The Weekly UK-Nigeria meetings are always varied but this time the focus was more on the format than the content. In fact the meeting was comprised of a mixture of Face to Face, sms, email and speakerphone conversations as well as brief Skype IM (Instant Messaging).
John Dada had intended to join us online from Jos but we received an sms at the start of the meeting to say he was experiencing connectivity problems. Steve Podmore of Transform Capital Management Ltd had been invited to join the meeting this week as he is helping Dadamac raise a loan to help Fantsuam Foundation purchase a Tractor. ‘Fast Tractor ’ is the name which has been given to an exciting and time-critical appeal which will be revealed during the week!
It was arranged that Steve and John will use Skype during the week to contact each other to clarify some details.(This subsequently happened: see Fast Tractor for the latest update)
This week’s agenda included an update about the Ago-Are information Centre and Fola the manager.
Pamela Mclean informed us : “I haven't heard from Fola since May First Thursday - when he tried to join in. (Sadly, although he could connect with me on yahoo, he could not get into the meeting. Kelechi was having the same problem. Olalekan managed to get in later, having also messaged me about problems when he first tried to get in.
Last time we discussed repayments Fola was very unhappy about it because of problems with late payment of his salary. He had been so delighted with the way the new administration did seem to be paying salaries on time, but we should have guessed it was too good to last. Then of course there was all the hassle of the whirlwind damage in Ago-Are. I told him not to worry we could re-arrange the repayments. It is a shame because he has been so faithful about making the payments and travelling to the bank (which I guess in over in Saki) as soon as his salary comes in. I guess we won't hear from him much again until he gets his next salary and can pay for more online time.
The photo above is from Fola and shows as he explains "some of his happy students!"
Also included on the Agenda was the Comic Relief, FF and Ron Dennis' Waste Plastic Recycling Project: We were relieved to read John’s email which told us the visa dates are “still on track”.