The SMS that woke Abdullahi up was three-words long: We get accident!. He blinked away the sleep that weighed heavily on his eyes and shot up in bed. The message was from his truck driver, Kabiru, who was delivering a truckload of goats to Lagos in response to the Christmas orders that were already coming in. ”What happened?” he asked immediately the line connected. Kabiru explained how he had lost control of the truck while trying to avoid a ditch on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. ”33 goats don die sah!” Kabiru told him. The goat herder knew he was in trouble. At N45,000 per goat, losing 33 goats meant he had incurred a N1,485,000 loss even before he had sold one. Abdullahi wept for the colossal loss and for his refusal to listen to the young man who had approached him just three days earlier to buy an Sanlam General Insurance Goods-in-Transit policy to protect him from uncertainties on the road. Do you run a business that transports goods...Read more

Well before new generation hypermarkets took over the city, Reggie’s was the neighbourhood’s favourite supermarket. Established as a one-stop family business by the Ajekigbes, the store was renowned for its consistently low price regimen and diversity of stock. Year in, year out, Reggie’s catered for the neighbourhood in ways only it can. Soon, it became a major landmark around the locality. Until the Matriarch of the family, Madam Ajekigbe, who ran the store for years, passed on and Reggie’s had to employ a Store Manager. Within seven months of the new hire, Reggie’s began witnessing empty shelves and ridiculous prices. Then one Monday morning, residents woke to a closed Reggie’s. The Store Manager had refused to show up at work locking out store attendants and cleaners in the process. It was later discovered he had been stealing stock and diverting sales proceeds. He had bolted when the owners decided to audit the accounts. ...Read more

Everything about the new apartment made Chigozie happy. From sharing a two-bedroom apartment with eight others in downtown Lagos to getting his own place, a newly-built -though tiny- one-bedroom apartment in Ajah, he was finally moving to freedom. No more hustling for space on one of the two 3-and-a-half inches mattresses available, or settling for one of the thread-bare throw pillows that made for neck cushions the days he missed out on the mattress. The boys themselves called the apartment Barracks, an apt sobriquet for the mess it was at its rowdiest. The first set of gadgets he bought with the entire savings he had left after paying the rent included a 43” LED TV, a DVD Home Theatre system, an HD Zapper decoder, and a 1hp air-conditioning unit. No one told him adulting was a lonely journey; as far as he was concerned, life is good. It all turned sour for him one Monday evening when he got back from work to find out his TV and sound system had grow...Read more

Tonye was engrossed in the calming lyrics of his favourite band, The Corrs, when it happened. Like an unwanted noise in the calm, he heard the sharp scraping sound as the Keke Marwa, in an attempt at squeezing itself between two vehicles, drew a long jagged line on the side of his shiny black 2010 Toyota Camry. He was out of the car in a flash, eyes blazing, set for war. “You guys have been doing this rubbish for a while, today, I will make you a scape goat,” Tonye stuttered as he poised for a show down. But it never happened. Immediately the driver of the Keke saw the extent of the damage, he quickly got out of his tricycle and laid flat on the hot tarmac. As if in a movie, other Keke riders around joined their colleague on the tarmac. While some knelt, others prostrated. Standing tall in the middle of the drama, Tonye found himself looking like a newly-crowned king accepting his subjects’ homage. He left the scene without sa...Read more

In some estates and neighborhoods, street parking is the norm. If you go visit someone in such an estate or perhaps you live in one of such neighborhoods, here are some useful tips to keep your car safe from theft: Set your car alarm, lock your doors and close your windows every time the car is parked. Park in a well-lit area, this would reduce the chances of a car-jacking or theft. Use a steering wheel lock, it discourages any potential car thief as the time required to remove those might make the difference. Don’t keep valuables in the car. Always take your valuables with you when you need to park on streets or alternatively, keep those out of view at all times. If you can, avoid parking on the streets. Park your car inside a gated compound at all times; better safe than sorry. Ensure you have adequate Auto Insurance. When everything else fails, a responsive and assured auto Insurance from ...Read more

Summer holidays should -and can- be fun. As a parent or guardian, it is incumbent upon you to plan your wards’ summer so they are adequately and creatively engaged all through the holidays. After all, children should never stop learning. We have compiled a list of ways to make the summer fun and educative for your wards: Cooking and Baking: Maybe now is the time to teach them some culinary skills especially if your kids are old enough to handle kitchen-related activities. Pick a day, preferably a day you’d be home, and take them through the basics of cooking one of their favourite meals. Involve them in the entire process and stand back, watch them replicate what you have done. Before you know it, their culinary competence would shoot through the roof. Create a treasure hunt: Design a simple treasure map and hand it to them. Hide some things of interest around the house and give them a time frame to search for those ‘treasures’. Th...Read more