₦airaland Forum

tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.

We opened accts with NAB and commonwealth bank but didnt transfer any money from nigera.We went with some cash and left the remaining in a GT dom acct and transferred from there to our OZzy acct when we arrived.We also opened a dom acct in OZ(commonwealth bank was seamless) for ease of transfer.There might be a cheaper way to transfer funds but this is what we did.

We stayed with family in Northern suburbs initially but got our own place in the Eastern suburbs,somewhere not far from Dandenong.We settled for the East because its quite busy,more factories and industries in these areas.If i dont live in the East,I will go for the North and West in that order.West is cheapest but people say it has a history of crime.I however have friends who have lived in the West over 10years and have never had any incidents.Anyhow,wherever you decide to stay is fine.Just get somewhere close to the train station and mall.

In melbourne,you can use your naija license for 6months.My husband passed his victoria drivers test on first attempt,i havnt tried yet for my drivers license.People say though that it can be quite tough cos i know someone who failed 5times!I was able to start driving within 2months of getting here.Just remember,you drive on the left always.

No ideas on how mortgages work but when choosing a neighborhood,also consider ones with good schools if you have kids.If your kids are still of daycare age(below 5),use careforkids.com.au to compare prices,reviews etc.

Settling in was not bad for me cos i had friends and family here already.My kids settled fine as well.

Upon arrival;
Get a mobile sim(i use lebara)
Apply for TFN(tax file no)
Open a bank account or go and activate the one you opened from Nigeria
Go to centerlink and medicare for registration
Get a travel card(MYki card if in melbourne).

Update your linkedin profile and make it very appealing to recruiters.You can also search for recruiters on Linkedin.

With regards to work,there is always something to do.It might not be want you want initially but there is work.Some people start off working at factories,aged care homes,disability and support centres etc until they eventually get what they want.Some people also end up going into nursing,community welfare,policing etc.But like i said,if you dont mind chopping humble pie to start somewhere earning money with these blue collar jobs,you will be okay.I know people who have houses with money earned from these blue collar professions.
There is dignity of labour here so people dont care what job you do to earn money.

For transportation,if you can afford it,pls plan to buy a car asap(carsales.com.au,gumtreee.com.au).please buy cars with roadworthiness and valid registration(at least 6months).If no car,you can use the metro system until you can afford to get a car here.

For housing,a friend referred us to her agent who leased us an apartment even though we didnt have jobs at the time.She accepted our bank statements as proof of income.We pay just a little below 2k monthly as rent.

Then i also just found out about NRAS housing scheme from a colleague days back.Its for families who fall within a certain income threshold.IF your rent was like 350,you would pay like 260 and the govt will pay the balance.I dont have much info as i dont qualify anymore since hubby and I both work now.But im certain most freshbies would qualify.

With furnishing the house,we went across gumtree.com(for people who were selling their furniture due relocation or other reasons),kmart stores( for kitchen items),bestbuy.com(this is a company that sells new electronics at reduced prices because they have scratches or marks on them;there are plenty stores like that but this is the one i patronised) and ikea stores(for kitchen and beddings)

For people that dont mind as well,in order to save costs,you can patronise Salvos stores(its a charity shop that all kinds of household items in great condition).

To get the best energy providers,internet providers,insurance etc,you can make use of iselect.com.au

During cold weather,you wear jacket and use heater(we paid almost 200 a month for heating during this past winter)

I do most of my shopping at Dandenong Market as food stuffs there is cheaper than everyother place I know.There is also Marmara market at Dandenong(all kinds of food items including shaki,cowleg,cow tongue etc) and an African store not far from the market(cant rememeber the name).At noble park is SUR african shop where i get dry fish,palm oil,egusi and stuff like that.

With departmental stores,woolworths is most expensive and aldi is cheapest.Coles is in between.
I know of only one nigerian restaurant that recently opened in the city and i have never been there before.
There is also another popular naija shop in the West called Fatimoh"s shop

With centerlink link claims,we were paid family tax benefit part A and B,family rebate and child care assistance.This all sumed up to $621 forthnightly for the first 4months,it came down to 550 and then now sits at $89 fortnightly.It reduces with every income increase.
Childcare rates was $113 for two kids initially (5days a week) and now is $370 a week.

We also got a concession card which has now been cancelled since we both have jobs.With the concession card,we paid discounted electricity and waterbills,half price for transportation,free ambulance cover,susbsizied fees if we had done any studies at the time and my first kid who is in kinder got 15hours free of daycare weekly .

With jobs,for me,it was just God.I got a job in the Tier 1 team of an IT company with no technical knowledge whatsover.It was my 3rd video interview and i got the job two months after arrival.I commute 54mins by train to the CBD which is quite a distance by OZ standard.But i dont mind really.I got the job through indeed.com which i prefer to seek.com
There a couple of recruitment agencies i know and i will list as i remember.

Strategy one(blue collar)
Adecco
Hoban
Ozstaff(blue collar)
Randstad
Sharp &carter
Hays
Smaart



cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o

bomsilaga:
Hi,
I sent a message too to join the melbourne group.

Nengiraw:
Hello nairalanders, please I need help on this situation. So I’m a lady in her mid 20’s. I’m actually very much set for marriage in the eyes of my family, since society deem it fit to place marriage as an achievement for women, and always bring up your age to remind you to. Anyways, it’s not a priority for me to get married now, as I feel like I’m not ready mentally,and I have a lot of trauma to work on, but I’m also open to it, if it’s in my face and ready. I don’t stay in Nigeria, so my family don’t know if I have a man in my life, so they decided upon themselves to introduce me to a man who is my uncle’s friend that stays in the same country as me. They were more focus on the fact that he comes from a neighboring village from us and that he was a doctor. (Meanwhile he’s actually a nurse, but he told them, that he was a doctor, he also never mentioned to them that he was married and had a child, before they decided to introduce him to me)

So we eventually started talking on WhatsApp, he saw some of my pictures already and he was mesmerized. In fact he was already kind of making me his wife in that moment. So one day he called me and we were just talking,and I heard like a toddler crying so bad and needed his attention, I asked him who was that , he told me it was his daughter, there was this awkward silence for almost five minutes of us not saying anything, so I told him I’ll call him back. I called my mother that day and was mad as hell, that they didn’t disclose such information to me, but from my mother’s reaction she had no idea, and she was also mad and she told me, she will call me back, so she could verify from my uncle, since that’s his friend. Even my uncle too had no idea. To cut the whole story short, he later called me the next day on a video call, and he started telling me about his wife( Yes! She’s still his wife, because I don’t think he has divorced her yet)and how abusive she was, and how he tried to make it work, but she was so crazy and stuff like that. That he’s actually trying to get shared custody of the child. That he’s no longer married to her. I was not really having it, because I just felt like he wasn’t being honest with certain things and on top of that his wife is still in the picture, and I don’t know if I want to settle for that. Also he just turned 40, and I’m 25. So the age gap is too much for me. Also I have not met him in real life, cause he stays in a different state from me, my family still wanted me to be open minded until I see him in person, then I could make a decision if I want him or not. He always sends me pictures of his daughter, and he recently sent me one with his first wife and daughter, I was surprised that he did, and he said he wanted to show me the daughter instead. I still felt like I didn’t need to see a picture of her. I started seeing the red flags of him that I couldn’t settle with. Also the way he talked about the wife was vulgar, and I felt like he didn’t need to tell me about her in that manner.

Now the most recent thing he started doing was sending me random stuff about marriage to my WhatsApp. I usually glance at it,and don’t reply, cause I don’t know why he’s sending me that. The one that gave me a major big red flag from him, is when he sent where Regina daniels( the actress who married Ned nwoko) was talking about marrying her husband a virgin and how it’s important to be a virgin. He then asked me if I was one. Honestly I felt really numb, because I don’t know why he will be asking me stuff like that, when he didn’t really get a respond back from me, he proceeded to send another message telling me, “No mind them sha, virgin no sabi. With a heart eye emoji. I was dumbfounded, I didn’t know how to reply to him anymore. I stopped picking up his calls and I have no intention to meet up with him anymore. Now my family is mad at me, saying that at least I should see him in person, but I don’t want to. In fact I’m no longer interested in him. Please am I wrong for feeling the way I feel? Thanks.

SacredRuler3:
Is the fan still available? Are you on WhatsApp?

whodeyhere:
Clearance sale - Household items. Location; LUGBE Abuja
contact; zero seven zero, four eight zero five seven two seven five

1. Gracco baby car seat - 25k
2. Binatone Standing fan - 15k
3. Electric Oven with dual burner - 25k
4. Rite Tek Juicer(Brand new) - 15k
5. Royal blender(Brand new) - 15k
6. Duvet set(brand new 6x6 bed sheet, 4 pillow cases & Duvet) - 16k

whodeyhere:
Clearance sale - Household items. Location; LUGBE Abuja
contact; zero seven zero, four eight zero five seven two seven five

1. Gracco baby car seat - 25k
2. Binatone Standing fan - 15k
3. Electric Oven with dual burner - 25k
4. Rite Tek Juicer(Brand new) - 15k
5. Royal blender(Brand new) - 15k
6. Duvet set(brand new 6x6 bed sheet, 4 pillow cases & Duvet) - 16k

remsonik:
I would like everyone to respond to this post, what towns and cities are best to reside in Nigeria in relation to the people, culture, cost of living, attitudes and characters.

For me I still enjoy Lagos, calabar. I am presently in ibadan and the attitudes of the people there is not making me enjoy the town. Hatred, gossip, lying, evil minds, wishing another person evil with curses, charms, evil works, borrowing, buying on credit and not willing to pay if you ask them for your money they then attack you with their bad attitudes.

gloryhomemaker:
Abuja is a beautiful city.

beylinko02:
I have two facial marks on each of my cheeks. In my early days, I felt so terrible with them but now, I have grown to appreciate them.
The story behind the marks is that I had convulsions when I was little and grandma had to mark me to save my life.

MODIFIED: That's not me up there, it's a random pics from the net. I am a guy and my marks look very cute. I can say I am a handsome dude that would not pass for an average looking guy Moreover, the lady up here is beautiful

trifted404:
Hmmmm.

southerners would never learn, the truth is southern Nigeria is just a mere geographical region not a people, that's why they are not united. Take a look at northern Nigeria its a homogeneous region, So they see each other's as brothers and again they are ethnically and culturally related.

When it's comes to south, it's an ethnically heterogeneous geographical area,made up of people who are not ethnically and culturally related so it's not possible to be united. In such case, each geopolitical zone tend to have different goals and opinions and this causes disunity.

I personally think it's the turn of the south east even though I'm from the middle belt. [b]But the truth is south easterners don't know how to play politics, they are so clannish and they have issues with most ethnic groups in Nigeria, and that's their hindrance.[/b]

Southerners need to learn to trust each other and learn how to play "united we stand divided we fall" type of politics, if not the north will always have the last laugh.

glory008:
My advice is let your younger brother act like is dieing than he should tell the wife to call you and your wife to come, your brother will now tell the 2 women to make peace among themselves and let him faint at the process
You will now tell them to make peace while you form like you are taking him to the hospital and lock the 2 women in the house
Until they make peace don't open the door for them
Mean while the children should be with your sister or their grandparents

murmee:
That is very true. Even in the outskirts of Ibadan. Yahoo boys are the cause. They pay any amount the agents tells them without hesitation!

Reggaemich:
Op, I suggest u go for ibadan,(the cost of living is affordable)

I know of someone who stays in a 1room apartment in Ogun state that pays N40000 as rent for a year

Now imagine how much for ibadan

SARSCoV2:
Self defense.


No case

Dorwadora:
He came with my course mate looking for my roommate. But fortunately, they met me. He couldn't stop looking at me and I told my guy that "hawfa, why this your friend dey look like stupid person". Whenever he meet me, he'll always stare like a fool.

Anyways, I fell for his innocence and I snatched his heart from my roommate. Now we are 4 years together.

We had sex and the next morning he said "Dora, hope you're not pregnant?.... I could hear his heartbeat, beating strong". Lol....we were 18 then. We taught eachother everything we know about sex and love. Always clumsy when kissing eachother. We kiss like apes


Now, he's a badass that's always making my blood pressure to rise. His latest fancy is moving around with a condom in his wallet.

God please bring back the old times

Uptheante:
U are very stupid for classifying Tarabans who are non-Hausa & majority Chriistians as almajiri.
This foolish assertion by u shows that u are very dull & have very poor knowledge of other pple outside ur region.
That is why u stupidly called Tarabans almajiri even though u have no idea about their tribes & religion

Vinnie2000:
I think MC Lively!

But for me, MC Edo Pickin is one of the Most Intelligent comedian in Nigeria!

sandra50:
They can marry mother harlot for all I care..as if they value the ones that sleep in their houses every night..if you are not into dating multiple men at a time..I mean if you don't make their blood pressure to go up and down they never value you..they will still leave and then come back later to ask if you can both get married..Oga go and marry those people.

maxwelltony:
Good morning Nairalanders

There is this particular guy that I met on Facebook about two month ago in Facebook, we have been talking and he calls me almost everytime, he has tried to invite me to his house in osun state on different occasions but due to security issue I had to decline his invitation..

We planned to meet on Wednesday and he told me he was coming from osun state, so I told him to drop at Mr Biggs in Iwo Road Ibadan..

I stay at challenge so I had to #200 cab from there down to Iwo road, I was having about #1300 with me before leaving the house, I was already waiting for him for about 40minute before he showed up, he told me his car has fault and that he had to call his mechanic to fix the car for him, we sat down and talked.

During our discussion, he told me to please give him 1k to get something to drink, that he had forgotten his wallet in the car and his phone is off to make a transfer, I gave him and he ordered for soft drinks and meat pie..

Along the line, he told me he needed to make a call and requested for my phone so that he can direct the mechanic bringing down his car, I heard him calling and was directing the man down to Iwo road, all of a sudden he just went outside and before I could know it this guy has dissapeared with my phone and was just looking at him from afar..

I couldn't shout as I was just looking like a fool because I don't know what's happening, I waited for about 1hr thinking he has gone to pick the mechanic, I tried calling my number but was switched off, he has gone with my phone and I don't know his number off hand.
I had use the #100 left with me to buy recharge card and was left with nothing..
It was a bitter experience for me as I had to trek all the way from Iwo road to Olorunsogo, When I couldn't continue with trekking I had to approach a lady to please help me out
with #100 after explaining my situation to her and she gave me #500 and wished me well.

I thank God it was not more than this, he only went away with my phone, what if he had used me for ritual?

Please ladies be careful about the kind of guy you hang out with, always take your time to know the person you are moving out with..

I had learnt my lesson, and have handed him over to God .

Chevronstaff:
I stopped using Arik a long time ago.. Delayed flights, ill mannered staff and many other reasons made me to stop flying with them..

It's either AIR PEACE or AERO for me now.

Hintona:
Maybe I'm missing something 'cause I don't see how that is a diss

theenchanter:
Siemens will not make the power plants reach 25,000mw, Siemens will only make the transmission infrastructures to be able to transmit 25,000mw of power.

Nigeria's generating plants as at now can produce roughly 13,000mw, but only less than 6,000 can be transmitted, lest the transmission infrastructures collapse (the so called national grid collapse we know). Hence the need for the govt to contract the transmission project to Siemens in order to push the transmission limit to 25,000mw as Siemens has done in Egypt.

Go and learn d difference between generation and transmission.