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Food for Living: Destiny As a Catalyst
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By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The concept of destiny is very broad because it means several things to several people in diverse fields including religious, politics, education, entrepreneurship or family. It’s meaning is however, dependent on the interpretation one gives to it. But one thing is certain, destiny connotes the end point or destination of somebody or something.
As the author of Design Your Destiny, I believe I am in a better position to speak about destiny and how it is applicable to life. Not only have my life been transformed by destiny, but I have also seen in real times how destiny played a significant role in the lives of ordinary people.
To understand the concept of destiny, I will be writing from an inspirational and rational point of view. It is important to state that for the emancipation of anyone, one needs to understand how life and the principles of life work work, otherwise, one will be confused.
It is normal for someone to be concerned about what the future holds for him. Sometimes, one will be concerned about where the next food or job opportunity will come from. I have good news for you though, relax, destiny is working purposely for your benefit. You don’t have to know, but just believe and trust the process.
No human being can know what will happen the next second, minute, day, week, month, year, and decade. We only live by the grace of God. So, don’t be anxious of what life has in stock for you, just do your best and continue to add value to your life, and the universe has a way of aligning circumstances and life for you. In my native country, we have a saying: nobody knows the stomach that will give birth to a king.
I have personally seen and experienced transformation in my life. I have seen the grace of God. I have seen people who the world has given up as people who don’t have any chance of making a headway in life, succeeding in an exponential manner. A classical case of study is former President Goodluck Jonathan, who rose from a humble position of being a lecturer to Deputy Governor, Governor, Vice President and President, in a way no rational mind can decipher.
What most uninformed people fail to understand is that nobody knows tomorrow, and God is the greatest orchestrator of human destiny. It’s so sad to see some people play God. It’s also instructive to know that the son of a certified pauper can become a man of means tomorrow if properly educated.
To put it in better perspective, no matter how one may try, nobody knows who will be elected as a Representative, Senator, Governor of a State, or President of a country. Nobody even knows who the wealthiest man in the society will be when tomorrow comes.
One may have a mentor or a biological parent who may be wealthy, or in a position of authority, or influential in the society, and note that no matter how much your parent or your mentor will love you, he can’t dictate what will happen when they are no longer in authority. The best the person can do is to strategically position you or give you publicity within his network of influence, but that will not determine if you’ll get what you desire in the grand scheme of things.
To really understand how this works, let’s take a case of Nigeria, where a mentor might influence the position of someone who is likely to be the President or Governor of a State. Upon expiration of the mentee’s tenure, they might decide who their successor will be, and the successor will also determine who their successor will be, and the list continues.
Do you now see the concept of destiny is relative. The creator might position somebody to take a position 10, 20 or even 50 years ahead just to fulfil a purpose.
Let’s take another perspective of destiny; the creator of heaven and earth might strategically position somebody to travel out of the country just to fulfil a destined purpose. The person might not know he is being used to fulfil a purpose just like the devil can be used to ‘bless’ someone in disguise without knowing.
Destiny can be quite complicated, some people might be destined to be in a particular region, while others might be destined to succeed in another region. To know where you are destined to be, I will strongly advise everyone to reach out to their creator by seeking the face and mindset of God through prayer and meditation. God has a way of revealing his plans to everyone.
The sad part of life is sometimes, human beings try to play God by working out their destiny and purpose in life. They fail to realize that they didn’t create themselves and didn’t get whatever they have by their ability, rather by the grace of God. Whenever, men think they are god, God will let them know in subtle ways, he is the Lord and God of gods. So, be humble about life because you don’t know what life will unfold for you. It is pertinent to mention that, when royalties are failing, God will raise people, stones to praise him, so be humble before life will humble you.
On a personal experience, during my chamber attachment while in Nigerian Law School, I was experiencing a little bit of financial challenge, especially living in the expensive City of Abuja, and as such, I was trying to mitigate cost. I reached out to the posting coordinator in law school to give me a nearby firm which won’t allow me to spend more money, he stated, such practice is not allowed. He was kind enough to listen to me to explain my reasons, he really felt for me and asked for the name of the firm I wanted to intern with, I gave him the name of the firm, he searched the directory, but couldn’t find the name of the firm. I didn’t know the law firm uses a partnership name as opposed to an individual name. He asked me a question, “are you a Christian”, I said yes, he said believe in your God. He used himself as an example, he said, as Muslim, he doesn’t believe in working things out, because one might work out one’s destiny. I took his word to heart.
Guess what, when the list was posted, I was posted in my estate where I didn’t have to spend a dime on transportation. The funny part was that, assuming my plan worked out, I would have to pay a decent amount of my money to get to my desired law firm. Do you see God came through for me? It’s destiny at work. The most joyful part of it was that, not only did I work with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, I had the humble opportunity of being on television on a number of cases because my boss was handling the case of the daughter of the former President of Nigeria at the said time. More importantly, during my sojourn to the United States this great man played a significant role with his thoughtful advice and assistance. He was later appointed a Minister by President Buhari in 2015., but the cold hands of death snatched him away.
Another interesting story was during my National Youth Service Corp. While most people were working out their posting, I refused to work out mine despite pressure from friends and family members. I borrowed some sense using my experience during my law school. Ordinarily, I was posted to a remote place, but God came through for me when the Governor of the State came with a friend of mine who works with African Independent Television to cover the event.
During one of our engagements, he mentioned to me, the Governor gave him 500milion naira to set up African Independent television in the state. This great man asked me to recruit youth corpers who will work for him, and he will pay them 100 thousand naira every month, and mine will be special. I thanked him for the opportunity and informed him, I won’t be able to deliver because I will travel to the US after my service year. After a decade, this man facilitated an opportunity to interview in Abuja. The moral of the story is that, imagine if I worked out my posting, who knows where I would have been.
Furthermore, when destiny is at work, God can command a sick person who is supposed to die to live simply because it’s not yet time for the person to depart this sinful world.
In conclusion, regardless of what you are going through, please don’t be hard on yourself, whether you are looking for an opportunity, life partner, mentor, etc., just seek for the creator to design your destiny by connecting you to the right people who will enable you to fulfil his purpose concerning your life.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has released his handover document to counter the Anambra State Government’s claims that his administration left behind loans and other financial liabilities.
Obi’s challenge followed the release of his handover note, which showed the financial position of the State at the end of his administration.
The Interim National Coordinator of the Obedient Movement, Dr. Yinusa Tanko, published the handover document dated March 17, 2024, on Wednesday.
The document contained a summary of Anambra State’s financial position as of the close of business that day and showed a net positive balance of over N86 billion.
Tribune Online had earlier reported that the Anambra State Government said it is still repaying loans obtained by previous administrations, including those of former governors Peter Obi and Willie Obiano.
The Commissioner for Finance, Izuchukwu Okafor, disclosed this on Sunday while speaking on the Ndi Anambra podcast released by the government’s New Media team.
Okafor said the inherited loans remained part of the financial commitments of the current administration, despite the Soludo government’s decision not to obtain fresh commercial bank loans since taking office.
Obi, however, rejected the claim and asked the Soludo administration to provide evidence to support its position. He also said he would end his campaign for the 2027 presidency if the allegation could be proven.
The Anambra State Government later disputed Obi’s claim that he left office without outstanding debts or other unpaid financial obligations.
The government maintained that its records showed that some liabilities incurred during Obi’s administration, as well as obligations inherited by it, remained unpaid.
In a statement titled; “Gov Peter Obi and Record of Public Debt in Anambra: Facts Beyond Propaganda and Lies,” the Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Law Mefor, described Obi’s position on the State’s debt profile as false.
Mefor said eight external loans connected to projects implemented during Obi’s administration, or inherited by it, were still outstanding.
According to him, the loans had a combined balance of $92.35 million, which the State government said was equivalent to N127.37 billion as of June 30, 2026.
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Greatness is something we all should aspire to attain as we explore what life has in store for us. To attain greatness is no joke. It takes a lot of sacrifice, patience, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, perseverance, and dedication. Isn’t it true that nothing good comes easy? According to my late dad, Chief Lazarus Anthony Ukazu, “If you want to bear a bear name, one must work hard to earn it”
That means success is not attained on a platter of gold. One must strategically work hard to attain any height or title one desires to have. If one desires to be a President, one must be intentional in the way they live their life. If a student desires to have a perfect Grade Point Average (GPA), the student must begin from their first year of college to have good grades; if an employee desires to rise up to a managerial position, the employee must put in the work by ensuring that they are punctual and their work ethic is top-notch. I can go on, but as the sage will say, a word is enough for the wise.
Aspiring for greatness can be difficult, no doubt, but it’s doable. One of the easiest ways of attaining greatness is by knowing yourself. Knowing who you are is a critical and fundamental tool necessary for success because it helps to speed up the process. One may be wondering why I said knowing oneself is the easiest and fastest way to succeed in life. Well, the answer is not far-fetched. According to Oscar Wilde, “Be yourself because others are taken”. This simply means one must focus on what they are naturally good at. It makes no sense to struggle to be what you are not. Like, I always say, you can copy my style, but you can’t imitate my creativity.
That said, it’s important for one to ask oneself: what’s that one thing they are good at; what’s that one thing one doesn’t struggle to do; what’s that one thing most people compliment about them; what’s that one thing you can do and you won’t be stressed; what’s that thing you can do for free and you’ll care less whether you are paid or not; what’s that one thing you can do with relative ease if you are woken from the sleep and you’ll do it well? If you were able to answer any of these questions, then you are fifty percent nearer to greatness. The other fifty percent is for one to develop that inherent talent or gift in them.
The interesting thing about self-discovery is that it helps one to spend less time and energy on a project that won’t add value to their life. For instance, if you know you are good at a particular project or subject, or have expertise or creativity in a particular skill, you’ll stand a better chance of succeeding faster in life when you hone it than learning a new skill that you’ll have to develop. That’s why it’s good to know oneself.
During my formative years in the USA, I engaged in many activities trying to figure out my path. I began by studying taxation law at New York Law School, a major I didn’t like. I worked in a tax firm, hoping I would find joy in the money I made. That turned out to be an illusion. I worked in a small boutique law firm; I worked in a Not-for-profit organization; I worked in a private corporation as a Case Manager; I also worked as an entrepreneur at one point, and now I am currently in the public sector. I did all this just to figure out my path.
In all of these, I was still confused, trying many things. My clarity began when I got a job as a Case Manager; that job gave me clarity, focus, and purpose to know what I should be focusing on.
Again, my writing skills gave me a better understanding of who I am because it projected my image. Today, some people look at me and say I am great simply because I have three books to my name; I have written hundreds of articles in addition to meeting great people the world has celebrated. But the truth is that I discovered what I love, what I am doing and building, and the universe conspired to connect me to the right people, in addition to attracting opportunities to me.
I can say for a fact that, assuming I worked in a tax firm as advised just because of the associated money I might make, I would be feeling frustrated and depressed, even though I might have made money, which is not even guaranteed.
The same principle is applicable to anyone who studies a major or works in an establishment they don’t like. They might make money, but not in the major. I have seen nurses, doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. who are making good money but are not happy, and I have seen people who didn’t study professional courses, some didn’t even have a college degree, yet are extremely successful and happy.
What does that tell you? They have either discovered what makes them unique, or they are happy with their major. Alternatively, it can be a combination of both.
The message here is to focus on what you are good at and develop it. The world will come to seek your services wherever you may be on planet Earth.
Furthermore, according to John Maxwell’s father, if you want to be great, you need three things: Value people, believe in people, and unconditionally love people for who they are. These are great ways to succeed in life, especially if one desires to make a fortune out of life.
For me, when I write, I think about valuing people, believing in people, and unconditionally loving people. Also, when I speak, I value people, I believe in people, and unconditionally love them. Why? Because people do well when people think well of them. It’s wonderful when a person believes in the leader, but it’s powerful and wonderful when the leader believes in the people.
Do you know that when you value people, it brings out the best in them? People love to be appreciated; people love to get approval, people love to get attention; people love to be accepted for who they are; and people love to be valued and respected. The simple truth about value is that when I value people, it brings out the best in me.
Today, I will ask you: are you aspiring for greatness in your family, school, workplace, community, etc. If yes, your task will be to focus on developing what you are naturally good at.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer, and author of Design Your Destiny- Actualizing Your Birthright to Success, Unleash Your Destiny, and The Six Pillars of Success. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
The United States has delivered military equipment to the Nigerian Air Force as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s fight against terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping.
The supplies, which were disclosed in an X post by the US African Command (AFRICOM) on Thursday, were part of a foreign military sales agreement between Abuja and Washington.
“PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION: A U.S. Air Force C-17 delivers equipment to the Nigerian Air Force this weekend. The equipment is part of a foreign military sales agreement that furthers the U.S.-Nigerian partnership and will aid in Nigeria’s efforts to counter terrorism in the region.” U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) posted on X.
The development comes after US troops left Nigeria amid diplomatic engagement between Washington and Abuja over security challenges, particularly the activities of jihadist groups operating in parts of Nigeria.
The Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) clarified that the reported withdrawal of about 200 United States personnel from Nigeria will not affect the country’s security cooperation with the US.
The Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. S. Uba, made the clarification on Tuesday during the joint security spokespersons’ briefing.
Uba described the development as a routine, mission-specific adjustment linked to particular operational and counterterrorism objectives, stressing that it should not be interpreted as a breakdown or termination of the longstanding Nigeria-US security partnership.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to clarify that the reported withdrawal of about 200 United States personnel should not be interpreted as a breakdown or termination of the Nigeria-United States security partnership,” he said.
He said the relationship between both countries remained “strong, enduring, and mutually beneficial”, adding that intelligence cooperation, training and information sharing would continue.
According to him, Nigeria remained primarily responsible for defending its territory and protecting its citizens, while US support was aimed at strengthening the capabilities of the Nigerian military.
“Our cooperation with the United States is designed to strengthen our capabilities through intelligence sharing, training, technical assistance, and other forms of professional military cooperation,” he said.
