Hi
I am a British national and my wife is Nigerian (also British national). We have been married since 1997 and have four kids. We live in UK but also have house and some agriculture land in Nigeria (Sango, Ota). I would like to ask the members if there is a way for me to get the settlement visa in Nigeria. I frequently travel to Nigeria to visit family and also conduct a bit of business there. Is there any way I can get long term visa to Nigeria based on my wife's status as being Nigeria?

I would appreciate if members can guide me on that...

Clay bricks are gone expensive in Pakistan. Now each brick is around 10 naira and cement is gone expensive; nearly $5 for 50 kg bag.

I know it is not relevant to the post but I do live (UK-Pakistan-Nigeria) and have to keep an eye on the cost...

Love the assumptions for energy usage...Fan for 15 hours and lights for 3 hours...If someone is working during the day time, how the hell he/she is going to run the fan for 15 hours and when they come back in the evening, the light will be on for 3 hours...what kind of person is that?

This is something serious - you guys are selling cement at $12 per bag of 50 kg when it is less than $4 in Pakistan, India and whole of south east asia. Someone is making serious money here - I am not sure who

$44 to unlock a dongle - you must be crazy, I can buy two for this price

I am trying to arrange a free eye camp in Nigeria (Ogun state) to screen people and operate them for cataract. I have got a team of doctors who will be flying from Pakistan and we also have all the necessary equipment and medicines for our camp. We intend to come by the end of November or first week of December. I am talking to RCCG if we can use their facilities to set up a temporary camp at their site.
I wonder if you guys here can help me with some information.

How can I find out the number of eye patients in a given area in Ogun state (sango, otta)?
How can I advertise to make people aware of our camp?

Any advice given will be highly appreciated.

Ogun will be the largest industrial zone in the world with 10,000 industries - God bless the governor who is going to achieve this in 4 years - no other country in the world has achieved this in this short span of time. let us see in 2015

try coming down to sango (where the main industries are) from Lagos any time (morning, afternoon, evening) and you will have the shock of your life, a 25 kilometer journey will not take less than 2 hours - that is if you are lucky
can someone point out to the transportation department to fix the lagos-abekouta express way that has been dug by gold diggers as there are 2-3 feet pots around that express way

The current industries in Ogun (sango otta) are ripping Nigerians, e.g. there is a plastic manufacturer in our area called "GP", they make plastic water tanks, rubbish bins etc. It is an Indian company that sells their products 30% cheaper in Indian than in Nigeria. During my last visit to Nigeria (last month), I visited Republic of Benin where the electricity is on 24/7 and I was shocked to find out that they buy electricity from Nigeria (through Abekouta grid).
When the government invites all those industries, they must keep an eye on their activities, it seems like most of the industries setup by foreign entities have no competition and they charge what ever they feel like (forget the issue of electricity or bad roads).

Some people are talking about that the clay bricks are suitable for hot countries like India, Pakistan etc. I believe this person has no idea what he is talking about. Clay bricks have been used and still are being used in whole Europe for construction. Known history of clay bricks dates back to 7000 B.C (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick). The average cost of clay brick in Pakistan/India is around Rs 4-5 (that is around 10 Naira per brick). That is one of the economical way of building a house or any other facility.

what is the price of mobile broadband dongle in Nigeria?

Anyone have idea how much a used computer processor like Intel celeron 2.5 GhZ will cost?

ZA

I was wondering how much can you buy used computer processors (e.g. Intel CPU 2.5, or 2.7 Ghz) in Lagos.

I have been asked by a friend of mine in UK to explore the opportunity of opening up a college in Abuja that will be offering UK under graduate/post graduate courses. He is already running a college in London for the past 6 years.
Any thought on this idea? Is it feasible in Nigeria (especially in Abuja)?

Daniel will be going next year but someone else from PDP will come as I have seen big posters for a new candiate for the governer in Ogun. When Daniel became governer, he promised to build hospitals, roads, education etc but nothing can be seen there. There is a consturction of bridge on Sango Otta express way that seem to complete last year. And even after one year, it is still incomplete.

I visited Ogun last week and stayed in Sango, Otta. Near our home, there is a lot of new industry setup by chinese and indians. The roads (apart from the express way) where these industries are situated are in a mess. When it rains, they look like river. Ogun state government and these industries don't care a bit about the situation. If you need to drive on these roads, take few people with you when your car get stuck in the mud holes, they will push you out. This bad conditions of these roads are caused by the big lorries used by these industries and yet no body seems to care about it.

This forum discusses the poor infrastructure (electricity, water, roads) in Ogun state and people are invited to put forward their opinion on how to improve them.

I found a good running call centre based in Lagos. They have been in the market for nearly 4 years.

www.fbaglobal.com

@Londoner

I agree with you. At present, we are trying to get a reliable broadband service provider in Nigeria. There seem to be quite a lot of companies offering broadband but the speed they offer is not really a broadband speed (e.g. International standard for adsl broadband is around 400kbs and in US, it has to be over 700kbs). But I am sure we will overcome this soon.

@DIY

I thought about it setting in Abuja during my last visit. But the problem is that my family live in Ogun and Lagos is the nearest place where they can go. But I am off to Nigeria next month and have couple of friends in Abuja with whom I have meeting to see if I can get some partner who can manage the call centre.

How much the work force cost in Abuja? We need people (male/female) with neutral accent. I found out that I can recruit good communicators in Lagos for around 40-50000 Naira per month. Plust they will earn commission on their sales; that is between 10-20000 Naira per month. How does it sound?

maddock

No games - no big talk - pure business

I am not on this forum unlike many others so called enterpreneurs who will ask to send me the email and I will sell you my business plan.

My business plan is open to anyone wishing to setup a call centre. In my previous post, I even put down the link to download feasibility reports etc to help those who are serious about doing a long term business. It is a specialised business and take a lot of efforts and energy to make it run.
But the rewards are huge. You need no scientists or engineers to make it happen. You need people who can communicate effectively, a bit of persuasion power and a commitment to make it happen.

There is more to come in Nigeria

I was just speaking to a friend of mine in Pakistan and they are trying to bring masey ferguson tractors to Pakistan. These tractors are assembled in Pakistan are priced around 1-1.5 million Naira. When my friend researched last month in Nigerian, the tractor companies in Nigeria like John Deere, Caterpillar, Zetor, there prices are 2-4 times what you can get in Pakistan. In Pakistan, government forces the tractor manufacturers to keep the prices lower or go somewhere else where people can afford to buy expensive agriculture tractors. And guess what, all the manufacturers are selling at lower prices in Pakistan.

thank you ola for agreeing with me.

Please read the following report that has been compiled by Frost & Sullivan about the contact centre industry in Nigeria

http://blog.taragana.com/pr/contact-centre-services-to-take-off-in-nigeria-by-2015-finds-frost-sullivan-9246/

The industry is going to be a huge success in Nigiera in the coming years.

I was a patner with a call centre company called Shine utilities Ltd that went into liguidation last year. At the peak time, the company has 35 employees in London selling electricity/gas with turn over around £1.9 million and net profit were nearly 20%.

I have been in this busines for the last 8 years and know it first hand like a mother knows her child

general knowledge about Nigeria-Pakistan relationship

A lot of senior Nigerian defense staff is being trained in Pakistan
There are over 400 Nigerian students in my city in Lahore studying engineering and medince at (univeristy of engineering and technology) and at King Edward Medical college.

Last year Pakistn exported goos to Nigeria worth $23 million dollar and Nigeria exported goods to Pakistan around $10 million dollar.

Two years ago, Pakistan even offered to help setup a civil nuclear power plant to overcome the electricity crisis but it was shelved under US pressure,

To all those who requeste more information about the outbound call centre, I can send you a business feasibility study done by SMEDA (small and medium enterprise development authority) Pakistan. It covers all aspects of this business from inception to the financial forecasting.

cheers

by the way it free, you can also download it along with hundred other business feasibility reports from www.smeda.org

have a good day

WOW, I have received nearly 20 emails since yesterday asking more information about the call centre. First of all, some people mentioned about customers trust on people calling from Nigeria etc etc etc. There is a little perception about the Nigerian fraud (419) or what ever you want to call it. But being Nigerian, you feel it more becuase you know more about it. Scammers are all over the world, and if people stop doing business in any country because of the reputation, then SHELL , EXXON, Microsoft etc will not be in Nigeria.
Also some mentioned that customers will not be comfortable talking to a person in Nigeria. But how would they know that the person they are talking is in Nigiera and not in UK. Because when the sales agent calls, he/she introduces himself/herself calling from ALLIANCE MAREKTING LTD, there is no mentioning of UK, Pakistan, India or Nigeria whatso ever.
On another note, what about the banks in Nigeria? Do they employee Nigerians or all their staff come from different palent? How many banks have been scammed by Nigerians working in their banks. If you want comparison, there are more scams by employees in Indian and in Pakistan than in Nigieria.

Nigeria is a very big player in Africa people should be proud of it. I can't say any more.
I must thank all of you who advised me on various aspects of the business.
I also got emails from people who told me that they have powerful connection in Nigeria.

I know couple of governors in Nigeria, chairman PDP lagos, Economic advisor of Musa yaradua and couple of other high ranking politician. I dont need them to help me setup a small call centre as there is no oil or gas there

Any recommendation for business broadband in Lagos. I am looking for business broadband that will cater for 10-15 people who will be using VOIP to make calls to UK. I got quote from starcomms, it upset my stomach

prince

Thanks for your honest opinion. I will give my best shot and see how it goes.

Just got the price information for a dedicated broadband from starcomms.

setup fees: $7000

Monthly fees : $5000 per month for a 4MBps connection

How can businesses in Nigeria pay such high prices? unbelieveable

prince

you took the words from my mouth. When I visited Nigeria, I could find thousand people who can speak english in a neutral accent compared to any agent in India. This is one of the reason going to Nigeria, although I didn't want to mention it earlier, but you are 100% right

thanks Caporegime, I will be in touch with you next month, when I am in Nigeria. You can contact me next month on 07065167219. That is my brother in law, Joshua

I will wait for that, thanks