₦airaland Forum

Touareg V8:
How did you cope with the lack of high octane petrol?

I didn't drive while I was there. Trip was very brief and I used Taxis to get to my destinations.

Touareg V8:
Tats, when were you last in Nigeria?

I was there in March.

After reading all the above, now I appreciate being able to enter BP and buy ultimate unleaded 97 RON  . Though the minimum for my car is 95 RON, but i want it in top shape!

Vicjustice:
Conflicting reports popping up, which to believe? The Poster is better-off not asking than to receive these figure riots in responds

Well, these links should provide the actual rates.

Nigeria:
http://www.firs.gov.ng/information/individuals/personal_income_tax/index.html

UK:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm

9ja4eva:
Federal schools are good equally.Lets talk facts.

Of course there is no denying the fact that Federal Universities are good, but I will not say equally (except in the quality of Lecturers the federal Universities have.) I went to one and most people I know who went to such are doing fine. We did strive to succeed in the situation we found ourselves and it was not fun. Our Federal Universities could do with being more comfortable and not let students spend their time thinking of getting the right accommodation, good place to eat, convenient place for reading and overall stability leading to graduation. Whereas most students spent their time determining where the next meal was going to come from or how to buy that Handout or textbook that the Lecturer prepared and which formed part of your assessment! All these issues are the effects of the prevalent mismanagement of Resources in the Nation.

There is absolutely nothing like a Student starting a course in a University and knowing your exact date of graduation! How many people in our various universities have ever had that "Luxury" of knowing this?

landis:
UK is about 38%, Nigeria about 25%.

UK Basic tax rate is 22% and that of High income earners (I think those earning over £36,000) is about 40%.
Nigeria is about 20%

Method-Man:
It doesnt surprise me!

Me either!

khufu:
any serious student who can pass JAMB would never attend a private university. those who support them should make their next medical appointments with private university trained doctors. see you at the mortuary if you choose this option. gbam.

Did you really mean your statement?

From experience, I would not mind having graduates from the Leading private universities work with me. I supervised one in Nigeria in an international company and this person was much better than other colleagues at the same level despite being the most Junior in age. Maturity, communication skills, organisational ability and decision making skills was in a different class from others. It was same with one other person who went to same school, though working in a different group. I have interviewed some and found them to be very good and confident.

I cannot say categorically that having 20 first class students graduating from one class is right, but I may not be surprised or shocked by it particularly coming from CU and in accounting. While not directly comparing numbers, if I remember correctly, UNN Electronics engineering and OAU Ife Electrical/Electronics Engineering have produced about 6 or 7 first class graduates in one go in the past. Personally, I know a few of them and some have furthered their studies and even gone on to do very well in the work place.

Je fais toujours le cours francais, particulierement quand j'ai de temps libre au weekend. j'aime beaucoup la langue. Je vais arreter d'apprendre la langue quand je sois courant. J'habite et travaille a Londres.

Thats the only link I have. The songs are by a Nigerian in the US.

Pause the videos on the left in this link to check out the songs in this profile.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=52608529

Blatant:
I like your thought process and ideas.

However, the fact that your mates don't think you should not be here does not mean they don't think every other black person should not be here. Why else do you think political parties always make immigration their main issue at campaign time? They know what they hear on the doorsteps. If Nigeria was a well-run country, I may not have returned to the UK anyway.

You are right. But this comes to some of their minds when they see blacks misbehaving or committing crimes or murders. Then they begin to think that you shouldn't be here in the first place. For some, you don't even need to do anything wrong, you just need to be black and they think that you shouldn't be here. You know that blacks stick out like a sore thumb here in the midst of whites so are easily noticed particularly for wrong things.

Immigration is always a campaign issue as you mentioned, but we need to note that it does not only impact blacks. I do think that blacks form a small number of immigrants when compared to the total number. Consider also that the Eastern Europeans, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis e.t.c. do form a large immigrant population here, so any form of immigration concerns by the British population is also taking these people into account.

azorjiu:
Boris won because the minorities, those Livingstone stood for did not vote.
They were all at work, eking out a living.
Too bad!

 
You mean the minorities were working for 15 hours that day!
The voting was from 7am to 10pm. I voted at 7.20am on my way to work and It took only 4 minutes.

lucabrasi:
@eldee
im not that narrow minded to just think in a vacuum of nigeria versus diasporeans,all i am saying is that its time for nigerians to educate themselves,and then go back to their county and make it better,we still have an option of going back instead of struggling with the londoners or british even after studies here, if the likes of my dad after their degree programme had sat down here our generation wouldnt have had any chance because nigerians in the uk would have quadrapuled,you r familiar with the ghana-must go scenario of the 80s, well the ghananians did go back to ghana to develop their countries and whats the result?they re no more shoemakers,gatemen,class teachers.
and over populationplease gimme a break,do you know the expance of land in nigeria barren and waiting for development?if you know anyone thats abreast of the property development in nigeria they ll tell u they can't even keep up with the demand for properties,in lagos for example the reason for over population is the transport situation,and so people don't want to move too far,a good start is the brt,land on the former bushy lagos ibadan expressway is going for well over half a million and people are still buying and they ll keep on going on and on so i don't agree with the over population.
@poster
i still believe that the reason why livingstone lost was partly brown not knowing where his priorities lie,and also the blacks with no unity of purpose,[/b]abstaining voters,protest voters, he can appoint 10 blackmen as deputy and that wouldnt make a world of diffrence,the people that voted and to a large extent the white community that they want foreigners out,lets not pretend or gloss over it as thats what they want

You really can't say that blacks have no unity of purpose. If you look at the poll results, you will see that Ken had majority of votes in the areas with large black population:
Southwark and Lambeth: Ken 48% and Boris 29%
Greenwich and Lewisham: Ken 42% and Boris 34%
City and East: Ken 50% and Boris 26% (Note the East in this constituency is the one with a large black population)

This shows that blacks were united in voting. I don't expect black votes to make a relatively [b]huge difference in the election results. Afterall, what is the percentage of blacks compared to whites in London and elsewhere in the country? People obviously wanted a change from Ken after 8 years and whereas, Labour did not make Ken's matter any better as G. Brown has not been perceived to be bringing up policies that are favourable to the people.

Since Boris has been publicly percieved to be racist, then i expect him not to act in ways to confirm that he is one. I don't believe that majority of whites really want migrants out of the country. What annoys them is when migrants are given priority over them in terms of housing, education, benefits, e.t.c. Do your colleagues or classmates think you shouldn't be here in the first place? The average UK citizen want immigration controls, not necessarily complete freeze on immigration. Afterall, British people are heavy migrants too, migrating to France, spain, Portugal, Australia, e.t.c. Boris has no direct or major say in determining immigration in the UK. He controls London affairs and this largely concerns Transportation, Fire and police/security. Those are the main areas he oversees in this city. His win means the conservatives will become bolder in trying to win the hearts of the people. Did anyone of you see how no one wanted to sit near the BNP guy in the London assembly meeting last week? It was hilarious!

The bottomline is that our leaders should get their acts together in Nigeria. Most Irish people who migrated have returned to Ireland in recent periods as the country is now very prosperous. If Nigerians return, it is obvious that they will be concentrated in the major cities so overpopulation will definitely be an issue.

VOR:
Ako my brother

Flash and go no dey exist anymore. Na every passport them de check with scanner now.
Anoda ting be say even though my passport red my skin is probably blacker than your own.

I remember in 1998 me and some of my Naija guys, about seven of us(all of us held british passports) went to France via Dover to watch the Eagles play Bulgaria, that was when the eagles were truly a force. All the oyinbo wey de motor
before us and after just flashed and went. When it came to our turn them ask us to park, come down from the motor and then proceeded to check our passports one by one. So you see it is not all good.

You say I am too bookish, well I just like to back up any disputed contention with the relevant facts where possible.

The scanning is to register entry and check for authenticity. Otherwise, "Flash and go" still exist well well. I flew in to Stansted from Geneva and on my left was the British queue. It was just Flash and go (of course with scanning) and virtually no questions asked. Their line was progressing rapidly. Meanwhile I and others on our queue had to fill landing cards and respond to some questions as usual.

Many of our people are not careful in making travel arrangements or responding to questions at point of entries. We really do not have a good reputation when it comes to travelling, as a result we and our luggage frequently go through careful scrutiny at various airports when we tender our passport. Any slight inconsistency or seemingly questionable response and you are flagged for extra questions and scrutiny. I still get asked a few questions when I go in and out of the UK and still respond with care. Sometimes it is even in your interest that they ask these questions as your identity may be stolen and used to gain entry into the UK, particularly when Biometric details are not in use.

Tonim:
I was just thinking to myself that Detroit has a really nice airport and no one has mentioned it until I found this post.

I had a connection through Detroit while flying from Chicago to DC. Well, one thing I seem to remember noticing about Detroit Airport was that it had a train service that ran right inside the terminal (at a height). Also, there was some sort of fountain. I didn't have a bad impression of the airport though. Also, Natwest had a huge presence there.

For me, its Schipol Amsterdam. Can't stop loving that airport!
Zurich airport, Switzerland is also very nice.
Never been to Asia but learnt that they have amazing airports.

Aero

Why is your friend bothering about what will happen when he gets to the U.S? If everything regarding his travel is straight and his story to the immigration official is consistent, then there should be no problem. I was escalated to second level immigration/security check during my second visit to the U.S several years ago and I came out without any issues! The key is be calm, consistent in what you say and offer reasonable explanations even when they ask you seemingly silly questions!

NB: B1 is for Business and B2 is for Tourism (not the other way)

just a thought,
If you have a B1 Visa and on entry to the U.S, you say you are coming for Tourism, would that not be an issue with the Immigration officer? vice versa also.

It is not a problem.

When the passport expires and she gets a new one, she can just attach the old passport (containing the visa) to it. The immigration office in UK will write VIPP (Visa In Previous Passport) on the new passport and stamp it with the entry stamp any time she comes in. She doesn't need to transfer the visa.

komekn:
ebony-x

Let’s make an informed projection, generally speaking, all things being equal, in Nigeria if you have British qualifications you will have an edge over your peers with Nigerian qualifications. If you add to that relevant experience in a UK blue-chip company, then you will be fishing in the senior management pool.

First thing to do is a relevant Masters it will cost you 15% of what overseas students are paying so already you’re a few miles ahead. Next thing is to do some relevant research of interest to the blue chip companies you have identified in the UK. This creates the possibility of sponsorship; in addition there are a number of funding bodies for UK nationals and EEC citizens and or get a part time job . Of the outmost importance my view; don’t go to London it’s overrated, very expensive and the people can be somewhat pretensions, come to the North West it’s a lot better.

At completion you should work for a relevant blue chip company (not essential, any reputable company will do.) for about two years in the UK. Apply to selected companies in Nigeria, what you will find is that the attributes of knowledge, ability, competence directly related to the company that you have worked for will be associated on to your person giving you added advantage.

Finally nothing is certain only God through Jesus is. As it concerns that subject Husband, like Nigeria, lots of churches with thousands of members but very, very, very few disciples now if you are partner is a disciple then No Shakin!! If he isn’t and if you are not then it’s time to pray

I appreciate your write up and it is some very good advice, but here are my thoughts.
As a citizen, you still need the three years residency in the UK to be able to pay home fees. So ebony-x has no immediate advantage over others in that regard.

London is not any different from the way major cities of the world are, compared to cities in the countryside. Living in lagos and living in Calabar, Ilorin or Jos are very diferent. Just like salaries in Northern Ireland for instance are like half of what you will get in London, so do people earn less in smaller cities in Nigeria. You can work in london, earn a high salary compared to other cities and live outside london. Tens of thousand of people commute to london everyday from near/far cities into the various train station hubs (Waterloo, Paddington, London bridge, Marylebone, Liverpool street, Fernchurch, Victoria, KingsCross/St pancras, Euston, e.t.c) and that is why the trains have to work or else the city grinds to a halt! I enjoy london and do not intend to take up a job outside it. Its one's choice to live where one wants to.

@Ebony-x
If you decide not to come and live in the UK, life is what you make out of the opportunities that you have. As a graduate, a British citizen and one capable of getting an ACCA, then you should be able to make something good out of life here.

It is difficult to quantify the experience you get working in this environment, building a career as well as living here. Perhaps, the people you have heard from or about have not had it easy. There are very many Nigerians who have things going on well for them here in their careers. You can be one of them if you choose to. Shouldn't you strive to overcome an issue when it presents itself to you or are you not able to take risks in life? You have a British passport and can always go back if you see that you don't like it out here. I don't think that is so difficult.

As for the serious relationship, i don't know how you can deal with that!

Blackcat:
@D-reloaded could it be that most nairalanders are doing dubious businesses? Strange that just you and Debo chipped in. Hmmm I guess one shouldn't believe all the bullshit they write up in here about been successful and all that

When people don't respond, it is not necessarily that they are doing dubious business. Well, since you did not specify professionals, cleaners and so on can still respond to your post as they also work in companies and have colleagues too .

UK is very multicultural and anyway, for us here, you are likely to find some blacks in our companies at different levels (from managers to cleaners). There are blacks in both my company and client company and many of them are Nigerians. We are 5 in my team (two British, a Portuguese and a Swiss) and all of us get along very well and they do respect me a lot and same for the other Nigerians.

Life is sweet here! There is still room for legal migrants.

I love to take photographs! its a hobby. Reminds me of the particular event or phase in my life. Whereas, the next generation can understand what their ancestor did or looked like at various times.   

Siena:
Good choice with the BMW!

You could ask BMW how much they'd charge, but it may be costly.

I got one fitted to my old Audi Coupe quattro, I had mine fitted by the RAC. Can't remember how much it cost back then, but was reasonable. I dropped the car off about 10:30, collected it 15:00.

As you're buying your car new, you're in a stronger position to haggle, you could get it fitted by BMW, for a lot less than you think.

Thanks man. Had no idea RAC even offered such a service! Like you mentioned, I would contact the BMW dealer as I may get a good deal.

Hi Sienna,
Decided to go for a BMW 318i rather than a Volvo S40 as I mentioned a while ago. Getting it delivered this week (after over 2 months of placing the order and waiting for its manufacture!). I would like to install a tracker in it. Would it be better to ask the BMW dealer that is delivering the car to install it or can I do it with some other company? If so, which company would you recommend and does it take a long time to fix? Thanks.

Get a police report, then write immediately (via courier) to the embassy that gave the visa and report the passport stolen.

If it is the plastic money you are referring to, then why is our own handling of such a note different?

Some other countries use similar notes and they don't have issues with them. In Australia, people swim on the beach with cash in their trunks and nothing happens to them.

http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/currency.html
http://www.austrade.gov.au/World-leading-plastic-notes-going-global/default.aspx
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2002/04/11/plasticcash_020411.html

Most Nigerians generally use "next tomorrow" in place of "day after tomorrow" when speaking English. If you do use it, has it ever occured to you that it is not correct and should only be used when speaking Nigerian Pidgin english? Your views please.