Hello people!
I beg, who has an idea of the cost of transportation by bus from Ojota to Osogbo or by drop from Ikeja. It will also be helpful for anyone on the forum that is based in Osogbo to provide inform on what the cost could be when returning.

Thanks!

I will say you need to do both. There are things a good quality education will do for you which learning just a skill will not fetch you such as the ability to expand your thinking capacity. You see, we are today in life a sum total of the decisions we made yesterday, whether, in finance, relationships, business, spirituality, health and wellness, and the list goes on.

Expanding on your education is about strengthening your cognitive ability which is your core or foundation. Learning the right fit skill helps you to draw from that foundation and execute. So really, they go hand in hand and the overarching framework is adopting a mindset of lifelong learning because the minute you stop learning you start dying.

You see, those who win big in life consistently have one thing in common. These are individuals who can think and execute strategically.

Even the scriptures say that Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers, they succeed. Our life is like a plan that is being implemented. It needs to be enriched and empowered with a wide range of learning resources.

Have a roadmap for yourself - ask yourself:
1. Where am I today?
2. Where do I want to be in the next 1 year, next 5 years, next 10 years, and in the next 25 years?
3. Where should I be in the next 1 year, next 5 years, next 10 years, and in the next 25 years? - It's one thing to like/want to be something but it is a better thing to know what should be because that is your purpose and that is your place of flourishing in life
4. How do I get to where I should be in life? What education is required, what skills should be learned, what network should I be connected to? Which location should I be based and what I am doing right now that I should stop doing so that I do not sabotage my own destiny?

Wish you the best.

As a management consulting CPA of 20+ years and a certified coach with the John Maxwell team, I can easily tell within the first minute of speaking with someone who says they have a job interview on whether they have a chance to land the job or not.

Do you know that in today's competitive job market, your chances of getting that job is determined in the first 30 seconds? Yes, 30 seconds is what experienced hiring managers need to determine if you are the right candidate for the job or not. Every other question you are asked from that point on is either as a form of being polite or an indication that they find you interesting.

It is so sad to see over 90% of the candidates making the same mistake by going into an interview "dry" on not being well rehearsed and fluid in answering the first question without rambling. Many feel that it is sufficient to just read up on the company, review a little bit on the subject matter information related to the position and sometimes practice a couple of questions. This is what happens when you use this strategy; you ramble answering the first common question of "tell us a little bit about yourself" because you never practiced your elevator pitch to give a clear and concise response with 30 seconds to 1 minute maximum on why you are the right candidate for the job and how your experience will add value to the organization. The moment you start rambling on this give-away question, 80% chance is that the interview, in the mind of the hiring manager, is over with you not seen as the strong candidate for the position. Any other questions asked are mere formality before you are politely shown the door.

What if I show you a simple and proven SYSTEM - S ave Y ourself S tress, T ime, E nergy and M oney - that has worked for me over and over again in my 20+ years as a management consultant in landing contracts from rigorous interviews? I have used this system in coaching many others to acing their interviews and landing their first job to moving to higher paid jobs. My most recent success story is a project manager that I coached and who landed a job as a Director of IT.

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Hello Noble Elites in the Forum,

I am looking for an up to date information on what the finished cost per square meter is to build in Nigeria - Both residential and commercial properties. Over to you construction gurus in the house and thank you in advance for your help.

Are you still looking for Bayo? Let me know

Debosky,

Thank you for your response. I was initially caught in between ignoring or responding to the negative and extreme comment that life starts at below zero level as a new comer.

As I mentioned in my initial response to the question of this thread( and again not to sound blunt or arrogant), living overseas is not for everybody. The most important thing is to be at the place God has destined for you, as that will be the place of your flourishing. As such, some will have a positive experience ( and there are SEVERAL as you have mentioned) and some negative. Again the choice is left to each individual for in matters like this, the best counsel one can have is that given by God and that means really getting alone with Him to lead one aright.

To share a bit of my experience; when I first arrived with my family 5 years ago, some of the Nigerian folks that have been here longer had all sorts to say; "Oh, the cold kills o! yeh there are no jobs except as security o!", just all sorts of negative stories. My usual response to them was that if God is on your side, then He will make a way for you and prosper you. So recently, when my wife and I out of just retelling those stories as a testimony of God's faithfulness in our lives, it occurred to us that some of this people that had all sorts to say back then have not even visited Nigeria for once and yet for example the cold can kill! Some of them during the Oil boom here in Alberta even moved up north to places like Fort McMurray which is much colder than it is in Calgary to secure lucrative jobs with Oil companies and all of a sudden, the cold no longer kills! One thing I have learnt is that if one is basing life's decision on what people have to say, then one is not yet ready to move to the next level.

Again if comments such as this was true for everybody, then probably an Obama story won't have been possible in our life time! Life whether as an immigrant or even back in your own country has its challenges and as Bishop Benson Idahosa always said, " If you are lizard in Lagos, then don't expect to be a crocodile in London".

The summary of all of this is that each individual's mindset has a greater part to play in what the outcome will be. Your attitude determines your altitiude!

Hi, having gone through a similar experience in the past, this is a subject that I am very passionate about and that is the reason I am always quick to share my own success story.

As mentioned in my full response as contained in the document attached, it is important your plans are aligned to God's leading for your life.

I have found this article about immigrating to the Oil and Gas province of Alberta to be very helpful http://alis.alberta.ca/pdf/cshop/welcometoalberta.pdf . It is one article I would have loved to read when I was at the very stage you are in as it is a true reflection of what life may be for most new comers.

As we are both in the IT industry you can send me an email [email]aeliezer@eliezerconsulting.ca[/email] if you eventually choose to take that giant leap and you need assistance in terms of career and job situation.

40 Kbps(not 40KBps) is not 40 Kilobytes per second but 40 kilobits per second (40,000 bits per second). For further reference read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_rate_units#kilobit_per_second

The question being asked can be likened to asking if it is right to paint a building externally?

The Bible is not against painting but rathet should not be the only emphasis. Just as a building will be painted outside and also decorated inside so should it be that the daughter of Zion should not deck the outside only but also balance that with a good attitude and Christlike character on the inside (and vice-versa).  That is balanced living!

All work and no play makes Jack a "dull boy"

Life in UK is not as easy as you think. I can give you a first hand information that even their own people (whites) are emigrating in droves either to Canada or the US.

Think it through properly before pursuing a journey of uncertainty. As one of the contributors mentioned, you will pay tax for everything. I have relatives who have very good jobs there as Citizens and they are doing well by every standard. But the quality of life in the UK(especially London) is not what people think it is.

So now imagine when one does not even have the correct papers to work? Going to any country without the right papers is like put yourself into a bondage. Wait patiently for God's timing if it is in His agenda that you will live abroad. I love a Bible verse which says He makes things beautiful in His own time.

My believe has always been that God should lead me to my place of planting( which can be anywhere). For when one is there, you will surely prosper!

I am yet to see a real "broadband" service in Lagos.

As such, many of those parading themselves as broadband service providers are just milking consumers by providing a connection speed that is even less than ISDN.

The least speed a real broadband connection should give you is within 128-256 Kbps. I got one recently for my business needs in Lagos after much research- Starcomms(because it offered the mobility and claimed to provide the high speed)- um! broadband indeed. The McAfee speed test tool gave 40-48 Kbps download speed even when testing from a location with full signal strength (less than 56Kbps Modem speed) and they call it EVDO. The Swift broadband connection in my cousin's office located on the island  was giving 60-65 Kbps download speed.

I logged remotely to my home infrastructure to compare these speeds in Lagos with what my ISP offers (Telus) and the speed was within the range of 600-1000 Kbps and this is just a regular internet connection for home users.

Hopefully, some day we will get our acts together and begin to work at getting things right without having to cut corners. If things can be done right in Ghana which doesn't have as much resources, then I don't think we have an excuse in Nigeria.

God help some of the people who have responded to this topic exhibiting their folly. One thing I know is that there is no perfect human being on earth. The Bible describes man as "worm" Who will not smell? It takes less than 5 minutes of God withdrawing your breath and then the reality of who we are sets in.

If you truly love him, you would ask God to use you has an instrument in his life for him to overcome that. It is a problem that has a solution. In 1 Cor. 13, the Bible says love takes no scores of wrong. If not God wouldn't have sent His precious Son to die for you and I.

So common let us be real here.

The one whose poopoo does not smell should cast the first stone! For your education kindly read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halitosis

The job offer to work in a hotel in Canada may or may not be a fraud. I know for sure that the part of Canada where I currently reside has acute labour shortage at the moment. However, the salary of $2,000-3000 is nothing to have a decent living on as the cost of living has gone up from the 3 years back when I first got here.

Just arriving then with the Naija mindset, a $3000 job looked like a good offer but having being in the system for these years, it is really nothing to live on; the Federal and Provincial tax is about 25-30% from each pay check. The current house prices (mortgage or rent) may take as low (not as much) as 50% of your take home should that figure be about $4000 net a month! So you can understand what I mean when I say that a salary of $3000 (about N 375,000 ) a month is nothing to live on.

I would think that if you are able to earn that in Nigeria, you are better off in terms of numbers, except for the fact that the quality of life back home has really deteriorated. What I saw from my November trip wasn't encouraging at all. Yes, there are lots of fine cars on the streets but the quality of life is zero and so even when you have the millions and you want to enjoy it, you will still have to travel out to have access to some decent living.

I will also be weary of committing funds to get a job, my philosophy is that if it is so true, the service charge can either be deducted from my first pay check or demanded after everything must have gone through and verified to be genuine. Otherwise no deal!

Thank you.

Hey guys, good stuff of all the information being provided about salaries in Nigeria. You never how valuable these information could be until you need such.

I have been using www.payscale.com for salary info on where I am currently residing and it has proved to be a very useful tool in obtaining current salary reports for major industries. It also covers Nigeria but not much information is available since I want to believe that the site are yet to attract  much of professionals from Nigeria providing such information about the industry they work in.

So, kindly spread the word amongst your friends to complete a short survey on salaries in the industry they work in and as such we can have a tool we can all reference for such issues when needed.

Thank you.

I have been looking for a site that can provide current trends in the job market relating to salaries in the major industries in Nigeria and that was how I found this site.

I have found http://www.payscale.com/ for Salaries surveys to be a very useful tool as I have used it for salary negotiations for job offers(not in Nigeria). I have also found the information to be accurate from my research for most countries.

However as you would expect, they don't have much on Nigeria basically because there must be llittle awareness of tools such as this amongst users in Nigeria. The good thing about it is that as some of us do have access to isalary information and such is provided by completing the salary survey (identity of user is kept confidential), answers to many of our questions in this regard will become available using a tool such as this.

So I urge to spread the word amongst your friends working in industries such as the Oil & Gas, Banking, Telecoms etc. to have them complete a survey. The valuable information will be useful to the job seeker and those wishing to return home to take a job.

Thank you.