₦airaland Forum

jerseyguy:
Snoopy: "esusu" is the same as AJO in Yoruba (and I think it is probably called "susu". Maybe the e.susu version maybe a marketing variation (as in eCommerce).

Yes, Ajo (or susu) is based on trust and relationship. With banking deregulation in Nigeria (more banks, more branches, more financial offerings etc) and coupled with decay in societal norms, ajo (susu) may not be as big as what it was, but still very much active and still play an important role among many people that don't have assets for collateral loans. The proceeds from ajo/susu typically serves as seed money for capital projects.

Interestingly, many Nigerians and Caribbeans here in NY/NJ area are actively involved in many susu clubs.

thanks. i know about AJO but never knew it was also the same as esusu the poster was refering to, but still, its not that common as far as i know but hey maybe its me whose not just responsive to what happens around me

and yet another

another view

front view

modelled with sketchup and rendered with vray

:d

yep! the esusu is not as common as far as i know. and of course theres a studio, where else will the designs be done lol. yeah am currently working on a structural design currently. am saddled with roofing a complex space with irregular bevels and curves of about 60,000 square metres without beams and columns, hahaha of course we hardly sleep as well here, its the same for all Architecture students worldwide and if at all we are going to have anything close to sleep, it'll only be a quick nap right there in the studio. i 've listened to all my 3gb worth of music files on my ipod back to back within the space of a week. atimes i carry large bags in my eyes during the day due to sleepless nights, but theres fun in all the hardwork though.


1) The success of the BRT in the initial routes it was designated encouraged the Government to introduce it in other routes and more people are embracing the initiative. The plan of the Government is to naturally phase out the rickety 'danfo' and 'molue' buses i talked about previously as less people are patronising them because of the better services and fixed fares of the BRT. The entire State is about 60% covered by the BRT system and yes i expect it to be completed under fashola. We'll be having our general elections next year where executive public office holders would be elected into a four year term, and with the success fashola has recorded in the state within his 4 year term, its almost certain he'ld be re-elected and when that happens, if he could cover 60% of lagos with the BRT within 4 years i dont see why the whole state cant be covered within another 4 years provided no unforseen circumstances. reagarding the light rail, well you should understand that its a capital intensive project and it might not be completed before fasholas term ends but the modalities and the initial bureaucracy would have been over with and something concrete is expected to have been on ground by then.

2) hmmm unfortunately i've been serching for one myself and yet to find, i actually found one on a torrent site but the seeders are hardly online and so the download had been stalling, but am still searching though and hope i find one soon.

3) yes the dredging is at an advanced stage and i hear sale of plots at the reclaimed land are already up for sale, saw a couple ads in some newspaper publications. and yes! it will happen. The project is already at an advanced stage with a lot of money put into it for it to be abandoned anyway. and if you are familiar with CNN international news channel, you must have seen the eko atlantic ads that runs often there, that also shows the seriousness behind the project. about the lekki SEZ, do you mean the lekki FTZ as in LEKKI FREE TRADE ZONE? If thats what you intended, then yes! i see that happening as well though work hasnt progressed much like the eko atlantic (i guess its a case of which is more of a priority) but yeah going by the master plan of the lekki area, the FTZ is clearly outlined there and i dont think Government will make the same mistake and distort that a second time. it might take a while but i see the FTZ becoming a reality

4) nah! i dont think so, at least not in the next 5 years, that decision is up to the owners of the properties there. but then again there is that possibility and that possibilty depends on how fast the economy grows along with the real estate sector and of course it'll be a good thing. And i dont think theres much to preserve about the old Lagos cuz the old Lagos was characterised by many negatives from filth and poor sanitation (Lagos used to be the dirtiest city in the world some 10 years back) to rowdiness to crime to unruly behaviour but thanks to the new Government, the orientation has changed to a large extent and a high level of progress has been made so to be plain, theres not much if at all theres any to preserve from the old Lagos

lol well i did say i knew very little about what esusu is. Not very conversant with happenings in the rural circuits. I dont think its a traditional practice cuz if it is, i would have known its likely its a community initiative cuz am aware of similar practices. Thanks for the headsup though and i am a yoruba dude lol

hey akimate, my pleasure really. I could need similar help someday myself.


1 - I can tell you that growth prospects of Lagos is very high. And the growth will occur not just in ikorodu but on the island as well and also west of the airport as you mentioned (i'ld deal with that seperately when addressing the question concerning that.
Ikorodu is largely a quiet town. And a lot of professionals are increasingly building retirement homes in this part. But i believe not much will happen in ikorodu in terms of industries and the likes because of its remoteness. Plus its close to a dam and theres a problem of flooding whenever theres a heavy downpour and the dam overflows.

The growth in Lagos island (i should mention that Lagos island consists primarily of the CBD, Victoria island, ikoyi, lekki, ajah and epe) is the bigger project called EKO ATLANTIC CITY its a concept where a large parcel of land (cant remember the exact proposed size) is reclaimed from the atlantic ocean just off the coast of the lagos bar beach with towering structures to house business, leisure and entertainment. Its proposed that btw 100 - 200 thousand people will live and work in this new city. Something in the model of the palm islands in dubai. You could check out youtube for some clips and footages on it or google for extensive details. And about the west of the airport, well thats where you have the sleepy border town called badagry. Now this town was the headquarters of slave trade in Nigeria and a hub in west Africa btw the 16th and 17th century. Its inhabitants are largely uneducated, hence not much activity happens there and thats why the population there is less dense but recently, the Government is opening up the place, expanding the highway that leads there from 4 lanes or there about to 10 lanes with a dedicated path for the light rail project to encourage industries to be cited there so as to ease congestion at the center of the city.

(a) i'ld say Yes! Most graduates want to have high profile jobs in offices but then again that'll remain only a pipe dream for many as its not always easy to get one cuz there'ld be many other graduates competing for the same post. But with the right information and the requisite knowledge, one can always be self employed and set-up a small outfit and nuture it. Many lagosians are starting to act along that line cuz in most cases, its not always rosy being a salary earner and even what you earn is not commensurate to the level of work you are assigned.


(b) Well Lagos ìsland is home to about 70% of the biggest night clubs, 80% of cinema houses, 80% of the best shopping centers, 80% of entertainment outfits are located here not to mention the 5 star hotels and posh restaurants. Reasons being that the creme of the lagos population and the highest social class live in this area. A lot of diplomatic missions are also located here and the expart community also has most of its presence there. And it has more to do with the fact that Lagos was the former capital city of Nigeria before it was moved to abuja in 1991 and the island housed the various ministries and parastatals as well as the goverment house. So the development there is a legacy of it being the former seat of power and not cuz it was a base for the colonial masters. Even though the development started during that time.

Helpful? Need more? I'ld be glad to help.

abeg o folks any of you planning to sell your hostel spaces? Or do you know anyone interested in selling? I wan buy abeg. If you do have please let me know.

hey akimate, i believe i can provide all the help you may need cuz am also an Architecture student at the University of Lagos.
Yes, what the city needs most is indeed an upgrade in its current infrastructure as the available is already overstretched due to the large and ever growing population of its inhabitants so yes, its pretty much safe to state authoritatively that the biggest challenge in Lagos is the infrastructure!
Concerning the pseudo government aspect, yes, sometimes it could be an advantage and sometimes it could outright abhorrent (mostly to the lower class citizens and masses who directly bear their excesses) reasons is that the pseudo goverment in the form of 'area boys' and 'agberos' (who both have their areas of specialisation) only have direct contact and wield a minimal level of power at the very micro level, mostly over the roadside traders, and other petty artisans, with their primary objective being tax collection. But then again that kind of arrangement is only
only found in small parts of the Lagos Island (you should also know that lagos is socially and economically subdivided into 2 - Lagos Island and Lagos mainland). i must also state the 'Area boy' phenomenon is daily losing its clout due to public outcry over their excesses and is almost extinct! concerning the 'agberos', well i'ld say they are the informal "government of transportation" over bus operators which is known in local parlance as 'danfo'and is largely controlled and operated by uneducated folks who have little regard for driving ethics and traffic rules and always constitute a nuisance to other road users and as a result, always run into problems with the traffic cops. The agberos collect taxes at bustops and sometimes engage is fisticuffs with defaulters. But like the Area BOys, the agberos are also losing their influence as the Government is massively rolling out a more unified and organised system of transportation called the BRT (BUs Rapid Transportaion) adopted from the indian system
where there are dedicated lanes on the road for the buses only. The idea behind it is to move the citizenry en masse from one location to another as well as encourage people to drop their cars at home and uses this buses instead so as to ease the already congested roads (you need to see a typical lagos traffic to understand the gravity of that problem) as traffic is lighter on those lanes less man-hours are lost due to traffic, plus the buses are safe and convenient, and so far the response by the citizenry has been staggering and thats just putting it mildly, the system was initially planned to do between 60,000 to 100,000 passengers a day but instead does almost 2 million! The government was forced to increase the number of buses and jerk up the fares by
30% but that doesnt seem to have an effect on the response which prompted the government launch another initiative, this time involving a light rail project planned to move even more passengers from one end of the city to the other.

True as you say, The government is indeed trying to formalise a whole lot of things, tearing down old markets and building new ones, relocating destitutes from under the numerous bridges and chasing illegal occupants of public spaces which has been greatly commended and it is a good thing!
Concerning the food aspect, Lagos is already grapling to find enough space to house its populace cuz if you check the map, lagos has one of the smallest land masses compared to other states that make up the federation plus of all the vast array of opportunities available, from banking to commerce to manufacturing, which makes Lagos the commercial capital of the entire NIgeria, i seriously doubt that the average lagosian would settle for farming if at all that kind of arrangement is put in place. But that doesnt mean theres a shortage of food in Lagos. you see Nigeria is politically subdivided into 6 geo-political zones - North east, North west, NOrth central, South east, South west and South South. with each having its own kind of contribution to the economy, the South west is where Lagos is located, THe South east is home to vibrant and fast growing movie industry, the South south which many refer to as the NIger delta is where the crude oil industry is, The north central is where about 80% of the food come from, from maize to millet to vegetables. a large percentage of the yam and cassava we consume is also from the South east and south west (excluding lagos) respectively, and what we get is just about enough to feed the population, and the other zones are something in the model of a parasite (for lack of a better term).

concerning your initial questions, i'ld answer them in the order they were asked.


1 - unfortunately i know very little about esusu. matter o' fact, i know as little as just its name and the fact that its an organic matter. never seen it, never consumed it! even though i have an idea its a food substance but i can tell you its quite popular (or so i think) in the rural areas only in some parts of not only Lagos but Southern NIgeria. But then again i have my doubts that esusu would be an influential topic for your proposal considering the fact that there are far more widely consumed perishables that the esusu. the suya for example would be an amazing topic as it practically cuts across all tribes and social class. even the expart community has joined in the suya craze! i attended a symposium some time ago organised by german outfit in Lagos to showcase Ethiopian Architecture and guests came in from the UK, Germany, United States and all over NIgera. Guess what was served? *wink*
2 - Yes its from a legit source. you dont have to believe everything the CNN or BBC tells you guys out there, their reports are mostly myopic and lack depth not to mention the lack of balance. i can authoritatively tell you that 99% of the fuel Nigerians buy are from a legit sources. and yes theres a world of difference. why would i wanna buy fuel from a illegit source where i wont be sure what kinda fuel is being sold to me.
3 - hmmm technical question considering the fact that the Lagos demographic is a bit on the complex side. but by and large i'ld suggest the market is cited in the most remote area which is ikorodu considering there are just about enough marekts around the city and most people dont really have to travel far to get to the nearest market.
4 - lol it depends on whats on my shopping list and whats of more priority to me between quality and quantity, for example, the price of a basket of tomatos in lekki would be far more expensive at shoprite located in the palms at lekki than it is at mile 12 market. and of course its not everything thats sold at the palms thats also sold at the local markets and vice versa, so it all depends on whats on my shopping list and like i said, whats more of a priority.
5 - infrastructure! like better access roads.most markets are are a horror to access especially for motorists in the event of a heavy downpour, but the Government is working on that as i've noticed and some progress has been achieved in that aspect but theres still some more ground to cover.
6 - i guess the same applies to everywhere around the globe. you dont expect to take a break from work or school and dash home to go cook a meal. but then again, some who are very health conscious do take food to work from home but for me, i'ld rather do the KFCs and sweet sensations but when am home in the evening, its home made meals for me.
7 - well yeah. its mostly used at nights but also during the day on some ocassions, especially when theres a football match or something similar and theres a power cut at the time.
8 - well it kinda varies from one town to the other. but in my town, we get up to 20 hours of power a day on average but like i said it varies in other towns, the could get much less or even more. atimes the domestic power infrastructure in some localities such as transformers and cables could be responsible for poor power supply. like the transformers might not be able to handle the load brought upon it by consumers hence, load-shedding!
9 - well i dont think hnger is a problem as there are food vendors everywhere from the local roadside vendors to the posh restaurants and as little as 70-80 naira, which is the equivalent of 50 cents, you can get a reasonable meal. and to the really broke ones, a 10 naira satchet of 'garri' (a by-product of cassava) and a 10 naira satchet of sugar should do the trick.
10 - sure, why not. the fact that its grown in the city would make it cheaper.
11 - lack of seriousness and fore sight on the part of the Government or maybe the Goverment is just saddled with too much problems to solve for now and relegated that aspect to be addressed later. but some progress are being made as a governor of a state (kwara state) invited some white professional farmers from zimbabwe (am sure you must have heard of the problems there) who were chased out of their farms and settled in kwara to begin mass farming in the state and a lot of progress has been recorded. you might wanna google it with search keys looking like "shonga white zimbabwean farms kwara" for more info on that
12 - well it'll be a good thing and also a bad thing, but i guess its tilted in the favour it being a good thing. reasons being the island is the most developed part of lagos with better infrastructure and is where all the big headquarters of various multinationals are located but then again, its comes with the attendant problem of heavy traffic. but i think i'ld rather have the best infrastructure and cope with the traffic. but thats not to say all parts of the mainland are sh1tty, a good part of the mainland in also as developed as the island. mostly 'ikeja' and some othe towns
13 - lol am a barcelona fan but i've got a bias for chelsea in the EPL.

phew! hope i've been able to help. if you need anymore. you know who to ask! i feel very obliged with a deep sense of responsibilty to help you out in this project being a fellow Architecture student. so dont hesistate to consult me whenever.
oh and while you are at it, you could also check out www.dizining.com - its the fast growing facebook for Architects and Architecture students worldwide


PS- pardon my minor errors and the poor outlining of the write up, i wrote this piece in a hurry.

dont worry, you'ld be given another course that you satisfy the requirement. Unilag will never chase u away as long as your name was released and you have 5 credits at o-level at one sitting!

argh. why dont you just share it out here. These people sef.

uptownboy:
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i agree with you on the swift option but of recent, swifts speed has seriously reduced. About a year ago, i used to get download speeds of about 800-900 kbps using a download manager but of recent, it only manages to do about 200kbps on average. Do you know the likely cause of this? Am guessing the drop in speed is attributed to an increase in subscriber base and a resultant heavy data traffic.

otikpoko:
Has anyone done business with layonz?
Can he be trusted?

otikpoko am actually posting this message with the HP PAVILLION DV6 2113SA 500GB HD laptop i bought from layonz, he's very genuine and his products are confirmed products!! at least am a witness to that

lmao yinkade. I dont even know how to describe you right 'bout now.

Fellas can you imagine this pathetic unpatriotic desperado has been all over the BBA facebook page moaning and wailing and falsely claiming that Nigerians are conspiring on nairaland (yes he specifically mentioned nairaland) to scam africa and rig votes for uti to win! Thats just plain low if ya ask me!


Oh and yinka if you wondering who i am, am lanre 'el-magnifico' on the facebook page

@blabber, its impossible for you to be admitted without meeting the age requirement of 16. You may get through screening and all but it will be detected once it gets to senate. Happened in my year 1 this girl had paid all fees and hostel fees and we were about 2 months gone with lectures only for her to be kicked out when they saw she was 15! They wont inform you directly but yo' parents. The only way you can make it is if you tender an affidavit with yo' age altered in it instead of yo' original birth certificate. But the age you put must be commensurate with yo' stature. Good luck and to the rest. Welcome to unilag

;d ;d ;d

congrats to those who made the list. I can tell you It feels good to be labelled an akokite. To those who didnt, try and get the cut-of marks and be sure you havent been shortchanged. The cut-offs were actually posted on the website for a few hours before it was removed for unknown reasons and if you discover you made the cut off and with your name omitted from the list, rush to the admissions office at the senate building to lay an official complaint and am sure you'ld have your name on the supplementary cuz such happened during my time. And if you didnt meet the cut off, you could try a change of course when its announced. Congrats again to those who made it and welcome to unilag.

i have the cut-off for all the departments last year, both general cut off marks and catchment area cut-off marks but am still in school now and i'll paste it all for you guys this weekend when i get home, but i must also point out that cut off marks are determined by the general performance of the candidates in each department in relation to the carrying capacity of that department but to a large extent a candidate can actually measure his/her chances with the cut off marks for the last admission process

LOL @ post above

olatbaba. One does need further maths to study comp. Science at unilag. Though am studying architecture, a guy in my dept. actually applied for comp. Science but didnt have f/maths and since he had tech. Drawing, he was transferred to archi. Even in the unilag diplomas advertisement in last weeks punch newspaper, it was stated clearly that f/maths is required for comp. Science students.

bros i hail o. The laptop is a dream come true. Excellent design and brilliant performance all for a great price. Its a privilege doing business with you.

forms are already on sale for the 2010/2011 unilag diploma @ 16k. If successful in the entrance test (which is a piece of cake anyway and shouldnt pose much difficulties) candidates are to pay the school fees. Am not so sure how much it is this year and dont wanna speculate but it was 320k last year. I wont be surprised if its 350k this year cuz there has always been an upward review of the fee yearly due to the ever increasing applicants. You must also know that the fee can be paid in instalments with an initial payment of over half the stipulated fee. Now contrary to what someone said earlier, you dont sit for any utme or post utme exam. Yo' diploma certificate with a cgpa of 2.5 and above automatically qualifys you for direct entry admission into 200 level in the university of lagos, university of bedfordshire and university of lancshire in london. Note: uni of lancshire offers scholarships to exceptional students in the programme. All the candidate has to do is when the programme is running, he/she should purchase the utme direct entry form and fill appropriately
Stating the qualification as unilag diploma and pray he/she meets the required cgpa at the end to be admitted. Hope you find my info useful

looking foward to monday. Thanks boss