News
Food for Living: Empower Your Mind
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Dear Friends,
Apart from the power of choice, one of the greatest and most powerful powers we have in our possession is our mind. It’s quite unfortunate some of us don’t make use of this magic wand which is capable of transforming us. There’s literally no limitation to what our minds can do. Our mind is like an elastic rubber band, it can only go as far as we stretch it. As we all know, success doesn’t always come easy; it takes a lot of hard work, sacrifice and perseverance. Many people are often looking for productivity shortcuts in order to gain more success. They fail to understand that life is a process and you can actually train your mind to be more successful.
Just like we can train a child or a dog, we can also train our mind to work in certain ways. For example, you can use repetition and visualization to learn a particular skill or language. In reality, our brain works the same way. If you really want to go far in life, you need to empower your mind. The question we need to ask ourselves is, how far can we empower our mind to go far in life.
We have seen so many surreal experiences in academics, entertainment, sports, innovation, and even in the spiritual world on how talented and passionate beings were able to do amazing things that shocked the world because they believed in themselves.
For the sake of this article, we shall discuss briefly academic and innovation. I strongly believe given every opportunity every individual is a potential achiever. This is because we don’t have dull brains only brains undeveloped. If only we can tap into our subconscious mind in addition to looking into ourselves, we’ll be amazed to see the amount of opportunities we have waiting to unleash. As an accomplished empowerment author, I have experienced what it means for the mind to be empowered. This is because as a prolific and creative writer, I have been able to read, network and watch the news in order to articulate and be informed. All this information helped to empower the mind.
In contemporary times, we have seen how the power of innovation has transformed the world. It didn’t really happen as a fluke, it happened because the mind was triggered. We shall be discussing various ways we can empower the mind.
Education:
As the saying goes, information is power. If you are not informed with the right information, you’ll be lacking valuable tools and resources to effectively do your work. Education is like information because it renews and transforms the mind. Education is not limited to having a formal education. It’s also about getting training, listening to the news, networking, reading materials outside your field of study and using other online social media resources like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, journals, magazines, blogs, and Facebook to empower the mind. No one is immune to learning. You just have to invest the right time and effort. Proper education helps to unravel the truth because not all knowledge that is out there is true. Your mind actually has the task of acquiring this information and making an evaluation to find out whether it’s true. Anyone has the power to empower their mind. We were all born ignorant, it takes time and effort to learn things that are actually going to make all the difference.
Relaxation:
One of the greatest ways the mind can be empowered is through relaxation. If you’ll agree with me, the mind cannot function well, if it is not at peace. Just like exercise helps to strengthen the body, relaxation helps to stabilize the mind. You can also empower your mind with meditation.
Emotional Intelligence:
Many people don’t really know the value and importance of emotional intelligence as it relates to human relationships. Emotional intelligence is one of the highest forms of learning. Apart from having formal knowledge, emotional intelligence is an uncommon skill and knowledge rational minds can use to not only understand any human being, but it can also be used to make the being a better person depending on what the person is experiencing. If you don’t understand someone, it will be hard to relate closely with the person. If you don’t know the root cause of a problem, it will be practically hard to solve or even proffer a solution to the problem. Therefore, the understanding of emotional skills is a veritable way of assisting anyone. Emotional intelligence is regarded as soft skills which many humans lack.
Good Thoughts
A happy person tends to produce happy results. The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Therefore, it is imperatively important to guard your thoughts and take care of what goes into your mind. Do you have any plans to invent a product? Do you have any burning ideas to make the world a better place? If yes, there’s in power in imagination. According to Napoleon Hill, whatsoever the mind can conceive, believe it can achieve it. Our thoughts can shape or mar us. According to Aristotle. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Our mind is a global village. It works like a computer (garbage in, garbage out). Empowering the mind consists of feeding the mind with nourishing information and thoughts in order to make it function well. According to Frank Outlaw “Watch your thoughts, they become words; watch your words, they become actions; watch your actions, they become habits; watch your habits, they become character; watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
Discipline Yourself
Discipline has a unique role to play in shaping or our mind. If the mind is properly disciplined, it will react to stimuli when it finds itself in an unfamiliar environment. Nobody knows you more than you know yourself. If you discipline yourself and your mind to attend empowering events that are rich in strategic leadership, governance, business, economy, and health, it won’t take time for you to increase your wealth of knowledge or information in those areas. However, if you attend social parties and club parties, the information and language you’ll receive might be different
One of the things you can do to get your discipline in order is to forgive yourself if you have made some mistakes in the past. This helps you to move forward. To discipline yourself, you may use these three question to guide your thoughts:
1. What specifically do you really want?
2. What benefits do you expect as a result of achieving this goal (purpose, reasons for what you want)?
3. What “losses” do expect as a result of achieving this (what are you willing to do or let go of to have what you want)?
In conclusion, as you go about your daily life, always have at the back of your mind, there’s power in imagination. Always think of ways you can improvise your business, personal and professional life and life in general.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success. He can be reached via henrous@gmail.com
Henry Ukazu
By Eric Elezuo
The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has announced the kickoff of the 2026 West African Second-term School Certificate Examination, saying it would be computer-based, and decrying the decline of male participation as against their female counterparts.
The Council made the disclosure on Monday, while addressing the media at its National Office in Yaba, Lagos, on steps so far taken to ensure a hitchfree 2026 Examination.
In his address, the Head of National Office, Mr. Jacob Josiah Dangut, remarked that the 2026 computer-based WASSEC, started on April 21, 2026 with practical test papers, stressing that the nitty gritty parts of the exercise will kick off on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, therefore the reason for the sensitization of the Nigerian public on the exams.
He noted that nearly two million candidates registered to sit for the examinations.
In his words, “A total of 1,959,636 candidates from 24,207 schools enrolled for the examination.
“Of this number, 958,564 candidates (48.92%) are male, while 1,001,072 candidates (51.08%) are female. This reflects an increase in female participation and a decline in male participation compared to last year.”
Dangut called on policy formulations to take the matter serious so as to reinvent the urge for education among the malefolks.
Meanwhile, Dangut informed the public that candidates are being tested in 37 subjects across 97 papers, supervised by about 29,000 senior secondary teachers nominated by state ministries of education.
Dangut said the rise in computer-based entries followed the successful debut of the format in 2025, with more schools and offshore institutions adopting it for its efficiency and alignment with global standards.
The 2026 exercise will run through to June 19th.
The simmering political battle in Rivers State appears to have taken a fresh turn, following the screening of aspirants for the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Assembly primaries, with several loyalists of Governor Siminalayi Fubara failing to make the party’s final list.
In a development already stirring political intrigue across the state, former Obio/Akpor council chairman Chijioke Ihunwo and serving lawmakers Sokari Goodboy and Victor Oko-Jumbo — all widely regarded as strong allies of Governor Fubara — were among those not cleared by the party’s screening committee for various reasons.
Political observers are interpreting their failure to scale through as more than just a routine internal party exercise. They say it is the latest signal of the deepening political fault lines in Rivers, where Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Minister Nyesom Wike, remain locked in a prolonged struggle for political supremacy.
On the other side of the divide, the list of cleared aspirants appears to favour established political figures and returning lawmakers, largely seen as loyal to the Wike camp.
Among those cleared are:
Maol Dumle
Major Jack
Enemi Alabo George
Tonye Smart Adoki
Tekenari Granville
Their emergence is being viewed as a reinforcement of the influence of the former governor within the APC structure in Rivers State.
The screening exercise, announced by Rivers APC publicity secretary Chibike Ikenga, comes at a politically sensitive time, with alignments already forming ahead of future elections and control of the Rivers State House of Assembly remaining a critical battleground.
For many political watchers, the outcome raises fresh questions: Is the APC in Rivers consolidating into a single power bloc? And does this effectively shut the door on Fubara’s loyalists seeking alternative political platforms?
Fubara, elected under the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, joined the APC last year, following a political dispute with Wike.
The Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has been factionalized ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The rival factions emerged after its chairman, Governor Hope Uzodimma, was reportedly removed on Thursday.
While Uzodimma insists that he remains PGF chairman, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun and his Kwara State counterpart, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, are reportedly leading a separate faction.
Another bloc within the forum has reportedly queued behind the duo of Abiodun and AbdulRazaq.
The development, which comes amid growing political realignments within the ruling party, marks a significant crack in the ranks of APC governors ahead of the 2027 general elections.
According to reports by Arise TV, details surrounding the disagreement remain unclear, but sources within the party said tensions have been building over internal leadership control and strategic positioning ahead of the next election season.
As of the time of filing this report, none of the factions had made an official clarification regarding the alleged division.
