Lagos Traffic Law regime is designed to protect law abiding road users. It is also designed to ensure that those who flout any of its stipulations are made to face the consequences of their action so that they can be reformed and join the law abiding group. Traffic offences are called strict liability offences: you do the offence, you pay the consequence. However, the traffic management regime is not designed to empower officials of any agency of the State to molest, intimidate, extort or make a law breaker out of any Lagos resident/stakeholder through the demanding and giving of bribes so as to avoid unsavoury situations.
The minimum financial penalty under the Lagos State traffic law (aside from towing expenses) is N20,000 (Twenty Thousand Naira) only – a sum which is higher than the monthly National Minimum Wage. It is therefore in the best interest of a road users to know what constitutes an offence so as to avoid its draconian consequences including the possibility of facing criminal prosecutions, being sent to the State approved driving school and other penalties
I said that to someone’s father! I had uttered those words before realizing I’d gotten too far. I don’t even cuss in real life! That’s not been me in over 10 years. But I had crossed the line — I had gone public with road rage! But I may have crossed the line because this man, whom I exchanged words with just hit my side mirror. Do you know how many months I saved to buy this car? And now an idiot just broke my side mirror.
I got home that Thursday thinking about the events of the evening; in particular, the words that spilled out of my mouth and my behavior in public. It wasn’t till then I realized things could have been handled better. And I actually messed up, irrespective of who was right and who was wrong. This experience or similar is what you face as an average Lagosian who drives frequently in traffic prone areas.
I, like millions of working-class Lagosians spend an average of 3 hours, 30 minutes in traffic daily. That’s enough to shorten your lifespan(no jokes). Meanwhile, for some people, living closer to work does not count as a solution ‘because cost of housing’.
Typical Lagos traffic
With time, I have learned so much about how to make full use of those seemingly wasteful and stressful periods in traffic. I have also learned how to stay calm in the midst of it all. My learnings are both channeled at both drivers and passengers in traffic.
Practice Gratitude
Shift your mindset. One way you can do that is by practicing gratitude! James Altucher, in an article I once read mentioned how to change your mindset in seemingly unfavorable situations. He mentioned changing your thinking in traffic to something like this and I modify the quote, “Lagos State is so full of opportunities that so many people move to Lagos to seek these opportunities. I am fortunate to be one of these people”.
Practice Empathy
Let’s face it, the Lagos life is really hard. Really hard. But do you know that the next guy is trying to hustle, just like you’re trying to hustle. Maybe in varying degrees, maybe in varying fields. Cost of housing is high. Many people don’t sleep past 4 hours a night. Many Lagosians are unhappy people. That guy driving crazy just had a quarrel with his wife, the other one just realized he’s broke, he lives super far away from where he’s going, or he’s mentally ill without even knowing.
So, sometimes, you just have to let go. The guy is going to die pretty young anyways(if all they say about Lagos life expectancy is true). Have some empathy for your neighbor.
Fear, insecurity and a bruised ego
We don’t want to let that stupid-looking person into our front in traffic. After all, you’ve been in traffic just like he has. Now he wants to ‘chance’ you and move in front. So your reaction, Oh Lagos driver, is to bone face, make sure he doesn’t ‘enter your front’! The cause of many accidents in Lagos!
What you’re doing is exposing a deep seated weakness. This weakness disguised as a ‘don’t chance me’ is fear, insecurity or bruise of ego.
Why not just let the person in.
What ends up happening most times is that we dive in the same mud these uneducated minds play in. Someone needs to be more mature. No, don’t say ‘this time, I don’t care about maturity’. JUST BE MORE MATURE.
You feel like you’re being taken advantage of. That’s your ego right there! Why do you even need one bruv!
Time vs Presence
So, you’re in a hurry. You need to get to that place super fast. So you’re driving like a maniac, trying to get your car into the lane once the unknown scumbag doesn’t realize cars are moving already. The other lane starts moving, you switch on your trafficator at the same time you slot yourself into the lane. We’ve all done it. Okay, I have done it all.
Time waits for no man. In Lagos especially, time counts more than it does anywhere in the world. But you also need to realize that the time will stand still when you hit another car. So a solution I would proffer will be to be present. Be behind your steering. Be on your seat. Present there! Don’t think about your destination. Don’t even ‘think’ about the journey. Just be in the journey. Savour the journey. You may even be late. KEEP CALM! There’s nothing you can do about you being late. Just be present!
Sleep
Lagosians lack sleep! Lack of sleep is directly linked to reduction in cognitive abilities, wrong decision making- impaired judgement(did you read that well?), and according to WebMD, causes accidents. When you sleep more, you’re likely to be more calm and make better judgement.
Some Lagosians like to feel like we are all in a race though!
Drivers, save yourself fuel
You use up more fuel when you are trying to cover up your lane so the next person doesn’t enter or when you trying to maneuver into the next lane by force. By jumping the accelerator that way, you’re squeezing out more juice than you normally would. That alone should make you chill. You know, in order to accelerate your car quickly, your engine has to move faster. The faster a piston has to oscillate, the greater the force that the bearings are subjected to. The work required to pull air into and out of the cylinders through the valves is much greater at high RPMs. Too much fuel, man!
Be productive
Use the opportunity to return calls, reply text messages(yes, I said it. Don’t text and drive? Why not! In Lagos traffic? Just be responsible). Get podcasts that tell stories. I’d recommend Criminals, The Bad Christian, Loose Talk, James Altucher.
Subscribe to Apple Music. Listen to new music. Bump up your playlist before any trip. Explore new music. Write out your gratitude journal(I do this every day).
Meditate
Meditation helps you reduce stress levels. It also helps you focus and be present! How? Make it a habit to monitor your mental-emotional state through self-observation. “Am I anxious?” “Why do I want to overtake this guy?” “Why do I feel so hurt that the guy just moved to my lane”. Just ask yourself these questions and then OBSERVE your answers.
These things work for me. I’m sure they would work for you too. Be one less idiot on the Lagos roads.
Do you remember back when there was a thin long slice of sausage in Gala. Or do you remember when you could buy a scotch egg that tasted like scotch eggs and not an egg coated in puff-puff? Have you eaten a meat pie from any fast food recently? They are stuffed with almost nothing but potatoes these days. In fact, it’s easier to win a lottery than to find a small piece of meat in your pie. This economy is useless. “Recession!”
I lived in the era when there was no 24 hour TV programming and so at 4pm when TV stations were starting I was patiently seated humming the National Anthem while waiting for SuperTed or Voltron to show. Life was good then? Wasn’t it? I remember not worrying about whether there would be electricity or not. It was just expected to have power at 4pm to watch my cartoons. And if there was no power, you could count your fingers and toes before the power is restored. I remember our neighbour, The Adegbayis had a generator. I thought they were freaking rich! Who had a generator in the early 90s? Life was good right? But the economy is on a steady decline and we are all going to die soon. Right?
It is funny how we blame the economy for everything and anything. It almost feels like it is the first time the economic state has been in a decline. You know, my father complained about the economy being worse than ever. I am sure his father did the same thing. And your father too. In 20 years time, I will probably talk about how the economy is at an all time low.
Do you know that almost everyone in Nigeria have cell phones? In fact, 9 out of 10 people use cell phones in Nigeria. Years ago it was just the very privileged.
Do you remember when people used to ‘flash’ your phone so you could call back? How often does that happen now? It’s now so cheap to make a phone call.
Do you remember when N15000 would get you 5GB of data on Starcomms? Now accessing Facebook is free on some networks and Etisalat charges N2000 for 3.5GB of data.
Do you remember when Coca-cola was only served at birthday parties. It was only your rich uncle who had a bottle of Coke with his food after a casual lunch? Now, it’s no longer strange to see a regular bricklayer drinking a coke after a hard session of…bricklaying.
It’s not even so difficult to look good. You can get nice t-shirts for N1500 at Ikeja Underbridge. Or you can wait till it’s dark to bend-down-select good pairs of shirts and pants at Ojota or Yaba bus stop. It won’t cost you up to N1000. If you’re shy, let me know I can do that for you.
Do you need good enough bootlegged shoes under N3000? “I have a guy”.
Hey, I’m not saying people are not suffering. There are people who can’t afford a bottle of water. There are people who can’t buy lunch and don’t see any hope of buying food for themselves anytime soon. In fact, someone called me last week who had just lost her N15000/month job. She lived at the office she worked so losing job meant she was now homeless. She would sleep anywhere and didn’t care but she called to ask for a N500 loan so she could buy a small stash of weed.
We blame the economy for our failures not realising that we should take full responsibilities for the choices we make it life.
You see, I’m broke. Probably in debt. I become so grateful when I remember that some people would rather have my brokeness and own the type of debts I owe.
I may not be able to afford a meal tomorrow morning but I am confident I will be full after breakfast tomorrow. And I’m grateful.
My work is very hard, stresses me out most times and office politics is killing me. But when I think about it a second time, I conclude I have a better job than 80% of Nigerians and the office politics can be solved over drinks at an Afropolitan evening.
So complain about economy? No, I won’t! Should you? Hell no! The fact that you’re reading this article, you’re in a better place than 80% of Nigerians. In fact, if you want to be rich, there are 6 ways to be rich.
You hustle your way to wealth. Gary Vee can tell you more about this.
You steal like the many Nigerian politicians.
You claim money as a Nigerian prince, if you already are.
You become the prince of a deity — whichever one asks for sacrifices(mine does. This is the route I’m choosing)
The sixth would be to enjoy and appreciate good health. Visiting hospitals recently makes me realize I had many opportunities I missed out of life- and now that I’m still breathing, I have many more. The economy doesn’t affect my health. My health affects my entire economy. And the choices I make are what I accept and live by. That’s the way I see it, I guess that’s the way you should see it too. But then again, who am I to tell you what to think.
I started writing this article in my car on the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge. 6 years ago, I didn’t have a car. 2 years before the 6 years, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, a year before then I was messed up. Here I am, swimming in blessings, fortunate enough to have people who loved me and who I love. But I was grumbling over how GTBank keeps removing N65 from my empty bank account and how gala doesn’t have sausages any more.
Infinix Mobility partners Guinness Nigeria, to bring football lovers a VIP experience with free screening to watch the biggest games during the EPL season in 5 cities.
The partnership kicked off in March as Infinix toured Lagos & Owerri with Guinness Nigeria to share the love of football with fans. At the ‘Matchday Made Of Black’ activation last weekend in Owerri during Arsenal FC vs Manchester City match, Infinix alongside Guinness Nigeria hosted fans at Cubana Hotel in Owerri giving fans who bought a bottle of Guinness a chance to predict the match score.
25 fans at the ‘Matchday Made Of Black’ activation predicted the match scores correctly and they won themselves smartphones and accessories courtesy of Infinix Mobility.
See pictures from the Guinness Infinix ‘Matchday made of black’ activation in Owerri. Football fans can still win smartphones and other gifts from Infinix as the Guinness ‘Matchday Made Of Black’ tour continues and will be storming 3 other cities from April till May. The next cities on the tour are Enugu, Benin and Ibadan. Fans not residing in the tour cities can also join in the online Predict And Win Competition to win freebies on Infinix Mobility’s Facebook, Twitter & Instagram pages.
An online advertisement for Nivea’s Invisible for Black & White deodorant has been withdrawn, and the company has apologised, after a number of people complained that it was ‘racist’.
The advert, posted to Nivea’s Facebook page earlier this week, showed a woman with black hair sat facing away from the camera, along with overlaid text saying: “White is purity.”
The post, on the brand’s Middle Eastern Facebook page, also featured the caption: “Keep it clean, keep it bright. Don’t let anything ruin it.”
The ad prompted many comments on social media about its unfortunate racial connotations, and it was picked up on by far right social media accounts, one commenting; “Nivea: the official moisturizer/anti-perspirant of the AltRight.”
“What the HELL is this?” added one outraged Twitter commenter. “White Purity? Shame, Shame, Shame on you. Fire your marketing person and anyone who approved this ad.”
A spokesperson for Nivea apologised, saying: “There have been concerns risen about ethnic discrimination due to a post about Nivea Deodorant Invisible for Black & White on our Nivea Middle East Facebook page.
“We are deeply sorry to anyone who may take offense to this specific post. After realizing that the post is misleading, it was immediately withdrawn.
“Diversity and equal opportunity are crucial values of Nivea: The brand represents diversity, tolerance, and equal opportunity. We value difference. Direct or indirect discrimination must be ruled out in all decisions by, and in all areas of our activities.
“This applies regardless of gender, age, race, skin colour, religion, ideology, sexual orientation, or disability. Nor should cultural, ethnic, or national origin, and political or philosophical conviction be of any significance.”
Startup South-West took place at Mauve21 Event Center, along Challenge – Ring-Road axis, on the 8th of April, 2017. The event welcomed a lot of I.T enthusiast and entrepreneurs from diverse circle. Startup South-west is a private initiative by ef-oneweb designed to create business development support for small tech startups with growth potential designed to help them achieve that potential. The idea is to open the techpreneural ecosystem in South-west Nigeria by identifying the key stakeholders of acceleration and ICT startups and fostering coordinated involvement and smart cooperation among them.
There were couple of other speakers for the day. They include The Founder of Skannet and President of NIRA (Nigerian Internet Registration Association), Rev. Sunday Folayan was the first speaker. He talked about the basis of entrepreneurship, right time to start a business, scope of IT in Nigeria, the limitations of it. He also explained the policies behind Domain Registration, the “.NG” dynamics and ability to realize opportunity and solve problems.
The founder of Start-Up Arewa, Ibrahim Jega was also present, the founder I-Bridge Hub, Pastor Francis Majedomu; who introduced the concept of the Hub, located at Nustreams Event Center, km 110, along Dugbe – Apata road. He spoke about, the opportunity of working with start-ups, and creating a platform where they can always add to the generation of their income.
To round up an excellent and exciting day, Professionals from the Cyber Security Unit gave Mr. Abiola Ogubdeko the founder of Start-ups South West an Honorary award as an ambassador to the professional unit, due to his immense contributions towards this field.
Fidelity Bank Plc. (FIDELITYBK) FY’16 results – Gross earnings increased slightly by 3.4% to N152.0 billion, in line with our estimate of N147 billion (3.4% deviation). After tax earnings declined by 30.0% to N9.7 billion, behind our estimate and consensus estimate of N11.2 billion and N12.7 billion respectively.
Other highlights :
Impairment charges increased by 50.4% to N8.7 billion in FY’16 but declined by 78.1% QoQ to N0.7 billion in Q4’16. Non-performing loans (NPLs) also surged to 6.6% in FY’16 from 4.5% in 9M’16.
Operating expenses increased by 4.8% to N67.2 billion due to a N4.8 billion one-off gratuity retirement cost as the bank discontinued its legacy gratuity retirement scheme – discounting this impact, OPEX would have declined by 2.6% and PBT would have grown by 13% (versus the 21.1% decline).
Net loans grew by 24.2% to N718.1 billion in FY’16 with Naira devaluation accounting for 79% (N110.9 billion) of the total credit growth.
Total asset and net asset grew by 5.4% and 1% to N1.3 trillion and N185.4 billion respectively. Fidelity bank declared a dividend of 14 kobo, translating to a dividend yield of 16.7%.
Further analysis to be released after the bank’s conference call.
Kindly click here for a copy of Fidelity Bank Plc FY’16 results…
Google is adding a fact-checking tag to search results globally, its latest initiative to help curb the spread of misinformation and “fake news,” the company said Friday.
The new tags, to be used in all languages for users worldwide, will use third-party fact-checkers to indicate whether news items are true, false or somewhere in-between.
“For the first time, when you conduct a search on Google that returns an authoritative result containing fact checks for one or more public claims, you will see that information clearly on the search results page,” Google said in a blog post.
“The snippet will display information on the claim, who made the claim, and the fact check of that particular claim.”
The information won’t be available for every search result, and there may be conflicting conclusions in some cases, Google said in the blog post, from researcher Cong Yu and Justin Kosslyn of Google’s sister company Jigsaw.
“These fact checks are not Google’s and are presented so people can make more informed judgments,” it said.
“Even though differing conclusions may be presented, we think it’s still helpful for people to understand the degree of consensus around a particular claim and have clear information on which sources agree.”
Google has worked with 115 fact-checking groups worldwide for the initiative, which began last year.
The move came a day after Facebook added a new tool in news feeds to help users determine whether shared stories are real or bogus.
Fake news became a serious issue in last year’s US election campaign, when clearly fraudulent stories circulated on social media, potentially swaying some voters.
Concerns have been raised since then about hoaxes and misinformation affecting elections in Europe this year, with investigations showing how “click farms” generate revenue from online advertising using made-up news stories.
The moves by both firms aim to change the way news is ranked, diminishing the importance of how often a particular story is shared or clicked on.
Robot bricklayers are putting thousands of construction jobs at risk, it has emerged.
The Semi-Automated Mason – or SAM for short – can lay an astounding 3,000 bricks a day in comparison with a construction worker’s average of 500.
Meet Sam… bricklaying robot
SAM’s mortar nozzle pumps concrete onto the brick before its robotic arm places it on the wall.
It is the creation of New York-based Construction Robotics and has already replaced humans on a handful of sites across America.
It’s made up of a conveyor-belt, mortar pump and robotic arm. One builder helps feed the bricks into the machine, which are picked up by the robotic arm, slathered in mortar, and placed on the wall.
A second worker will smooth over the excess joint mortar. Construction Robotics is bringing its creation to the global construction industry “in coming months” and in discussions with construction companies.
“Robots will soon be on construction sites doing jobs that humans do, but faster.’
If the technology arrives Nigeria, it would be a death knell for the construction industry that has suffered dearth of artisans due to the economic downturn in the country.
Richard Valentine-Selsey, a construction consultant, said it was likely that robots would arrive on British building sites within two years.
“Robots will soon be on construction sites doing jobs that humans do, but faster,” Valentine-Selsey told The Times.
The robots have been met with resistance from the construction workforce.
Commenters on the company’s YouTube account, which shows SAM at work, pointed out the robot’s limitations.
One wrote: “Can you post a video of the robot building corners, piers, window openings? Can it adjust coursing or plumbness for screw-ups on the job or wrong steel heights?”
“ Can it set lintels and install flashing?”
While YouTube commenters lashed out at the SAM, a company spokesman said that the machine has no problem with piers or window openings and can be adjusted on the fly to handle plumbness. The rep did admit, however, that the machine cannot deal with corners.
SAM costs companies around $20,000 for six units per month and would need heavy supervision.
It’s not just brickies who should beware. A third of jobs are under threat from robots — with transport, factory and retail jobs most at risk, according to accountancy firm PwC.
The Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHETSCO) says it has carried out research and development of a Phyto-drug for the treatment of epilepsy.
The Minister of Science and Technology announced this at the closing ceremony of the one week Technology Expo held at Eagle Square, Abuja. He said the drug was discovered by one of its 17 agencies charged with the responsibility of identifying local solution for local problems.
According to the Director General of the agency, Prof. Sunday Thomas, the anti-epilepsy drug was developed from the root of the plant belonging to the Celeastraceae family, which was identified and investigated for its chemical and biological properties for the treatment of epilepsy.
He said that the Phytochemical, antimicrobial brine shrimp lethality btest and toxicity test were carried out. The toxicity test, he said showed that the plant material was quite safe for consumption.
According to him, an anti-epileptic studies carried out indicated that the plant extract was effective in the control of epileptic seizures in Swiss albino mice of mixed sexes.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Football fans can still win smartphones and other gifts from Infinix as the Guinness ‘Matchday Made Of Black’ tour continues and will be storming 3 other cities from April till May. The next cities on the tour are Enugu, Benin and Ibadan. Fans not residing in the tour cities can also join in the online Predict And Win Competition to win freebies on Infinix Mobility’s 
