NewStats: 3,261,400 , 8,173,892 topics. Date: Thursday, 29 May 2025 at 07:07 AM 4c5o4f

mjo:

What do you mean by Akon not being influential?! If Akon and Otedola were to go to a village in China who will affect decision making?! I don't agree with Otedola being on the list but Akon deserves it.

I want to understand a bit more, what you mean by this statement. Are you talking of 'youth' influence or 'high level' government or national influence and interest? If both Otedola and Akon appear before the president or prime minister of China, they will THROW AKON OUT OF THE MEETING. What does he (a musical gangster) have to offer, other than the pleasure of entertainment? The best he can probably do is to gather a group of like minded artistes to donate some money towards some plausible cause. Otedola is a billionaire and an entrepreneur. He is a business man who can open the doors for the chinese in Nigeria and probably in Africa. He can partner with them in shipping, oil trading, construction etc,

I am not saying that Akon is not influential. All i am saying is that there are levels and spheres of influence. Villagers in china will probably recognize Akon for SHORT TERM material benefits because but for longer term and more constructive ventures, the governments in China (who will probably understand the intricacies of business more) will favour Otedola.

AjaraEwuro:

very stupid comparison - a thief is a thief, wether in Nigeria or in Britain. What is wrong with these Nigerians trying to say what the British politicians have done is right when the entire Britain is saying they have done very bad?

There is nothing wrong with the comparison. The fact that the British politicians are supposedly repentant is what Nigerians are saying is right and not the fact that they 'stole' the public's money. Nigerian politicians do these things everyday and yet, ARE NOT CALLED TO ORDER. To make matters worse, they are re-elected and re-re elected into higher offices over and over again, without their past being brought to the fore.
Taking a cue from the british politicians, many are coming on air to say that THEY ARE SORRY - and this is besides the fact that they may or may not mean it. Some are volunteering to pay back some monies, while others are reg. Are these not good and honorable things? What have our Nigerian 'thieves' done so far? Has Ibori payed anything back? Has Odili been exposed by the media? Has any one of them ever resigned from office? NO, they have not

Fact still remains that we have a lot to learn from our former colonial masters.

I know that this may sound funny, but when i worked in Lagos, i absolutely refused to fly any airline that was not Aero. If Aero was full, i opted to go by road. Jokes apart, there were times i was scheduled to attend meetings in Abuja and i went by road. This happened about 3 or 4 times.

I am not such a big fan of flying and then to make matters worse, the thought of entering all those naija planes scares me. I know that some may say that flying is still the safest way to travel and that accidents happen anywhere and everywhere but - I just will not fly those with those airlines

Sagamite:

I am not for or against the guy or anything.

But out of curiousity, if police ever stopped me and found money on me, I wonder what right they have to ask me to explain to them my money. I think the onus is on them to prove it is illegitimate money, or am I wrong?

I am really not aware of any law that states a level of money that police are entitled to request proof of source. Is it 50 pence? £100? £1500? £20,000?

Knowing myself, I will just tell them to explain what law backs their right to question me.

Unfortunately, this guy may not have your intelligence and carriage to stand up to the police by asking them if there is a law against his carrying any amount of money in cash.

Secondly, i am sure when the police began searching the car he must have been behaving suspicious - which warranted their asking him 'where he got the money from'. Again, when asked a direct question, his reply was that he is the son of the former IG of police. That again, may have raised a red flag with the british police.

As we all know, our politicians and public office holders are known for their corruption and money laundering activities.

Jarus:

I want to believe the list is not in any order, otherwise Kofi Anan should come only behind Obama and Mandela. The honour he got @ English FA final is enough to show how influential he is in 2009.

I disagree with Aliko and Dangote being there.

I guess Aliko and Femi are there because for the first time in History, Nigerians are ranked among the top richest people in the world. Their influence may be in the sphere of international business

If El-Rufai is not writing a book, i guess we should all apeal to him to write one. The same goes for Nuhu Ribadu. Something similar was written about Kenya by a Kenyan man is titled, 'It is our turn to eat'. Because of the amount of expose the book generated, the man is in exile now - almost like Ribadu is. Let us all encourage our Nigerian politicians to do the same

These are the kind of things that the ordinary man should be privvy to, because they explain a lot and tell us about the 'rot' that is going on in Abuja. With these kind of things happening in the corridors of power, it is no wonder then, why our country cannot pick up as fast as she is supposed to. With presidents and governors 'settling' and 'oversettling' people that helped them into office at the expense of the common man, things certainly cannot improve.

Our country is in BIG TROUBLE

@ ALL THE RESPONSES

All of you have made my day. Praising the dad? Hahahahahahahahahahaha

FOR GOD'S SAKE, $150 MILLION! *desparately looking for a calculator to convert the amount into naira using 120 as the conversion rate to arrive at 18 Billion*

I am sorry for this country. If this is only a transaction involving one company, Halliburton, imagine the kind of things that have happened and are happening with other sectors of the economy.

Pls, what is AVM Bello saying - tht he owns the but does not know how the money was disbursed? Look, i have said it before and i will say it again, these people in power think that we are fools o! How can he make that statement. Is he talking to illiterates? Even illiterates cant believe that.

I am of the opinion that the man should be shot. killed with immediate effect. Forget the 'innocent until proven guilty' legal nonsense because it is this same legal system that will set the man free.

My God, i sorry for all of us

GADDEMIT - This city is BEAUTIFUL. i visited Abuja a coupla times but never saw it completely.

Haksalam:

I THINK LAGOS WILL MEET D BEAUTY STANDARD OF ABUJA WIT D CURRENT ISTRATION.[color=#000099][/color]

Hmmm, this one go hard o. I dont think there is anyway lagos can be like this - unless you want the Guv'nor to demolish all the structures in the state and start rebuilding again.

Maybe people are now hiding because they have nothing to show for all their stay in Florida!

switch47:

very irresponsible and he wants british citizenship.

No mind the guy. Maybe he does not know that this will count against him. However, with his 'celebrity' status, he may get away with it.

Sagamite:

A very sad and dark day for the Rainbow Nation.

The quality of their leadership is worrying.

Yes, very true. Maybe now they will understand what other African countries are suffering.

Lets welcome them to Africaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Fashola seems to be doing very well. Lots of people have good things to say about him. Lets hope he can continue with the same momentum - and those with bad belle will not 'tarnish' his image while he is in office and especially when he leaves!

UP FASHOLA!!!!!

I am totally against this 'first lady' thing. It really annoys me. Why cant they continue with whatever job they are doing, even if their husbands are in office? Otherwise, sit in the house and 'siddon-look' or look after your husband. Afterall, the job of being a president is very very difficult.

For God's sake, that wife of the Cameroonian president should be kept indoors. The lady looks hideous!

For those arguing about PhD's and DSc's, kindly see the link below:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_a_DSc_and_a_PhD

nazzyon:

There is nothing bad in working for an in-law.

I can work for my in-law till I get a job that suits me.


But if you don't have any other option then there is nothing wrong in working for an in-law.

Good quote.

It will be my LAST option and even while i am working for my In-Law, i will actively start looking for something elsewhere!

When i was on that road in '07, my friends and i counted 38.

How police go make their money now? They sef have targets to meet o! Just imagine them collecting N20 or more from each commercial car and the frequent 'heavy' tax they collect from drivers without particulars or new uned cars.

Its a real waste of manpower

That governor is crying for nothing. Instead of weeping or feeling sorry for Nigeria, let him start doing something now to make sure that we can begin producing exportable amounts of this oil in future.

Take a look at what Saraki did when Mugabe threw those white farmers out of Zimbabwe. He took the initiative, invited some of those farmers to Nigeria, provided them with ample and fertile land (i dont know if he gave it to them for free or worked out some of payment) and encouraged them to start farms - which they did.

Like previous posters have stated, there are hundreds of thousands of agric graduates in Nigeria and more continue to graduate yearly. We have dedicated agric universities in nigeria (abeokuta, umudike, makurdi etc) with people who have some knowledge of agriculture. We have IITA, and NIFOR. Why cant that governor invite these people to encourage the return to this oil production?

If we look closely, you will find out that after he cried for Nigeria, nothing happened. He wiped his tears and returned to his daily tasks - maybe even trying to work out how he would return to his government seat for his second term

OMO IBO:

my apologies. i didnt bother reading the post as i thought the powers that be are at it again.
my apologies again.

Good man. I love the fact that you are quick to apologize when you realise you are wrong. I've always hoped that others on this forum would do the same.

For now, Fashola has managed to impress me as it seems like he is trying his best. I believe that even if he does not finish everything he has planned to do before he leaves office, the person following should build on what he has done. Let us wait and see if he gets his second term and how much he can achieve before then.

More grease to his elbows.

ElRazur:

Since this matter won't go away. Let the books be thrown at the law breaker for once and an example be set. Things like these gives hard and honest working people like me and others a bad name around here.

Thank you bro'. This is what we need now. We are tired of all the talk talk. They should put some action to their words!

I make bold to say that i speak on behalf of ALL NIGERIANS:

YarAdua should EXPOSE all those involved in this scandal. When he does it, he should also make sure Ibori and Igbinedion are brought to book. When he does that one too, I WILL VOTE FOR HIS SECOND TERM.

If he can bring other people like IBB, Useni, Odili and at least 10 other government thieves to book also, i propose a THIRD TERM for him

Jarus:

What are you saying pls?

E be like say one embassy don seize im documents.

@Poster - Forget phone numbers. If you are in Nigeria, why not walk into their offices. That will be easier than looking for phone numbers. Gani and Keyamo have their chambers in Anthony village. Their offices are well known so when you enter any taxi in Lagos just say that you are going to Anthony village and when you get there, ask for the location of either of those chambers!

@Poster, the sky is the limit for you o - with those qualifications, you can go into academics (which will still give you enough time to establish your consultancy). It will also enable you network with other academics who can help you as resource people and provide further s within academia, business and government.

Secondly (someone can correct me if i am wrong) but you can a Nigerian Security Service parastatal in Abuja - if we have any (i am not sure of this). Your qualifications far exceed what the police force can handle (even tho it is not supposed to be so).

There are some NGO's in Nigeria, sponsored by UN that look into things like Conflict Resolution, National Security Issues, etc that you can look for and try. There are other regional bodies like ECOWAS, NEPAD etc you can . There is the International Institute for International Affairs (i think its NIIA) and a few other parastatals too.

In fact, in the private sector, well established companies like Mobil, Shell, MTN, Zenith, Oceanic, UBA that employ social researchers in one form or the other to help them with their Community Relationship and CSR issues. With your PhD, you will be able to them on a senior level, probably as a consultant.

Really, it takes you to enter the market to survey what is and what is not suitable for you to engage in. Meanwhile, limiting yourself to your particular specialty may hinder you. It is possible that just because of your qualifications, you may be employed to fill a senior role. If that is suitable for you, dont reject it - afterall, that is what General Management is all about!

All the best

While many (Beneli and Kabikala) have valid arguements, there is another way to look at this - I was discussing with a friend of mine yesterday and we both concluded that the CULTURE back at home, i.e. in Nigeria has in a way, 'deceived' a lot of people. Many people read certain courses in school, not because they like them, but because in Nigeria, if you are not a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer or a banker etc, you are not considered to be anything. Is it not possible that a lot of people who read medicine did it because of their parents (some, who may be doctors?). Is it not possible also that some read medicine because in their GCE exams, they made all A1's, were considered brilliant, hence the next best course to apply for is MEDICINE?

I think later on in life, especially when people graduate and enter the real world, they begin to realise that they have some 'gifts' which they cant ignore and regardless of pay, social status and other variables they eventually take up these gifts. Some who are musically gifted turn to music (e.g. Dr Sid, who sings alongside DBanj and co is a qualified Dentist and a ed member of NMA. After going through a hard 6 years of Dentistry in Univ of Ibadan, his housejob and NYSC, he came out and turned to music). I know other doctors who are pilots and Investment bankers, who said that reading medicine was to satisfy their parents.

Those that go into medicine because of money and do not have the 'calling' to be doctors may eventually find out that they are more useful elsewhere and may tend to switch to those routes. Some however do not switch to those other routes but manage to practice their medicine alongside these talents that they have e.g. Robin Cook - the famous author of Medical Thrillers (although a consultant doctor in one of US's top medical schools, he is an international award winning author).  Bukola Saraki, a medical doctor (never practiced his medicine) was a banker, a business man and now a politician. Mimiko, also a politician, practiced medicine for a while etc etc.

Finally, whether people go into medicine for the money or not, i do recognize that our country has NO FUTURE and prospects for Doctors. How and where will they train? Where are the facilities for research and development? And of course, where are the 'reward' schemes for them?

Like Beneli said, Highly skilled professionals (Doctors) will always move around until they get to the place that they want to be whether it is as a Doctor or not, or within Nigeria or outside.

Moonstone:

Yes I am. Just like Nigerians who have been in Nigeria most of their lives cannot tell some European and American accents apart, so can some English ppl not tell our accents apart.

Let me take this a bit further - you may even be surprised that when some of the English people hear Ghanaians or Sierra Leoneans or Cameroonians speaking, they MAY think that those people are Nigerians.

I just have this bad impression that when Oyibo people see black [West] Africans misbehaving, they automatically think they are Nigerian. Such is the image we have created for ourselves

EXACTLY. Oga Shobanjo has hit the nail on the head. This is what i have been tryin to across to people (esp on nairaland) but they still chose to believe that the efforts of Madam Akunyili will be rewarded. HOW?? I have no idea.

beneli:

The only doctors working in the 'supermarkets', if any are those who have not ed their PLAB exams.
There is a shortage of Doctors in the UK currently, but only for those who are willing to work in non-training roles i.e. jobs that don't lead anywhere.

In the last 2-3 years there's been a complete overhaul of the postgraduate training for Doctors here and this has affected mostly the overseas Doctors. So anybody thinking of further training in the UK should forget it for now. You can still do courses and even get postgraduate qualifications like the MpH or MSc in whatever tickles your fancy and target jobs with the United Nations http://unjobs.org/organizations/who.

For anybody who is interested in further training, US is one of the few places remaining overseas. You do have to muster the resources for the USMLE, but it's not impossible. Nigerians are ing the exam in their hoardes!

There are still occasional opportunities in the Caribbeans. I know that Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados has quite a few Nigerians doing there residency there. You will need to which ever Caribbean countries embassy you're interested in and ask about the details for whoever you need to correspond with for jobs in their country.

Down South in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana there may be opportunities for work, but not for residency.

Spot on bro'. You got it all right. My younger brother is in SA and has been facing this kind of discrimination as in, its difficult for foreigners to actually get to do their residency in that place. I hear the only residency they are allowed to do is in Family Medicine as opposed to 'juicy' areas like Neuro, OandG, Surgery, etc.

What he wants to do now is what you suggested. He has done an MSc and is going on to pursue a PhD. He intends to end up being an 'academic' doctor where he becomes a researcher/lecturer. Later on, he says that he may return to do his residency, that is if he is still interested. The funny thing though, is that whatever direction you go in Medicine - whether to become a consultant/specialist, or Lecturer/researcher, they (Doctors) always get to make their money.

Hey,
Was in the telecoms sector in Lagos for close to 5 years before i left for my MBA here in England. AjanleKoko is spot on with his analysis about the salary structures, as that is the closest you can actually get to the real scales. Notice, i said closest and this is because on very rare occasions, you can get something that is outside those scales for certain positions.

Find below, the structure of salaries in Celtel (Zain) as at 2006 - 2008 or thereabout:

entry Level 6 : 2m - 3.5m

specialist Level 5: 3.5m -5m (To be honest, in October 2006, i was offered a salary of 5.8 million for this position but i did not take it cos that is when i was leaving for my MBA)

Manager Level 4 : 6.5m - 11m (here the 6.5m is without all the pension, health etc, if you include all that, it starts from 8.7m)

HOD L3: 12m - 18m (this is like an equivalent of senior manager)

One thing you guys have to understand is that it is very difficult to know the EXACT salaries scales of any company. These figures i have given are not absolutes - you can take my own experience as an example. Someone in HR in Celtel (Zain) gave me the salary structure above but when i was interviewed and i negotiated, i was eventually offered 5.8 million, which is 0.8million above the figure at the end of that particular scale.

Tayo-D:

@topic,
Mmm. I wonder how Mr President came about such an understanding!

He should certainly know about the expertise of the Germans. Isnt that where he receives his own treatment?

ladeeh09:

impossible to sustain that type of salary for long, what do they do that gives them so much profit to pay that high, anyway goodluck to the staff.

Very true sir! The next thing we will hear is that the bank is either sacking people, tying their salaries to their performance or slashing their salaries in half. Nairaland had some threads in the past of similar things happening in banks like platinum and intercontinental - and these two banks were at one time or the other, the highest paying too.

Like women too should stay out of a men's bizness.

Reference - RKelly's reply to Beyonce's 'if i was a boy'.