Nairalanders plse I have two questions: can someone plse explain to me the reason for using sulphuric acid in liquid soap or indeed bar soap. What is the difference between sulphuric acid and sulphonic acid? Sorry for being a novice about chemicals but plse enlighten me.

Secondly, how does saponification occur in an uncooked liquid soap with caustic soda and soda ash. I know that saponification occur during the curring period in cold process usually 6 weeks and more. Otherwise the caustic effect of lye is cooked off in hot process which is usually between 1 - 3 or even 4 hours depending on the size of the batch. I suppose my question is: what's the chemistry behind uncooked liquid soap or even bar soap. Thirdly, how safe is such uncooked soap. I rely on you great Nairalanders for enlightenment in this and feel proud to be in this forum.

Thanks for the advice, appreciated.

Dear Fellow Nairalanders,

I just want to share this my unfortunate business experience with you and to alert everyone about a company called Global Traders (Birmingham) Ltd - Second Hand Clothes (Bales) and Shoes Dealers. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. I lost more than £5115 when I ordered a grade A Africa summer clothing and shoes from this company which I exported to Nigeria Dec. 2014.

Their website is very impressive, "clothes and shoes carefully hand-sorted and all damaged items removed". Please do not believe what you read on their website. They will fill your bales and sacks of shoes with items so bad that nobody would want to buy them from you.

After seeing their website I phoned the company and Tony, (who later told me that he is an Agent and has his own company called International Tech) directed me to Global Traders’ warehouse. I met Hamza Aslam (Whom I later discovered is trading under the name of Rio Clothing). He showed me beautiful clothes and shoes around the warehouse. He assured me they never send winter item to Africa. He held some clothes, "take pictures and show to your customers, they will like them", he said. I proudly did and widely publicised it to customers in Nigeria, paid £500 deposit for a 20 assorted bales and 20 assorted sacks of shoes.

But then as careful as I thought I was, I requested to see the contents of my order before they sealed them. Reply was, "Oh it’s been sealed and can’t be opened, and opening them would take a lot of labour and cost – don’t worry everything is ok, we have lots of customers from Nigeria that come and buy from us", they said. I then thought it must be ok. I must be worrying for nothing. I tried to reduce my order anyway, but they said I had to take half of the order else I lose my deposit. To make my discomfort greater, invoice came on a different name “Rio Clothing” with a different street name. Puzzling question dawned on me: who the hell are the "Global Traders" that I thought I was doing business with.

I searched the internet, could not find Rio Clothing. Called the agent, "don’t worry", he said, Rio Clothing organises the goods, everything is fine trust me". I later found out that there are multiple other individuals in the same Global Traders trading in their different company names.

To cut a long story short. I had already committed my money, so I shipped these goods to Nigeria – already widely publicised as a grade A, hand sorted clothes and shoes where all dirty and damaged items have been removed. Everybody gathered in the market square awaiting opening of the first bale. Bale opened - see the attached pictures for what the customers saw - dirty, rotten, torn rags and shoes that are unsalable. Crowd gradually disappeared.

Some customers still enthusiastically eager to buy but after scouring the heap of tick winter materials – coats, jumpers, socks, tights, dirty wedding gown and all the things that should not be in the Africa Summer clothes’ bales, customers would find nothing to buy and they leave. Customers that bought some bales returned them saying they are afraid to open another bale and I had to refund their money for my own reputation. Months down the line the bales and shoes are still looking me in the face and I know that I will eventually have to throw them away.

No one is pricing these items now because they are unsalable. Trying to contact both the agent and the warehouse dealer became difficult and when they do answer, they would pass the buck on each other. Please, do not be another victim to these scammers. Only buy products from Global Traders (Birmingham) Ltd. if you want to lose your hard earned cash.

Is anyone as confused as I am about the exchange rate when withdrawing money from the UK ATM using Naira Master card? I just found out that I've withdrawn at the exchange rate of N294 - £1.

How can I check exchange rate before withdrawal considering the volatility of the market. Is there any website or anywhere to check the rate, at least to make informed decision.

How does it work. Is the rate you're charged determined by your bank or the UK bank you withdraw the money from?

I checked online and the exchange rate varies from N280 - N286. Can one shop around for exchange rate as I'm used to shopping around in anything I do.

I'll appreciate anyone enlightening me on this please or advise on more cost effective way of remitting naira to the UK.