I0 Important factors noticed in the community where I serve

Hi everyone. As you guys know, I am currently obeying the clarion call by doing my National youth service in Nigeria and I am serving in a secondary school in Iguobazuwa, Edo state, Nigeria. In this article I will be listing out some few things I noticed about the community and it's people based on the area that I stay in which is Iguobazuwa.

1 Everyone knows each other
In the conmunity that I am staying, everyone literally knows each other. Just show them a picture of the person and they can tell you his life history including when the person moved to the town, the profession of the father and mother, the name of his/her siblings and what they do.  That is for indigene s .

2 Everyone looks up to the weekend
I know some people might not agree on this one but this is something that I have noticed here. You will certainly hear music blasting out from a speaker almost every weekend and also people dressed nicely going to a ceremony.  It could either be   naming ceremony, burial, remembrance, someone powerful died or a baby was born. Whatever occasion it is, Music blasting out from speakers is something that reminds you that is weekend already.

3 Rain is a precious commodity that you get once in every blue moon.
I have stayed in Iguobazuwa for close to four months now and in my stay there, I can literally count the number of times rain fell. Although we not in raining season, but the number of times rain falls is pretty low compared to states in the same geographical location.

4 Everyone seems to have a sibling, friend or even parents abroad.
Nigeria is suffering from brain drain and it is all over the country but I think the brain drain in this part of the country is high. The amount of people abroad from this part of the country is very high and everyone seems to know someone that had left the shores of the country in exchange of a better life abroad which is certainly not guaranteed.

5 Almost all youth both male and female have mastered or still learning a handwork.
In my stay in this community, I have seen young boys and girls striving hard to make ends meet. Most of them are students but after schooling, they also go to their various shops where they are learning a handwork. Majority of the handwork s been learned are tailoring, hair dressing, catering, barbing. Majority of this kids would end up being entrepreneurs in the future and this would help them to contribute postively to their society and the country as a whole. In Nigeria , Edo people are known for their tailoring and hair dressing skills.

6 The market women don't like it when you bargain with them on their goods.
One important thing I ve noticed about the market is that the market women just hate it when you bargain with them on their goods. They expect you to just pay whatever they tell you and find it very offensive when you try to bargain with them. I am speaking based on my personal experience. This happens with majority of the women in the market place but not all of them. They are still some that are quite alright when you bargain.

7 Infrastructural maintenance is a no go area.
In the community where I stay, there is a school that was funded and built by the European Union, Federal Government and the local government. The standard of the building is very high compared to some government secondary schools that I know of but the problem is maintenance. The buildings are not been maintained properly and this has caused the buildings to detoriate immensely.

8 Electricity is top notch
In my stay here so far, I have been quite impressed with the electricity supply. One advantage of this place is the constant supply of electricity which is something I thought might be difficult but the power holding company keeps on proving me wrong. The only downside of this is when the electricity equipment becomes faulty. It might take some time before it becomes fully stable again.

9 Getting water can be quiet stressful
As a corper serving in this community, I become very tired whenever I have to get water and it is not because of laziness because I am not lazy. The problem is the stress involved before you get water. Firstly, one has to look for a truck and after searching and getting one, you have to push the truck to the borehole, get the water and then push the truck back to your house. The process involved is the reason why getting water can be stressful.

10 Corpers are not respected.
This final factor is one that makes me sad. As a corper, I expect  the community that I serve in to fully accord me with my due respect and this is far from true in this community. There are still some that respect corpers but not even up to majority.  Many people see corpers as cash cows and would jump at every opportunity they get to milk the corpers.

This are some of the factors that I have noticed in the community where I serve. Thanks for taking your time to read this. Pls comment and share to support me. Many thanks.

Different codes used to transfer money in Nigerian banks

*Bank transfers.*
*Knowledge is Power*.....And I thought someone might need this.  You can thank me later

How to transfer money and recharge  phone from your bank account. (All banks)

1. Access Bank:
----*901*amount#

2. EcoBank:
----*326*amount#

3. Fidelity Bank:
----*770*amount#

4. FCMB:
----*389*214*amount#

5. First Bank
----*894*amount#

6. GTB:
----*737*amount#

7. Heritage Bank:
----*322*030*amount#

8. Keystone Bank:
----*322*082*amount#

9. Sky Bank:
----*389*076*1*amount#

10. Stanbic IBTC:
----*909*amount#

11. Sterling Bank:
----*822*amount#

12. UBA:
----*389*033*1*amount#

13. Unity Bank:
----*322*215*amount#

14. Zenith Bank:
----*966*amount# or
----*302*amount# (for MTN users)

15. Diamond Bank (Yellow Acct. only):
----*710*555*phone no*amount*pin#

To know your BVN, dial
----*565*0#.

Good morning 😀

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ICCID, IMSI AND IMEI

            Majority of the world population use and own a mobile phone. If one should compare the amount of people using mobile phone now and those using it like ten years ago,  You will realize that the number of mobile phone users have increased greatly and it is likely to increase more.
         About 60% of the world population use and own a mobile phone in the year 2014 and there is a forecast that the number of mobile phone users will reach 67% by the year 2019 which is about five billion individuals in numbers.
         Most mobile phones make use of a  little card which is inserted into it called a sim card. Sim stands for subscriber identity module and it consists of processor and storage. It is a very useful and important card that is used in Gsm networks.  
         Sim cards digitally contains ICCID, IMSI which this article will be discussing about shortly. There are four sizes of sim cards and they are
 Plug in
 Micro sim
 Nano sim
 M2m sim( machine to machine form factor 2).
The types of Gsm sim cards are
 2G sim cards which is just a sim
 3G sim cards which is a usim
 The multi application card which is used in most smartphones and has the sim and usim capabilities.

                     ICCID
ICCID stands for integrated circuit card identifier. It consists of 19 to 20 digits and it is always stored digitally on the card. It cannot be changed on a normal sim. ICCID can be used to determine the country which a sim card belongs and also the issuing service provider.

            STRUCTURE FOR ICCID
ICCID is grouped like this
 First two digits is known as industry Identifier
 Second two is the issuing country code
 Third two is the network identifier
 And the remaining numbers has no labels
An example of this can be found below
22       23         24          01234567890123

                         IMSI
IMSI Stands for international mobile subscriber identity. As the name implies, it is used to  know the identity of the subscriber. It consists of 15 digits and it is digitally stored on the sim card and cannot be changed on a normal sim.

               STRUCTURE FOR IMSI
IMSI is grouped like this
 First three digits is known as mobile country code
 Second two is known as mobile network code
 The remaining ten digits has no labels
An example of this can be found below
            234     80         1234567790

                        IMEI
IMEI stands for international mobile equipment identifier. The make and model of a phone can be derived from this number. In order to get the IMEI from a phone menu, all you have to do is dial (*#06#) and the number will be shown on the screen. This number is 15 digits in length and stored digitally on the handset.

              STRUCTURE FOR IMEI
IMEI is grouped like this
 First nine digits is known as the type allocation unit
 Second seven digits is known as the serial number
 The last digit is known as the check digit.
An example of this can be found below
012345678           0123456               4







Please read, share and comment

Five facts about Cryptocurrencies

So you must have heard about Bitcoins and although you know what it does, you don't actually know how it works. I am going to write another article on how bitcoins work but In this article, I will be listing out five facts you need to know about Cryptocurrencies .  Let's start

1 There are loads of them
Just because you have heard of only bitcoins does not mean it is the only cryptocurrency. There are other cryptocurrencies. Some of them are
Limecoin, peercoin, Name coin to mention but a few

2 It can be exchanged for Fiat money
Fiat money simply means real currencies like dollars, pounds. Cryptocurrencies can be exchanged for Fiat money. There are many shops all over the world where you can go and find a machine that can be used to withdraw bitcoins in fiat money. There are also different websites that can be used to exchange cryptocurrencies for real money. Just use a search engine and you will see everything you need.

3 Who created Bitcoins??
Bitcoins was created in 2008 by someone or something called Satoshi Nakamoto. Till date, no one knows who Nakamoto is and the anonimity of bitcoins is one of its valued property.

4 It can be used to buy real stuff
There are loads of websites that accept cryptocurrencies like bitcoins for purchases. Most of them are businesses with strong ties to the Web.  There are coffee shops that you can  walk in to and pay for your coffee with bitcoins.

5 It is very unstable
Cryptocurrencies tend to be very unstable. They fluctuate always. They can either gain or lose value in a matter of minutes. So for those looking to invest in it, although it might be gaining value as of the time you are seeing it, it does not mean it will actually keep on increasing in value.

Personally, I think cryptocurrencies are one of the developing technologies that will change the face of the world in this present generation and everyone should start looking into them if you have not started already.

Thanks for reading, pls share and comment.

NYSC: SCRAP OR REMAIN

NYSC is an abbreviation for National youth service corps. It is a compulsory one year service for Nigerian graduates whether home or Foreign trained. Graduates are  mobilized into different sectors of the economy where they work for one year that is what it means. Some of the sectors they work in are Education, Agriculture, Public offices to mention but a few. The aim of this is to inculcate the spirit of selfless service to the community and to emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians irrespective of cultural or social background.

          BRIEF HISTORY OF NYSC
     "Nigeria gained her independence from the British in the year 1960 as a federation that consist of three regions. The North, West and East under a constitution that provides a parliamentary form of governmment whereby the queen of England was the head of state.
    Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was appointed the Governor General and was only representing the Queen of England while Alhaji Tarawa Balewa was the prime minister. He was the one with all the powers because Nigeria was structured under the same structure as the British parliamentary system.
    In the year 1963, Nigeria became a republic and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe became the first president of the country while Alhaji Tafawa continued as the prime minister. The first Republic was filled with corruption, ethnic politics and sentimentality and nepotism. As a result of this, a small group of army officers in the year 1966, six years after independence, mostly south eastern igbos led by Major Kaduna Chukwuka Nzeogwu overthrew the government in a coup and assassinated the federal prime minister and premiers of the northern and western regions.
    The federal government that assumed power after this under Major General aguiyi Ironsi was not able to quiten the ethnic tensions or produce a constitution that was generally accepted. Matters got worst when Ironsi abolished Nigeria s Federalism and established a unitary form of Government.  As a result of the existing tension and fears, there was a counter coup masterminded by the Northern officers. The coup removed aguiyi from office and formed a new government under the leadership of Major General Yakubu Gowon.  The frequent killings of the Igbo s in the north made thousands of the igbos to flee from the north and return back to their homeland, the south east.  It was so bad that the military governor of the Eastern region late Col. Ojukwu described the counter coup as brutal and planned annihilation of officers of the eastern region. Due to the fact that the head of state Gowon could not stop the attack against the eastern side, Col Ojukwu declared the eastern region an independent state by the name the Republic of Biafra on May 30th. The government saw Ojukwu s declaration as a rebellious act against Nigeria and this led to the civil war which started in 1967 and ended in 1970.
     In an attempt to rebuild the country, Gowon created something called 3R' s which means reconstruction, rehabilation, reconciliation. It was during this that Gowon in the year 1973 created the national youth service scheme which is aimed at encouraging and developing common ties among the youths and promote national unity"(nysc Nigeria, 2016).

         PROS AND CONS OF NYSC
I am going to be listing out some pros and cons of this scheme based on my own personal experience since I am currently doing my youth service
                           PROS
1 it gives that sense of belonging
This is a big yes, once I put on that uniform, I feel like a first class citizen.
The respect you get once you have that uniform is totally satisfying if I should say.
2  it promotes national unity
I totally agree with this one because with the help of this scheme, I have made new friends from different tribes of Nigeria and also known many things that I would not have known without this scheme. It has helped me to a get a better and deeper understanding of other s culture and also respect it.
3 it prepares you for the future
This scheme gives you a sense of responsibility because you have to leave your comfort zone and also leave your state and go to a state that you don't know anything about and stay there for a year working. This is certainly going to help in the future when you finally Kickstart your professional life. By doing this now, you will get used to it and it might not be that difficult in the future when you finally switch.
4 innovative ideas and entrepreneurs
As a entrepreneur, you can meet people with the same mindset as you in nysc and as a result of meeting them, a business might be formed.  Nysc also has an entrepreneurship development programme and also have loans available for those that wish to start up a business.
5  Skills acquisition
Nysc has a programme called SAED which stands for skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development. In present day Nigeria, the chances of a white collar job is slim and that's why nysc came up with this scheme which can help people learn and develop new skills that would be useful to them for the rest of their life. Skills like bead making, tailoring, hair dressing,  farming (fish, animal) to mention  but a few.
6 life partner
As funny as it sounds, I have actually heard stories of people that found their life partner during nysc so for those that are looking for one, you never know who you might just meet.
7 Travelling and mini touring of Nigeria
This is for those like love travelling like me. Thanks to nysc, I have done a little touring of Nigeria. I ve been to Abuja, kano, Kaduna, kogi and Edo where I currently serve and all this would not have been possible without nysc.
8 Free accomodation
                    CONS
Some disadvantages of this scheme are
1 Stress
The stress involved with this scheme is too much. From arriving to the orientation camp two to three days after you have seen the state you have been deployed to and to getting your corpers uniform and settling down and also going to your ppa and getting an accomodation. Everything is quite stressful and you must be very patient in nysc.
2 payment of allawee
Allawee as it is fondly called is a monthly stipend given to Corp members by the Federal government every month. The amount paid to Corp members is barely enough to survive on and also some states always delay their payments to Corp members. I remembered the first Allawee I received in camp, everyone was just refreshing their Internet banking to see who will get the money first and as soon as someone got his, everyone started saying congratulations to the person and some people went as far as screaming and jumping when they saw theirs.
There are many more advantages and disadvantages of NYSC which was not mentioned but I am going to leave it for others that have experienced nysc to contribute.
I am not saying that the scheme does not have many challenges but the pros outweighs the cons. So personally saying, it should not be scrapped.
Thanks for taking time out to read this and do remember to subscribe to my blog and leave your comments.

EXPLOITATION

December 18th 2016, I was travelling from Ilorin to Lagos in a bus, and what happened inspired this write up.

A young woman at the second row was telling a gala hawker that if he didn’t bring her balance of #50 that she will make away with his gala, the hawker ran quickly to give her the balance whilst the bus was in motion, as soon she got her balance she threw his money into the road and she said all these people are thieves that if you aren’t careful they will run away with your balance. As expected, most of the people in the bus joined the conversation and it made me think.

Wasn’t it the same girl that bought a pack of fresh yoghurt and two pieces of fried turkey for 600 and 1000 naira respectively and she couldn’t give a street hawker 50 naira. 

This made me ponder on the scripture Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

This begs the question how do these hawkers survive? With the recession and inflation going on in the economy how do they cope?

Most times when we walk into big malls, boutiques, supermarkets, we never question their prices. We pay exactly what we see on the price tags and even hand out tips to the staff.

But the moment we are out of these shops and want to buy banana, our bargaining game gets off to the roof.

A poor widow with 12 hungry children at home tells you banana is N100. She even takes out her time to explain how difficult it was for her to even buy it, how the economy is so tough. But we insist that if it's not N50, we are not paying. 

Some of us even step back into our cars and make to drive away. But because 'half bread is better than none', this woman is forced to call you back and sell to you at little or no gain.

In her heart, she cries, she's worried about how she'll survive with her children. She silently reassures herself that 'It's well. God will definitely provide.'' 

While you happily chop the sweet banana. Take some seconds out and think about this. 

I'm always moved to tears when I see people who genuinely and helplessly hawk petty goods to feed and survive for that day, especially women and children. 

Please don't bargain hard with small vendors like this. They do business not to buy designer bags, trendy phones and watches, Gucci shoes and designer clothes but to LIVE and EAT for that day and the children share the remaining money to take to school the next day (that's if there's any left).

"He who gives to the poor lends to his maker"

SHARE this message and let the CHANGE start from you.

This touched me after reading and it inspired me to share my experience. Remember what matters when it comes to giving and charity is not the size of what you give but the heart of who is giving.

Be a blessing to someone today!

From Chibuzor Azodo

Nigeria s problem: Nigerians the solution

The US, Great Britain and France all had Revolutions. One common goal was achieved:Change in the socio-economic order where there's a level playing field for the vast majority of the populace. 

Nigeria before and after independence is still under the ruling hegemony characterised by Corruption, Tribalism, Nepotism etc. 

Until this ruling class is dismantled, no policy will work in Nigeria. 

Efforts by the CBN to inject funds in the economy will not work because the few haves will corner the funds and have-nots like us in the majority will suffer. If CBN decides to mop up funds in circulation, these Mafia(who still have very huge stock of stolen loot) can always draw from their incredibly huge savings. 

We need to dismantle these wicked ruling class, change our orientation and erect good and functional Institutions for us to move forward. 

Privatisation, Commercialisation,Deregulation(of petroleum downstream sector) all have positive long run effect and are inevitable. The problem is that the country is not yet ready for it and we've not been able to put our house in order. 

Resource control is also of importance. That is why the call for a Confederal state is inevitable. This advocates strong units and weak centre. There's no reason why Abuja should be better than Rivers State, Bayelsa and other oil producing states. 

From the aforementioned, I believe that dismantling of the ruling cabal, Confederal state and the erection of functional and highly effective Institutions, will move our great nation forward.

Please share your thoughts on this issue.

Together we can create the Nigeria that our generation will enjoy.

Written by Chibuzor Azodo

My view on Dating

In dating, those who fail to plan before starting a relationship, actually planned to fail.

Man as a social animal craves for an interaction between its environment which consist of living and non-living organisms, it is in our biology. No wonder most spiritual books on the creation of man posit that man was made and a woman was given unto him because it is not good for man to be ALONE. {Genesis 2 vs. 18,24 : Cow 34,35}

We need relationship for almost everything we do, from economic activities to political activities or communication, we are always interdependent on each other. There are various kinds of relationship which we keep and there are different reasons we keep them, but my write up will focus on dating.

Due to advancement in technology, we live in an age where little kids of 6 to 16 years are engaged in the act of dating (same sex dating or opposite sex dating) and it is so rampant that we just enter a relationship without thinking it through. 

We refuse to ask ourselves some important questions like, by going through this dating process what do I want to achieve? What are my short/long terms goals of this relationship? Am I ready to date? Why date now? How compatible is the partner I chose for me and I for the partner? 

A sincere answer to this questions shows that we date for these reasons

Financial support: This category covers a good deal of our teenagers and adults ranging from ages 13 to 35, they are not necessary poor, they engage in such relationship with a motive to increase or maintain their wealth. They forget money can buy you luxurious items but not genuine emotions or feelings such as happiness and love.

Peer pressure: This category are mostly children, teenagers and few adults ranging from 6 to 35, they engage in dating because their peers are dating and they want a sense of belonging and forget that as unique as we are so is our path, speed, level of maturity and emotional strength. And making your decisions based on the decision your friend made is one of the things that leads to unhappiness, discontent, depression, worry and regrets because the choice truly wasn’t yours in the first place.

Self-growth and development: This category of people date to improve their lifestyle, be it education, career, personality or religion. This relationship is based either to improve one’s IQ, EQ or SQ (spiritual quotient). If one-sided it could lead to devaluation of the receiving party, hence emotional trauma. 

Emotional support: Breakups can be traumatizing, leaving a strong emotional scar and to heal sometimes we rush into another relationship. This could be a burden on the couples as when the hurting party finally recovers there is no motivation to keep the relationship moving because no one needs a cry bag when they feel happy.

Pity/sympathy: This category of people date because the other partner feels a strong affection towards them. Because they don’t want to hurt their feelings immediately by rejection, they end up wrecking themselves and causing more hurt to the other partner than avoided.

Affection and company (love, crush, infatuation and lust): Strong affections such as love, a longing desire to stay in the company of another (friend or brother zone), infatuation, lust and crush has been the major reason we all date. The sense of adventure, feeling of wanting to be loved or to love, sexual gratification and the warmth of the company of the other party we enjoy, goes to show a long way that man always yearn to connect with one another no matter how introverted they are. This explains the boom of the social network industry.

For marital purpose: Marriage is the union of two people legally accepted by the society as one, a couple sharing the same vision and goals till the contract is terminated. We are born in a society that tells us that once a child is born, the child should be educated to get a good work, get married, give birth to children and teach their children to repeat the same cycle with exceptions to priests, eunuchs and monks. It is essential that we must marry and it is a given mandate by God (Genesis 2 vs. 24). But the issue is that a lot of people rush into marriage and at the blink of an eye they rush out of it. This is due to poor planning and misguided priorities.

Whatever the reasons you wish to enter a relationship or date someone 

• You should tell yourself the truth
• Be aware of who you are and be able to tell what you want
• Ensure it is with someone who treats you the way you deserve and reciprocate the same treatment
• Someone who shares similar interest, passion and vision with you
• Someone that will improve your life as you improve theirs
• Someone who listens to you as you listen too, that is Someone you can communicate with
• Someone who is worthy of your trust, honest and protects your interests outside as you trust and protect their interests too.
• Finally, someone who shares the same faith and belief with you.

Once you see that special someone, picture yourself with your prospective partner in the next 5 to 7 years, evaluate, be truthful and ask yourself one question, will the relationship lead to something fruitful or will it be a waste of limited time, filled with regrets?

When you answer that question truthfully, plan and enter the new relationship. You’d be glad how wonderful, fulfilling and long lasting dating can be. 

Hope you enjoyed reading the article? Kindly share your thoughts and opinions below on how to have a successful dating experience.

Written by my Friend and Brother Chibuzor Azodo. Connect with him on LinkedIn using his name above.