duck confit, couscous, Steak frites and so many other tasting delicious Parisian delicacies. A lot of chocolates including chocolates filled with alcohol were available for munching. There was no restriction on drinks as both alcoholic and non-alcoholic wines were readily available. The retreat ended with a ship cruise on Seine river and a visit to Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum.......

http://oddmemoir.com/strange-things-are-happening-in-my-office-part-2/

I spent the remaining four days exploring the beautiful city of Paris. Except for the hassle of navigating my way at different train stations and getting lost almost every day at the same station of Gare du Nord that is close to my hotel, my daily trip was rewarding. I did some shopping, got a lot of chocolates for my colleagues that should last for weeks. Most remarkably, I also got a special gift for my manager, a special edition of Chanel Coco Mademoiselle perfume. I did visit other interesting places like Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, Musee d’Orsay, Palais Garnier and the lock bridge.

Strange Things are Happening in my Office (part 2)

My Schengen Visa application process went smoothly. I picked up my stamped passport after 2 weeks from submission date. I spent the six hours of flight time from Abuja to Paris thinking about the miracle. It was really a miracle to have moved from ‘sack threat’ to representing the branch in the company’s annual retreat. I knew I bounced back with full force, but I was not sure if that was enough to impress Miss Tinuke to the extent of nominating me for the retreat. I could not find any logical answer to soundly justify the mystery. Finally, we arrived at Paris-Charles De Gaulle’s airport. I took the train from the airport straight to Gare du Nord which is the closest train station to my hotel located on Deux Gares street.

The retreat lasted for 10 days. It was awesome as we had a lot of team building activities with interesting seminars. Also, great insights were shared by top management and it was an opportunity to network with colleagues from other countries. It was also an avenue to meet in person and even take selfies with big names on our company page. We had so much to eat ranging from croissant, falafel, duck confit, couscous, Steak frites and so many other tasting delicious Parisian delicacies. A lot of chocolates including chocolates filled with alcohol were available for munching. There was no restriction on drinks as both alcoholic and non-alcoholic wines were readily available. The retreat ended with a ship cruise on Seine river and a visit to.....


http://oddmemoir.com/strange-things-are-happening-in-my-office-part-2/

These last few months have been very dramatic to say the least. From marriage proposal gone wrong (link to the story) to having my heart completely shattered by a painful discovery (link to the second story). This event really had its toll on my performance at my workplace. It was during that period that our former branch manager was transferred to Lagos while his replacement was transferred from Port Harcourt to head our Abuja branch. The personalities of the two managers are contrasting. Our old Mr. Mark is a kind of boss that many employees will always pray to work with; A generous, kind and loving man in his late 50s that we all related with as our big brother in service. Many of us could not hold back our tears during his sent forth party as we all had wonderful experiences and testimonies to share.

On the other hand, we now have our new boss, Miss Tinuke. She recently marked her 40th birthday some few days before reporting to Abuja office. She is so hot-tempered that we nicknamed her Miss lioness. She is very harsh both in words and actions. I cannot count the number of times she has made many of our female colleagues to shed tears from her hurtful words. Some of the rumors flying around had it that she is bitter because she is unmarried at her age and feels jealous of younger employees in relationship.

http://oddmemoir.com/strange-things-are-happening-in-my-office/

It was on a sunny Friday afternoon, barely three weeks after her resumption that I was summoned to her office. As I entered her office, she neither looked up nor offered me a seat. All I heard was; “Mr. Ben, I am just going through your file and I must admit that this is quite surprising. How on earth has Mr. Mark been rating your performance as excellence in the last five years. This is complete opposite of what I have observed in my few weeks of engagement. Your deliverables lack quality and certainly need a second review before been sent out to our customers. I think Mr. Mark was too lenient with you as this is clearly below standard and not acceptable for an employee at your level”. These were her words and they sank right into my healing heart. As she was hurling those words at me, she was busy typing on her MacBook. She told me clearly that she would have recommended me to HR to be relieved of my job due to competency issue, but it will be contrasting the recent yearly employee performance appraisal submitted by Mr. Mark. Finally, she said, “I will keep your file under monitoring, you may leave”. I left her office without saying a word.

http://oddmemoir.com/strange-things-are-happening-in-my-office/

It is obvious that Kingsley is on a mission to deal with me emotionally. It is barely 3 weeks that I had the biggest heart break from my once considered perfect bride. (Link to the story). I am still grappling with the sad event and I can say that I have not even tried recovering. Whenever the thought of Precious crosses my mind, my hands tremble and my heart beats faster than my existence. I had never thought I would ever love a lady this much. Five years of courtship went down the drain without a clear reason. The most painful part is that I was not alerted of the impending havoc as I trusted 100% thinking that I have found my life partner. Now, I am sitting down on the desk in the office staring blankly into my phone reading WhatsApp messages sent by Kingsley who happens to be my friend since our first year at the university. This is the same Kingsley that pushed me so hard to make my wedding proposal in a grand style and even suggested the location of Jabi lake. He is still same person to share this very heart troubling message as early as 11am during office time.

How could this happen? My mind raced back to the very first day we met at the bank. My five years period of dating was relayed like a short movie in a cinema. It was audited in a split of second but I could not find any fault. I must have been a very terrible person that can neither learn from past nor present experiences. Ever since we broke up, I have been analyzing what went wrong and trying to find out some information about the new guy in her life. I have called Precious on her mobile phone severally after the incident to no avail as she stopped picking up or even returning my calls. I cannot understand how things degraded from been best pals to not even answering my calls. On two occasions, I was at her place but was told she was not in town. I tried to seek possibilities of reuniting with her or at least to understand what went wrong....
http://oddmemoir.com/my-heart-is-completely-shattered/

It is 1.0 am at this popular local bar which is just some few meters away from my home and it seems I am the only customer left or rather forgotten as the waiters and barmen are already snoring very loud from their seats . I cannot remember the last time I downed more than 2 bottles of beer at a go but tonight, undoubtedly, the spirits of my great grand drunk-fathers are awaken and are assuring me of my beer drinking strength. A big part of me wants to curse Kingsley for pushing me so hard to make my “will you marry me?” in a grand style as I had wanted to make it a coded proposal just only with Precious. Also, my mom too is not left out as she was always asking whenever we speak on phone of when am I going to introduce my fiancee to the family.


Right now, in the middle of a very dark night, with breeze blowing my head gently, I can only find solace in my already emptied 12 bottles and 3 full bottles of beer standing on my table, comforting and telling me that all will be well. It seems these are my only friends that understand that at 37 years of age, been unmarried is not a crime. And also, I can silent whisper from the bottles that it is not end of the world.

If anyone had told me yesterday that this would be the outcome of my wedding proposal, I would have vehemently rebuffed it. This is a lady that I have dated for five years and during our courtship, I never had any reason to doubt her genuine love for me. She was always the first to remind me of Sundays and weekly church services. She displayed attributes of a perfect wife. On several occasions, I did tell myself that I cannot ask for more in a woman. She has got the kind of love that will make a priest to reconsider of having a family.

The day started out perfectly in the morning. I was dressed in one of my expensive black tuxedo. Just before dashing out of the house, I put a call through to Kingsley, my so called event planner to double check on all arrangements to ensure that nothing is been left out as advised by him. Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well; these were his exact words when I told him of my intention to move my relationship with Precious to a higher level of until death do us part. we had invited many of our friends, colleagues and even her friends to join us at Jabi lake side for an evening outing. A musical band was also invited to make it merrier. All I could see in the morning was a blissful journey into love envisaging her as my perfect bride......


http://oddmemoir.com/no-i-will-not-marry-you/

All you need to know about treasury bills in Nigeria with practical example

http://biznaira.com/nigerian-treasury-bills/

Investment Opportunities in FGN Bonds

How do I buy FGN Bonds?

Primary Debt Market: FGN Bonds Auctions Exercise is carried out by the DMO on a monthly basis. Primary Dealer Market Makers (PDMMs) empaneled by the DMO in 2006 are responsible for submitting bids for themselves and on behalf of their clients at the Auctions.

Secondary Debt Market: Trading in FGN Bond is done on a daily basis in the Secondary debt market by licensed broker-dealers (banks and stockbrokers) on the floor of The Nigeria Securities Exchange (NSE) and on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange. The PDMMs are obligated to provide a two-way quote for FGN Bonds. This means that you can buy or sell your FGN Bonds whenever the need arises.
Who are Primary Dealer Market Makers (PDMMs)?

PDMMs are banks appointed by the DMO to act as authorized dealers in FGN bonds. Their major functions are to:

Take up, market and distribute the Primary Issues of FGN Bonds.
Make markets in FGN Bonds on request, through the provision of continuous and effective two-way quotes to all PDMMs and non-PDMMs on demand and in all market conditions. Click here to view a list of the PDMMs institutions.

Requirements to buy FGN Bonds

Application forms can be obtained from any of the authorized dealers (PDMMs), or download from the DMO’s website New FGN Bond Tender Form
Complete the application forms and submit through any of the PDMMs.
Common-price auction system is normally employed as opposed to multiple price auctions.
Payments for the allotment are payable in full on application.
Minimum of N10,000.00 and multiple of N1,000.00, thereafter.
Investors can also access the FGN bonds after the Auctions in the secondary market through any of the broker-dealers on the FMDQ OTC Trading Platform or through Stanbic IBTC StockBrokers on The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
FGN bonds purchase is confirmed by electronic registration in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Scripless Securities Settlement System or by issue of certificates, where required.
Interest is paid semi-annually until the maturity date when the principal amount is repaid.
Payment of interest is through issue of interest warrant (cheque) or direct transfer to current or savings bank accounts of the investor.
Bond holders who do not want to hold the bonds until maturity date can sell them at any time on the floors of the NSE or through, FMDQ OTC Trading Platform.

If you decide to sell before maturity?

Investors need not to hold on to the bond until maturity. If you need cash anytime during the duration of the bond, you can sell your bond in exchange for cash. However, the portion of the interest that you are not entitled to earn because you have sold will not accrue to you any longer. You will only be entitled to the interest earned between the day of purchase and date of selling the bond.

http://biznaira.com/131-2/

As observed in the Nigerian market, there is a huge gap in the logistics system of marketing agricultural products across the country. Logistics management has not been effectively managed in Nigeria and in many cases, it has led to post production loss, price volatility and product scarcity. In some cases, it has been a source of discouragement to the Agric-sector players as the transport system is not reliable with high difficulty faced by farmers to move their farm produce from one location to another.

Let us take example of tomato produce in Nigeria. the rate of tomato perishing is fifty percent and this is highly responsible for the volatility in price as very high percent of tomato produce perishes in the peak harvest period and we still do not have an effective storage system.

http://biznaira.com/investment-opportunities-in-agric-sector-logistics-management/

Below table gives information on equity benefit for some equity symbols with upcoming closure dates, payment and AGM dates

http://biznaira.com/alert-equity-benefit-calendar/

Bearish trend continues in 1st quarter of Equity Market in Nigeria

Assessment of the first quarter of 2019 equity market shows prevalence of bearish movement with money market continuous edging out of equities for the first quarter of trading session. As observed, the earnings season in corporate Nigeria has not been strong enough to reverse the market from bearish move. From the index and volume of trades, it can be seen that the investing communities have shifted focus into the fixed income market as yield from money market instruments excite both local and foreign investors. Examples can be seen in Treasury Bills, FGN Bonds and other instruments which have encouraged an “exodus” experience from stock market. The statistics show movement of investors from equity segment of the financial market to the fixed income market as many investors have adjusted their portfolio as they have repositioned strongly in fixed income instrument as bearish trend in the equity market persists.

http://biznaira.com/bearish-trend-continues-in-1st-quarter-of-equity-market-in-nigeria/

Jumia Technologies, a pan-African technology company, has listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), becoming the first-ever technology company from Africa to list on the world’s largest stock exchange.

Jumia’s stock is soaring on its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The largest e-commerce operator in Africa started its first day of trading with an opening price of $14.50 but the stock traded at the close of the day at $25.46 per share. Jumia’s historic initial public offering has gone live trading on the New York Stock Exchange—and its stock shot up.

After the ceremonial ringing of the NYSE bell by company executives including Jumia Nigeria CEO Juliet Anammah, the company’s stock began trading on the floor of NYSE.

http://biznaira.com/jumia-becomes-first-african-start-up-to-list-on-new-york-stock-exchange/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSf1Kt_qo8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qSf1Kt_qo8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FNmIPgpOQ&t=36s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FNmIPgpOQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2FNmIPgpOQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXnVRPPrdZQ