yokus:

Need advise o- which home internet is better- Rogers or Bell?
I Missed you guys but the fear of over 2500msgs is the beginning of wisdom

Been using uber with my gtbank naira card. Cant wait to get a licence

Sorry for the epistle but wanted to touch as much as i could to help others

I give thanks to Almighty God for everything

Havent been on for a while but I thought I check since I'll be visiting Naija next week.

Go with Teksavvy, I've been with them for about 10 yrs. Reliable and cheaper than Bell or Rogers.

Hey guys,

I will be coming back home to naija soon. Is uber a reliable service in places like PHC now? I'm hoping to use it to get around if needed.

Thanks

sonOfLucifer:
Are we allowed to discuss politics on this thread? i'd love us to have a discussion on IPOB with fellow Igbos and anyone else who might be interested.

If it's tangential related to the purpose of the thread, then I dont see why not. That is only if its generally related to religion

@saxywale or any other person that have been here in Canada for a bit. Have you done your BVN thing yet? I'm gonna call my bank tomorrow but someone just told me there is a way for us in Canada to get ours.

I don't plan to go to back to naija till maybe christmas.

kennykentipsy:
@solo8 am in st Catherines already buzz me when ever you are around....

Great to hear you got here safe. I was in that area 2 weeks ago, should come around in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, let me know if I can be of help.

TempusQ:
Welcome...
Those preparing to travel for the first time really missed your absence.

sorry about that, sometimes I go through a period where I'm too busy and a lot gets posted on here to go through every post. In the future, just tag me on the post so I see the notification and will respond if is something I can help with.

Been away for a while. I hope everyone is doing well and more good news came through.

With the new semester almost here, I'd like to offer all the new arrivals a warm welcome and to those about to get on the plane a safe journey.

Soak up the last few months of warmth, I have a feeling it'll be a cold winter later.

Cocosmite:
For those of US that have grounded knowledge of Canada and life post-Msc.
Please I have 2 admissions for fall.
1. Memorial University for MASc Oil and Gas Engineering


2. Dalhousie University for MSc Chemical engineering (Petroleum Engineering route)
Here I have a teaching assistant role of $1000 per term.

My question now is between these two opportunities which do I select with a mind on securing a PR and job prospects in Oil and Gas industry.

Solo8 onyeoma3 ariseocompatrot ekpblues8 please respond
All responses will be appreciated.

I would go with Dalhousie. I think that program gives you a better chance of being employed and Dalhousie is more prestigious university. Plus they are already giving you a job, so you get some Canadian work experience.

SeraSera:


Wow, congrats! This is a very good story. I'll be sure to recommend the university to my pals in similar situation. One more question please: Did you have relevant work experience or professional certifications relating to your programme? Or what, in your opinion, do you think made your application successful?

It's pretty much demand. Carleton is a big popular school in Ontario, they get lots of applications. Centennial, in terms of college is also very popular and is in Toronto. Victoria doesn't share those same traits. Smart of you to pivot and look for something that worked. If you applied to UBC, they probably would have turned you down too.

This is not true. I've heard nothing from my bank and they usually keep me up to date

C3PO:
Can't reply any enquiries now doing catch up from pages 139 to date.
Big up to team12, solo8, tnuola, darefestus, hayqinsbFX,...

So many of you were great.
Your munificent advice saves me money.
Thank you

God bless you guys all. The blessing of Abraham is on anybody's life reading this.
It's your inheritance.

Love this news!

Taike:


Thanks! Would be studying Environmental Science.

Great. That department is astounding. Hope to see you around town, Welcome!.

Congrats @Taike, what will you be studying at U of T

Rickywowoz:
Please i want to send u a pm, need to ask something private sir. Please hope you don't mind

I'm not a sir...haha. As a adebayor will say 'I'm just a baby boy trying to grow'.

No problem, thanks for the heads up, send along

kennykentipsy:


u need a transit visa to fly into usa and uk but UK would exempt u if u have a usa, canada New Zealand, or Australia visa

Oh ok. Just fly through Europe then. I don't think it's worth the hassle to fly through the states

funmi14:
e-family...
I beg is it possible to get flight from Lagos to Halifax without transit Visa en-route US Soil, and if it is a must to get Transit Visa to nervigate thought, how can someone get one?
Enlighten a brother...

I don't fly through Lagos a lot but I know that there are other European airlines that only stop somewhere in Europe then Toronto. You can then fly from Toronto to Halifax. Are you sure you need a transit visa when flying through the states? You should look that up.

TheBae:
I'm still serving so I can't really leave too early. I plan to get there say first week in September and stay in a hotel for like a week yeah BUT there's only 1 unit available for September in that building and if I don't get that one, I won't be able to walk to my uni cos the school is on the highway, all other apartments are so far away. They actually told me someone could check it on my behalf. I've filled some of their forms online. *sigh*

I think you misunderstood what I meant. I meant it'll be hard to get someone else to sign legal paper work on your behalf. They don't really care about you looking at it, they want you to look at it and agree to the terms of the deal.

It's Nova Scotia, you'll find places. It's not crowded.

TheBae:
Are you sure? Because they haven't said anything about contracts yet. I think it's just to view and inspect it. I really don't know how it works. The problem is that there's only 1 unit available for September in the building so I kind of have to have it inspected so that I can pay asap

If you inspect and like the place, you'll have to sign a rent or lease contract. Till that contract is signed and agree on a move in date, the place is not yours. Some self renters might understand your situation and accommodate but it sounds like you're dealing with a rental company, you'd want to make sure your hear in person because everybody involved will want to protect their ass in case something goes wrong or you back out of the deal.

If you don't want to do the hostel thing, you can get here early, spend a bit extra and stay at a hotel/motel/bed and breakfast for a week. That's enough time for you to get everything done.

Keep me updated if anything comes up

To both of you above my comment, it'll be hard to have a random person sign off on legal paper work for you. How long is your school hostel contract for? If you can move out after a few moths, then just use the hostels while you look for your place.

rationalmind:
THE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ATHEISTS IN NIGERIA IS REAL- A MESSAGE TO ALL ATHEISTS.

I would have opened a separate thread for this but anyone who remotely knows me can easily connect the dots.

Those who follow me will know I'm just fresh out of NYSC, job hunting. I do have a job but all I get is a five figure salary and I'm seriously looking for something better (a six, seven or eight figure salary ).

The search for something better made me apply for the recently advertised Nigerian Navy DSS 23 recruitment. While filling the form, as is usual of jobs of this nature, we were asked to fill in our religion. There were three options. Christianity, Islam, Atheist. I initially wanted to fill in christianity but on second thought, I felt there's really no need to lie about being a christian since I'm not. More so, as at that time of application, I couldn't see any direct consequence of being honest.

I woke up on Tuesday to receive news that applicants who will write the aptitude test have been shortlisted. I rushed to the portal, filled in my S/N and pin and thankfully, I was shortlisted.

The next step was to get my forms signed. One will be signed by the secretary to the local government, another by a Divisional Police Officer from my State of Origin.

Dad claims to know a DPO who can sign for me and helped take it to him while I went to the local government to sign the other one. I never bothered to tell him I claimed to be an atheist in the form since I didn't feel it was necessary and he never bothered to go through the form.

Few hours later, I received his call and he asked me why I filled in Atheist as my "religion". This time around, I couldn't get myself to tell him the truth and had to lie. I told him it was a mistake I made when I was filling the form and he ended the call.

Eventually when he got home at night,he called me to his room to have a discussion. I expected it. What I didn't expect was how angry he was. He told me he has never been embarrassed the way he was today. His DPO friend saw what I filled and asked him his religion. On telling him he's a christian, the next thing he heard was, how can you be a christian and your child is an atheist. He didn't even know what was happening and requested for the form only to see what I filled in. It was then he called me.

Well, to cut the long story short, the DPO told him he's never going to sign for an atheist. He humbly took the form and went to two other police stations and to his surprise, all of them, after going through the form, told him they can't sign for an atheist.

What I don't understand is the fact that, these DPOs weren't asked to stand as my guarantor. All they had to do was to state if I have ever committed a crime or not. I couldn't just see what that has gotten to do with being an Atheist.

To cap it off, I'm in a fix right now. I don't know if to walk into police stations myself and see if I can have the forms signed or just forget about it since I'm pissed off already and I've lost interest.

I hope this will serve as a lesson to other atheists or agnostics as the case may be. For those who are closet atheists, it's better to remain that way. Nigeria obviously hasn't gotten to a stage where one can openly admit to being an atheist.

CC: Plaetton, wiegraf, davidylan, urheme, mikedimeji, thehomer, muskeeto, macof, Chrisbenogor e.t.c

I am really upset to hear this but I am not surprised. Keep your head up and keep trying, I'm pretty sure that Christ fearing DPO or another will sign after some bribe.

Is it only a DPO that can sign that portion? try and look for every possible option and post those on this thread just in case myself or anyone else might be able to help. Don't worry, it'll be a funny story in the future when more people realize how stupid this is.

On the other hand, since your dad now knows anyways you should try and keep the discussion with your dad going. Yes he's pissed now but when you get him thinking, he'll see how ridiculous the idea of forcing someone to claim a religion when they don't believe it is. Even Jesus never rejected non Christians. Let him tell you how he thinks the way both him and he's DPO friend are handling it Christlike. Don't get into a shouting match him, just have a long term reason based discussion and he'll have more respect for your views.

Rickywowoz:
Thanks for the reply. I want to do my post grad in petroleum engineering with the hope of getting a job in an oil firm.. I want to know your opinion in the demand for petroleum engineers in the future with respect to the fall in oil price.. is masters in petroleum engineering a good investment??! Thanks for your time boss

This is a tough question to answer because it depends on the demand for petroleum itself. We know we'll have to depend less on crude for energy in the long run but honestly nobody really knows what the short term time frame will be. There are just too many variables and its hard for anyone to access because we are all kinda trapped in our own sector bubble, there is some data that says that we'll need engineers in Canada for the next 20 yrs or so. I'm not sure how true that is because I live in Toronto and its pretty competitive here but we know that the population of the country is growing. My personal opinion is that you do your masters in a field of engineering that you are genuinely interested in, and if that happens to be in petroleum engineering, so be it.

Petroleum engineers get paid very well here but the thing is that there are not that many jobs that requires a specialized petroleum engineer, so the demand is not high as others.

GboyegaD:


African stores stock frozen periwinkle just ask for it on your next visit to the store. A better way to buy yam at a good price is to buy either half or full box.

Oh awesome. I'll ask that the next time. Thanks!

GboyegaD:


Nigerian stores scarce for your end? Here I get good Ijebu garri.

No, there are a bunch of naija/ghana stores here. Even non-african people are getting into the trade. Everywhere I've been too has just been week. Garri is one of the first thing I throw in my luggage once I touch naija. Garri and suya spice.

TheBae:
Aha! So see who has the trust issues now

Haha, you got me.

TheBae:
Lmao! Are we still talking about yams? How passionate. Nawa

Hahaha. I'm was born in PH and my parents are Igbo. I got yams in my veins...lol.

The thing I miss the most cause I haven't had since I was a kid is edikakong soup with periwinkle and snails. I don't even know where to find periwinkle or know how to cook it, I didn't have the time to find it when I was in naija last yr.

Team16:
Brother, I'll appreciate it, if you can do that. Please, help us inquire from them what they require. Am going for chemical engineering Ucalgary n Ualberta. Please do you know anyone in either of the schools that can give us or give me guidelines on how to go about it. I mailed some of them n got quick response from a few that they don't have space again n others are yet to reply if there's space or not. My research interest is on reservoir engineering or oil sands. Please, what do you mean by online presence, is it through LinkedIn.

femi4wonders:


please for the benefit of someone like me who have the intention of doing my post grad (Phd) in canada, can you please ask for the tips on how they pick students or is it possible for you to help speak with one or two supervisors if they will be interested ?

Alright, I'll try to get some details for you guys as soon as I can. As for online presence, a professional, linkedin, twitter, personal blog/website...just some way for them to see your genuine interest in the sector and the works that you've already done. I am in energy but I'm not in Calgary at the moment, I might have to go out there sometime in the next yr but I'm not sure yet. I think someone like @saxywale might be of more help. He's out in calgary and probably have some more resources on that than I do.

TheBae:
But the weight of the yams though! Lol
You must reallyyyyy love yam.

Haha I do. It's hard to find really good yams, I don't even think you can get those here. You know the type only mothers can pick. They sell medium sized average tasting yams for 15 to 20 bucks here.

Team16:


I think it's dependent on department and school. If they get high volumes of application, it might be difficult for them to decide. But which school and what department did you apply to. @solo8 please do you have any input on this supervisor issues.

I'm not doing post grad so I've never had to look for a supervisor. I have several friends and mentors though that are doing research that I can use in the future if I decide to go that route. I've never asked them for tips on how they pick students because I've known them from yr 1 undergrad. If there are specific type of questions you want me to ask, pass it my way and I'll ask them for you. The only problem is that since you are not here, I can't vouch for you.

My advice is to have a visible presence online. So when you email them and they look you up, they'll know you are serious business and not like the hundreds of others that email them from obscure countries.

saxywale:

Faily used winter clothes sold in Nigeria are UK imports. UK winter is very mild and you would end up throwing them in the dustbin once the Canadian winter hits you. I threw mine in the dustbin. Don't waste your money.


Gadgets sold in Nigeria would be rated three-pin 220-240v apart from laptops chargers that are rated multi-voltage, Canada uses 110v. There is also a good possibility that Nigeria/United kingdom mobile phones would not work in Canada, they use a different type of technology different to GSM.


You could buy summer clothes from the UK. Compared to the UK, clothing accessories, shoes, watches e.t.c are expensive in Canada and their quality are not so good except you can afford to spend much more than the price you should ideally get them for in the UK. Ebay is also almost non-existent here. Do not buy winter stuff from the UK for the same reasons I gave to toboy above.


Hard to believe you can't find authentic garri in Toronto which has a larger African populace. The garri I buy here in Calgary is 100% jebu garri, quite expensive though. I get everything here all from Asian and African stores. My fridge/freezer is stocked up with vegetables (efo, ewedu, okro, scottish bonnets/habanero(ata rodo), egunsi e.t.c) and Animals - Titus fish (Norway atlantic mackerel), goat, beef, tripe(shaki), cowskin e.t.c.

The only foodstuff i don't get here is locust beans, stockfish and smoked shrimps but i get those from Nigeria with the helps of friends. I don't miss naija food at all since i get them all here. I had to involve myself in some serious netwrking to know where they sell all these stuffs though.

I actually do shop on eBay quite a bit but never for clothes, I just don't see why risk buying clothes you haven't seen, touched or tried on. However I do buy clothes online from Canadian retailers, shops like roots, old navy, the bay, Adidas,Etc....I usually have been in their stores and know what to expect. I use mostly for tech items from the states or very rarely from England.

You can find most of the food items you mentioned but for reason, they can't just seem to get garri right. Most people just buy the pounded yam powder but I like garri.

AriseOCompatrot:


Serious? So people are allowed to bring in things like yam?

I'm not sure if you're allowed or not to be honest but I've brought it a couple of times and they haven't stopped me. If they ever do, Ill throw it out.

Gods1son:
@Solo8... Saw few manageable wears on 10dollarmall.com...are they terrible to buy?

Never shipped on those type of sites before. Usually Chinese knockoffs and/not safe with your payments details. I've never ordered things when I'm in niaja, so I'm not sure how much trust you guys that those will arrive and how much you pay for shipping. I personally wouldn't do it.

TheBae:
We'll see about that . Actually my family there encourage me not to come shop there. They shop only when they travel to UK. If I may ask, where in Canada do you reside?

Toronto

TheBae:
Firstly, it all depends on when and where in the UK you are shopping
Secondly, in summertime obviously, winter clothes and footwear are cheaper. So since I'm not currently in the UK or Canada and I can ship them down to Nigeria relatively cheap, why not?
I'm sure you know that this is the season for massive UK sales. Eg You'll see winter items originally sold for £100 now selling for £50 so why not take advantage of it. I personally prefer some particular affordable and quality brands in the UK, I can't really gamble with stuff that I'm not familiar with in Canada.
I've got trust issues. Lol

Haha. It's your trust issues then. We'll see how you feel when your leaving here.