Uche1994

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Uche1994

Misconceptions About Engineering As A Profession.

~4.5 mins read

Who is an Engineer?

There was this welder on our street, every time Accountant Abeh Terzungwe Samson was passing he would hail him "Engineer!". One day like that, Accountant Terzungwe Abeh and I were going to a barber shop. As usual, he addressed the welder as ENGINEER as we walked pass his workshop. I did not complain still.

When we got to the barber shop, I addressed the girl who was collecting money as ACCOUNTANT. My friend quickly corrected me that the girl is a CASHIER and not an ACCOUNTANT. I said "Orne calm down. I didn't complain you addressed the welder as ENGINEER, so allow me to address this girl as ACCOUNTANT in peace"...

Engineering is arguably the most misunderstood profession in Nigeria. Even those who are well schooled, their education has failed to inoculate them against misunderstanding the engineering profession.

Some years back, I was working on a construction project in Rivers State. We had one Oyibo Engineer from Belgium. We were chatting one day and this man asked me what engineers do in Nigeria. He was hired as an Engineer all the way from Belgium, but when he got here he was not being used as an engineer. So he was confused and needed a me to explain to him the role of an engineer in Nigeria. This is how bad it is.

Nigerians only appreciate the work of people who use tools or operate equipment. They have no regard for brain work. That is why the saying that Nigerian engineers do not know "practical" is very popular in Nigeria.

Somehow Nigerians have acquired the unfortunate belief that anybody who is not seeing operating an equipment, or using one tool (say spanner, trowel, hammer, etc) or the other to perform a task does not know "practical". That is why they say Nigerian engineers only know "theory" without practical.

Come to think of it. I design, say a building, sitting in my office or house. After completing the rigorous design process - during which I even forgot to eat and probably slept late - I produce construction drawings. These drawings serve to instruct the construction process. Yet you say I don't know "practicals" simply because you did not see me wearing an overall dress with boot and a helmet on my head placing concrete, or cutting and bending steel rods, etc.

I use my knowledge of science and maths to generate hydrological data and create a suitable drainage system for Makurdi to halt the incessant flooding of homes. My blue print is used to construct drainage channels and other hydraulic structures to collect, direct and discharge water appropriately. But because you did not see me pouring concrete, you say I do not know "practicals".

I conduct research and find that a locally available material can be used to construct roads at a cheaper cost. My technique is used to construct the road leading to your village. But because you did not see me operating any of the road construction equipment, you say I don't know "practicals".

Dear Nigerians, what is "Practicals"?

But when a doctor sees a patient, prescribes drugs and a nurse administers the drugs on the patient based on the doctor's prescription, nobody accuses the Nigerian doctor of not knowing "practicals" and the nurse is not recognized as doctor. But that is exactly what they do to engineers.

When they are teaching kids about professional careers, they do not show a doctor as someone driving a needle into the butt of a patient. But they show children a picture of a man wearing an overall with a helmet on his head, holding spanners or some other tools and tell them that's an engineer. The kids are asked to repeat so that it will sink. What nonsense!

The job of an engineer in Nigeria is so much taken for granted. But this should be expected in a country where knowledge is not respected and people rely on emotions to speak and take decisions.

I was explaining something to someone who had problem with the outcome of a job I directed. He refused to listen to me saying that he did not study engineering but he as sponsored several construction projects and so he knows something, at least enough to disregard my information that was based on sound scientific principles. I thought he was being stupid but the people around were clapping for him. Yes, because he heads one organization and has access to funds he could dish out to buy drinks for people and also give handouts whenever he came around, the people thought he was making sense and believed him.

But nobody tells a medical doctor to shut up and listen to him because he has acquired some medical knowledge from his regular visits to hospitals.

You have not read a book on a subject but you think you know better than those who have.

But when 'gbege' happens, say building collapse, that is when everybody remembers that a bricklayer is not an engineer.

The other time I did a design for a body. I produced the working drawings and BOQ. They needed the BOQ to source for funds. But when they started the construction, they felt they did not need me, neither did they bother to consult my working drawings. They hired artisans to do the job. As they were about to complete the roof, the building started to collapse. That was when they remembered me. They had concluded among themselves to pull down everything and start a fresh, but decided to hear from us - engineers - first. We came and showed them another way of solving the problem without pulling down anything. I, however, reminded them that the problem would not have occurred if they followed the working drawings I gave them.

That is what engineers do. We create cost-effective solutions to problems. The job of an engineer has nothing to do with brawn, it has everything to with brain. That is why you need to be well verse in science and maths before you can be engineer. Engineering is brain work. If you see someone applying physical strength to do a task using a tool or equipment, such one is either an artisan, an operator or a technician.

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Uche1994

Nigeria's Diminishing Relevance To US By Princeton Lyman

~4.3 mins read

I have a long connection to Nigeria. Not only was I Ambassador there, I have travelled to and from Nigeria for a number of years and have a deep and abiding vital emotional attachment to the Nigerian

people, their magnificence, their courage, artistic brilliance, their irony, sense of humour in the face of challenges etc.

I hope that we keep that in mind when I say some things that I think are counter to what we normally say about Nigeria. I say that with all due respect to Eric Silla, who is doing a magnificent work at State Department (as Special Adviser to the Assistant

Secretary of State for Africa).., because I have a feeling that we both, Nigerians and Americans, may be doing Nigeria and Nigerians no favor by stressing Nigeriaâ€™s strategic importance.

I know all the arguments: it is a major oil producer, it is the most populous country in Africa, it has

made major contributions to Africa in peacekeeping,

and of course, negatively, if Nigeria were to fall apart the ripple effects would be tremendous.

But I wonder if all this emphasis on Nigeriaâ€™s importance creates a tendency to inflate Nigeriaâ€™s opinion of its own invulnerability. Among much of the elite today, I have the feeling that there is a

belief that Nigeria is too big to fail, too important to be ignored, and that Nigerians can go on ignoring some of the most fundamental challenges they have â€“ many of which we have talked about: disgraceful lack of infrastructure, the growing

problems of unemployment, the failure to deal with the underlying problems in the Niger Delta, the failure to consolidate democracy â€“ and somehow will remain important to everybody because of all those reasons that are strategically important. I am

not sure that that is helpful.Let me sort of deconstruct those elements of Nigeriaâ€™s importance,

and ask whether they are as relevant as they have

been. We often hear that one in five Africans is a Nigerian. What does it mean? Do we ever say one

in five Asians is a Chinese? Chinese power comes not just for the fact that it has a lot of people but it has harnessed the entrepreneurial talent and economic capacity and all the other talents of China to make her a major economic force and political force.Yes, Nigeria is a major oil producer, but Brazil

is now launching a 10-year program that is going to

make it one of the major oil producers in the world.

And every other country in Africa is now beginning to produce oil.

Angola is rivalling Nigeria in oil production, and the United States has just discovered a huge gas

reserve which is going to replace some of our dependence on imported energy.And what about its influence, its contributions to the continent? As our representative from the parliament talked about, there is a great history of those contributions. But that is history.Is Nigeria really

playing a major role today in the crisis in Niger on its border, or in Guinea, or in Darfur, or after many,many promises making any contributions to Somalia? The answer is no.Nigeria is today NOT making a major impact, on its

region, or on the African Union or on the big problems of Africa that it was making before. Now, of course, on the negative side, the collapse of Nigeria would be enormous, but is that a point to

make Nigeria strategically important? Years ago, I worked for an Assistant Secretary of

State who had the longest tenure in that job in the 1980s and I remember in one meeting a minister from a country not very friendly to the United States came in and was berating the Assistant Secretary on all the evils of the United States and all its dire plots in Africa and was going on and on, and finally the Assistant Secretary cut him off and said:

â€œYou know, the biggest danger for your relationship with the United States is not our opposition, but that we will find you irrelevant. â€œThe point is that Nigeria

can become much less relevant to the United States. We have already seen evidence of it. When

President Obama went to Ghana and not to Nigeria, he was sending a message, that Ghana symbolised more of the significant trends, issues and

importance that one wants to put on Africa than Nigeria. So the handwriting may already be on the wall, and that is a sad commentary. Because what it means is that Nigeriaâ€™s most important strategic

importance in the end could be that it has failed. And that is a sad, sad conclusion. It does not have

to happen, but I think that we ought to stop talking about what a great country it is, and how terribly important it is to us and talk about what it would take for Nigeria to be that important and great. And that takes an enormous amount of commitment. And you donâ€™t need saints; you donâ€™t need leaders

like Nelson Mandela in every state, because you are not going to get them. I served in South Korea in the middle of the 1960s

and it was time when South Korea was poor and considered hopeless, but it was becoming to turn around, later, to become to every personâ€™s amazement then the eleventh largest economy in

the world. And I remember the economist in my mission saying, it did not bother him that the

leading elites in the government of South Korea were taking 15 â€“ 20 percent off the top of every

project, as long as every project was a good one, and that was the difference. The leadership at the

time was determined to solve the fundamental economic issues of South Korea economy and turn

its economy around. It has not happened in Nigeria today. You donâ€™t need saints. It needs leaders who say â€œYou know we could be becoming irrelevant, and we (have) got to do something about it.â€

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Uche1994

NBC To Sanction Nigerian Info Over Comments On Terrorist

~0.5 mins read

The National Broadcasting Commission has begun moves to penalise a radio station, Nigeria Info, over a recent comment made by a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailaifa. It was gathered that the NBC could term Mailaifaâ€™s statement as hate speech and sanction the station.

Mailaifa was interviewed on a Monday during one of the stationâ€™s programmes, Morning CrossFire. He had talked on the killings in Southern Kaduna, one of the parts of the North-West region worst hit by banditry. The interviewer had asked Mailaifa if the government was unwilling to protect the people of Southern Kaduna, to which he replied that some residents believed the government was sponsoring the killers.

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Uche1994

The Real Story Behind The Benefit Boys

~1.0 mins read

Everyone must have heard about the trending benefit boys, they are seen as students who made

money during lock down amidst Coronavirus Pandemic and as school resumed for the Jss3 and

ss3, they came in a grand style to flaunt their wealth. This is what almost everyone believe but it

is actually not so.

The benefit boys are just a group of comedians known as "blackandwhitecomedy60", they came up with the idea, benefit boys just to shoot a skit, that

is, to make create a comedy but God in his own way lifted them up through this and now they

making their money through this comedy. Initially, they had 1.9k followers on Instagram but after theybbegan to trend, there followers grew and it's currently 13.3k and it is still rising.These newly blessed young stars made it clear about what their aim was and differentiated it from the way people are seeing it. They said,

"Content disclaimer, the views and opinions Express in the media or comments on this post does not reflect the actual idea behind it. We will never post

any illegal content or promote cyber crime as we just came up with the idea to shoot a comedy

(video skit)! All content posted by

blackandwhitecomedy60 is meant for comedy purpose only. Kindly debunk any other false rumours."

What was your thoughts when first heard of benefits boys and what are your thoughts after reading this?

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Uche1994

12 Things You Shouldn't Do For Your Girlfriend

~3.0 mins read

12. Things A Man Should Never Do For A Woman

No Matter How Much You Love Her

1. Steal For Her

Obviously, we all know where this will end you and

by the time you will be back, someone might have

taken your place. Never allow anything to push you

to steal in order to please your woman because if

she later finds out you actually stole a gift for her,

she might drop you, unless of course, you are in it

together like Bonny and Clyde.

2. Pay For Her Education

It is not a bad thing to support her education, if you can help but to take full responsibility for everything to your own detriment can be dangerous. We are all humans and we change from time to time, most men actually think funding a girlâ€™s education means theyâ€™ll be forever indebted to them, ending up getting married to them but weâ€™ve seen several scenarios where the women will end up finding love elsewhere. This has been suicidal to many men.

3. Buy Her A House When You Donâ€™t Have One.

Common sense should tell you, you should build your dreams together but not favor her and think of yours later. Building a house for a woman when you donâ€™t have one yourself can make you is wrong in every way. When she finally jilts you and lives in it with another man. There are many men still biting their fingers over thism.

4. Fight Another Man Because Of Her.

Fighting because of her doesnâ€™t prove anything.Two things are likely to happen, either the person beats you to a pulp and end up in the hospital or you will beat the person and end up in jail, either way, you donâ€™t win. Unless it is for self-defense

5. Reject Your Family Because Of Her.

A family is everything and no matter what, you canâ€™t reject them because your woman doesnâ€™t like them.It will be very dangerous on your part to reject your family all because of a woman.

6. Change Your Appearance.

These days, there are many men doing a lot, taking pills to make changes to their bodies all because they feel thatâ€™s what women love. Changing you to please a woman means the moment you stop trying sheâ€™ll go, ideally, people you be with should love you for who you are.

7. Give Up On Your Dreams To Satisfy Her.

So there are many men out there who gave up on their dreams to help their woman achieve theirs or were discouraged by women. These same women dumped them afterwards. Never do this after reading this.

8. Being Over-Submissive.

It is nice to be sweet to your woman but always

learn to set the records straight and donâ€™t try to

always appear weak to her and succumb to all her

wishes in the interest of pleasing her. Truth is,

women actually hate weak men and will prefer

youâ€™re sweet and sour.

9. Starve Yourself For Her.

Never forfeit your food for her, at least you can

share but to give all to her and go hungry, thatâ€™s not

love, thatâ€™s stupidity.

10. Kill For Her.

Never ever even think about executing such an

atrocity for a woman no matter how convincing the

situation is, because if you end up in jail, another

man will take your position.

11. Die For Her, Literally

So many men have committed suicide because of a

woman. Whatâ€™s the sense in it when youâ€™re finally

dead and gone. Live to fight another day

12. Kneel to ask for her hand in marriage.

Like who the Bleep brought this stupidity and why

will you kneel to beg someone to marry you then

still use your money to sponsor the wedding and

take care of almost all her needs forever??

A king kneels only to God and in respect to his

earthly father.

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Uche1994

Lampard Believes Chelsea Can Knock Out Bayern Munich By Doing This

~0.7 mins read

Chelsea lost 3-0 at Stamford

Bridge in the first leg of there

second round Champions League

clash against Bayern Munich.Ahead of the second leg on Saturday, Chelsea boss Frank

Lampard insists he is optimistic

that Chelsea can overturn their

3-0 deficit to Bayern Munich.He said: â€œI believe we can. We have to, the players have to. Itâ€™s a huge task. We have to understand the situation weâ€™re in.

â€œWill be extremely tough. Games

have turned to big degrees. We

have to believe we have the

opportunity to do something

special. Weâ€™ve got to play with

confidence.

â€œCan it free us up against a really

good team? Thatâ€™s what I expect

to see from the team. We have to

tackle this in the right way.â€

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Uche1994

Paul Merson Says Willian Is A Fantastic And Blind Signing

~1.4 mins read

Willian is reportedly set to joinnArsenal, as he is yet to agree terms with Chelsea over a

contract renewal.Chelsea boss Frank Lampard admits that he wants to keep the Brazilian, but has given up on the dilemma, as Chelsea arenâ€™t willing to give Willian beyond a two-year deal.Meanwhile, Gunners legend Paul Merson, is delighted with his

former sideâ€™s move to sign Willian, and believes it will be a fantastic signing for the club.

â€œWillian would be an unbelievable signing for Arsenal, Merson told the Daily Star .â€œI think Willian is a special player who ticks all the boxes. I canâ€™t believe Chelsea are letting him go to be honest.

â€œI know heâ€™s 31 and wanted a three-year contract but football is all about now, and right now heâ€™s a great player.â€œNo manager is thinking about what might happen in three or

four yearsâ€™ time. They need results now, so itâ€™s no surprise to me Frank Lampard doesnâ€™t want him to go.

â€œArteta wonâ€™t be Arsenal manager forever. He needs to win now. Willian can help him do that.â€œHeâ€™s a special player and a blinding signing in my opinion.

Okay, he probably wonâ€™t be pulling up any trees in his third year, but who cares? He ticks

every box.â€œHe wonâ€™t have to settle in London because heâ€™s been here for years and his family love the place.â€œHe wonâ€™t have to adapt to a new league because heâ€™s already a

proven performer for a top club here.â€œSo he should be able to hit the ground running because he wonâ€™t need loads of time to adapt like a player coming in for big money

from a foreign club.â€œHeâ€™s quick and he works hard and he has plenty of experience.

He also has that guile that Arsenal sometimes lack. He could even play as a No.10.â€

Select a Category

Uche1994

Misconceptions About Engineering As A Profession.

Nigeria's Diminishing Relevance To US By Princeton Lyman

NBC To Sanction Nigerian Info Over Comments On Terrorist

The Real Story Behind The Benefit Boys

12 Things You Shouldn't Do For Your Girlfriend

Lampard Believes Chelsea Can Knock Out Bayern Munich By Doing This

Paul Merson Says Willian Is A Fantastic And Blind Signing

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