News
Food for Living: Importance, Limitations of Money
- /home/rhoncare/pointblank.ng/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 27
https://pointblank.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/download.jpeg&description=Food for Living: Importance, Limitations of Money', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
- Share
- Tweet /home/rhoncare/pointblank.ng/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 69
https://pointblank.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/download.jpeg&description=Food for Living: Importance, Limitations of Money', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
It’s an unassailable fact that money is money. I mean how else can one say it. According to the book of life, in Ecclesiastes 10:19, “Money answereth all things”. The only problem money can’t solve is death. Though in some instances, money can be used to postpone death. The message here is that money can be used to solve almost all of life’s problems, if not all. Money is not only good, but also sweet. A friend once jokingly told me that, money is sweeter than a woman.
But as sweet as money is, it has two sides, just like the knife. The use depends on what one wants to achieve with it, and in whose hands the money is. That determines if it will function for itsadvantages or disadvantages.
One however, would ask what the disadvantages of money are. As interesting as the question might be, the answer is found in using it for negative purposes such as for oppression or ungodly acts or purposes detrimental to the upliftment of mankind. When the money is used to support worthy causes that uplift humanity, its advantages are immediately established.
One of the many things my late dad, Chief Lazarus Ukazu, told me includes the fact that two things that can separate brothers or friends are money or women. And according to a school of thought, if you want to know someone, give him money or power. They will try to influence or control him, but if he’s able to control both then he can be judged to be a man of integrity. This is in league with another school of thought, which states that there are four people one cannot advise; a rich man, a woman in love, a religious bigot and a member of a political party.
The interesting thing about money is that it has a spirit. If one is not careful, they might become a victim. Let me share a practical example. When one has money, he is supposed to control money and not allow the money to control him. It’s sad to know that some people are slaves to money. When money controls you, you are a slave to money, but when you control money, money is your slave. Your money is supposed to work for you, and not you working for money.
Acquiring money is good because it can be used to enjoy the good things of life like good accommodation, good cars, good food, good education, good health system and more. We basically enjoy the good things of life. That’s why a lot of people strive to make money through any means even if it involves negative avenues, and this urge has led many people to engage in nefarious activities.
Let’s talk about the importance and value of money.
Money is a form of inspiration: If you have travelled to different Countries, Cities, States, and Continents you’ll understand the importance of money. I have been inspired by visiting friends because I see the value money accords them. I have also been inspired by seeing great people and the respect they have been accorded due to the associated impact their products and services have been used to solve problems in the world which in turn brought large sums of money. This singular act inspired me to become successful because when I do, I will help the needy in addition to promoting worthy causes.
Money provides security: When you have money, you won’t be bothered too much about the challenges of life. According to an Igbo adage from the Eastern part of Nigeria, it is said that “a hunger that is backed with hope can’t kill anyone”. What it really means is that, when a person is hungry and he knows that he has food, he won’t be bothered too much because he knows when he gets home, he will have good to eat.
Now contrast that to when he’s hungry and he knows that if he gets home, he won’t have food to eat. That level of pain is different. That’s why I said, money provides security because there is a certain level of respect that one will be accorded.
Money has value: There’s no doubt money and value are relative. It all depends on what one is looking at. It’s sad to see uninformed minds respect someone because of the money they have in their bank account. This shouldn’t be the right approach to life. Everyone ought to be respected irrespective of the money in their bank account.
In politics, two things are required for one to be accorded a decent amount of respect and recognition. It’s either you have money or have electoral value. Let me explain a little, in politics one of the greatest needs of politicians is money.
According to some schools of thought, money is the greatest need of any politician because it can be used to sway electorates especially as it relates to campaigns, however another school of thought are of the opinion having electoral value is more important because one may have money, but may not be a great candidate, the electorates might not be swayed especially the independents.
But if the candidate is good enough, the electorates can even contribute and campaign aggressively for him.
This act was seen during the 2023 Presidential election where H.E Peter Obi shocked Nigerians with the “Obidient Movement. In less than nine months, he was able to upstage the political landmark of Nigeria electoral system, but unfortunately, he was rigged out of the system despite being alleged to have won the election.
Also, in 2008, President Obama shocked the world by winning the Presidential election against McCain. Again in 2012, he won a reelection against Mitt Ronney, who had more money than him.
The moral is that despite money having value, it was quite limited in what it can do.
However, despite the importance and value of money, money itself is limited. It’s not every problem money can solve. For instance, if one has a life-threatening sickness like stage four cancer, money can be limited in saving the life of the person.
Also, money cannot solve deeply personal, emotional issues. As a matter of fact, it can even create new problems if not handled well especially when one lacks empathy and emotional intelligence.
Emotional and mental well-being: Money cannot cure loneliness, heal trauma, or erase emotional pain. While financial stability can reduce stress, it does not guarantee genuine happiness, contentment, or a sense of purpose. Money can buy but it can’t buy sleep and peace of mind. It can buy a comedian to create jokes, but it can’t buy joy.
Genuine relationships. Money cannot buy true love, friendship, or deep intimacy, at most it can influence it.
Serious health issues. While wealth can provide access to top medical care, it cannot cure all diseases or prevent aging and death. Some of the wealthiest people still face serious illnesses.
Lack of character. Money does not buy good character, integrity, or wisdom. A person’s flaws, like greed or immorality, are not erased by wealth.
Loss of a loved one. The pain of losing a loved one cannot be fixed by any amount of money.
Satisfaction and purpose. For those who equate financial success with happiness, an abundance of money can lead to a state of dissatisfaction.
Some societal problems.
Broader social issues like discrimination, inequality, and systemic problems cannot be solved by an individual’s money alone, as they require collective and systemic solutions.
In conclusion, money is a crucial resource for solving problems related to safety, security and access. It provides stability and freedom that can significantly improve one’s quality of life, especially for those living in hardship. However, it is an inadequate tool for solving core human needs related to emotions, relationships, and finding meaning.
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 and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of removing some of its nominated candidates from the commission’s list and replacing them with names allegedly unknown to the party.
The National Chairman of the party, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, made the allegation in a statement on Sunday, following INEC’s publication of candidates for the 2027 State Houses of Assembly elections.
Cleopas said the names published by INEC, particularly in Anambra State, suggested an attempt to undermine the party ahead of the elections and create disaffection among its supporters.
The NDC chairman specifically alleged that nine persons whose names were not authorised or submitted by the party had been listed as its candidates in various constituencies in Anambra State, the home state of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
He called on the INEC Chairman to immediately investigate the development and determine how the names got onto the commission’s list.
Cleopas also urged INEC to extend the investigation to other states, including Benue and Imo, where he said the party had observed a similar pattern.
According to him, the development had embarrassed the party, its leadership and its genuine candidates, while creating disaffection among its supporters in Nigeria and the Diaspora.
“We, as a party, are also carrying out our own independent investigation, the preliminary findings of which are already pointing to the complicity of INEC officials in foisting names purporting to be our candidates, but who are not from us,” he alleged.
He said the party’s investigation indicated that the uploading process was being used to intimidate and embarrass the NDC.
The party listed the following persons as names allegedly published by INEC as its candidates in Anambra:
Onitsha South 1 — Umennaajiego Jude Ezenwa
Onitsha South 2 — Akpotue Obinna Chibuike
Orumba North — Nwankwo Chiemerie
Anaocha 1 — Maduagwu Eric K
Idemili North — Ngoebisi Obinna
Njikoka 1 — Isintume Charles
Nnewi South — Nwachukwu Nonso
Nnewi South 2 — Okeke Ifeanyi Akunne
Ayamelum — Nnonyelu Samson E
Dunukofia — Azotani Chuks Francis
Cleopas, however, said the party is particularly concerned about the process through which the names were uploaded and published.
He said after the conclusion of the party’s primaries and appeal process, stakeholders from Anambra, the party leadership, representatives of Obi and the appeals panel agreed on a final list of candidates.
According to him, the list was signed off by the relevant stakeholders before being uploaded to the INEC portal using the code provided to the party by the electoral commission.
He alleged that INEC officials subsequently kept nine of the names on “Pending” status, claiming that the names were already in the commission’s system based on submissions by officials who monitored the party’s primaries.
Cleopas said the NDC formally challenged the names and submitted the identities of candidates it said were legitimately nominated by the party, but INEC allegedly declined to replace the disputed names.
He further alleged that INEC subsequently collected Form EC-9 directly from the persons whose names were in dispute and uploaded the forms without going through the party.
“To further confirm that there was a predetermined effort on the part of INEC to impose the said nine candidates on the party, and embarrass both NDC and Mr. Peter Obi, INEC went behind the NDC to collect the Form EC-9 directly from the candidates, bypassing the party, and uploading same,” he alleged.
Cleopas argued that where there was a discrepancy between names submitted by a political party and information received by INEC from its monitoring teams, the commission should have left the affected positions vacant pending clarification, rather than publish names the party said it did not nominate.
“At the very worst, INEC could have left us with no candidates for those positions, if they knew they were unwilling to engage us in addressing any perceived anomaly,” he said.
The NDC chairman accused INEC of creating a pattern in which opposition parties were allegedly prevented from uploading their preferred candidates while other names were introduced into their candidate lists.
He vowed that the party would pursue the matter through all available legal channels and seek to have what it described as its authentic candidates restored.
“We are moving to approach the court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress and restore our authentic candidates. The general public and our millions of supporters should note that these are not our candidates,” he said.
Nepal said Sunday it had begun burying some of the hundreds of bodies recovered after devastating floods, after taking DNA samples and marking them so families can later retrieve them.
The dead are traditionally cremated on funeral pyres in Hindu-majority Nepal, so the burials are viewed as long-term storage until families can retrieve them.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai told reporters that all those buried were carefully recorded, but also appealed for international support, saying Nepal needed “more than a thousand” freezer units to store bodies.
The announcement of the burials came as Nepal’s disaster ministry increased its toll again on Sunday to 752 bodies recovered and 2,502 people missing.
That list includes 589 foreigners unaccounted for.
Chinese state media earlier confirmed 16 dead in Tibet and 546 people missing following Wednesday’s disaster, taking the overall toll to 768 dead and 3,048 unaccounted for.
“Following standard and accepted protocols, such as those of ICRC (Red Cross), the mortal remains of the dead, especially those not recognisable… have been temporarily buried,” Rai told reporters.
“Medical teams took DNA samples from every victim prior to the burial so that families can match-reference later, and would be allowed to exhume for necessary rituals.”
Nepal has called for freezer storage units and DNA testing kits, as it is overwhelmed with the number of bodies to store safely.
“We have requested different countries for freezers; we will need more than a thousand,” Rai added.
“Many dead bodies have been collected, and they have started decomposing. To preserve public health, we had to bury the decomposing bodies,” he added.
AFP
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Everyone loves influence. Everyone wants to be a person of influence. Everyone wants to be relevant. Everyone wants to be celebrated. Everyone likes attention, appreciation, approval, and admiration. All these are products of influence.
The question I need you to ask yourself is, are you a person of influence? Are you influencing anyone? Do you have a positive or negative influence on your children, spouse, friends, mentors/mentee, or even strangers? Take a minute to listen to yourself.
When we talk about influence, uninformed minds just think influence is only about money, power, authority, or even being a mentor. Influence is far from it. We are all influencers in one way or another. Many people have influenced us in different ways, some positive, some negative. Similarly, we have also influenced many people in good and bad ways.
But today, I’m here to share with you what influence is about and the positive ways one can be a person of influence. Influence comes in different ways: as a politician, you are influencing people; as a leader, you are influencing policy; as a youth advocate, mentor, teacher, pastor, and employee, you are influencing somebody in one way or the other.
Do you know you can influence someone with your lifestyle? Yes, the way you talk, write, lead, dress, eat, exercise, preach the word of God, do your job, serve people, train your children, etc., are all part of influence. Influence is powerful. It has a way of permeating someone without them knowing. I believe that’s why my late mother would always say, if you are hanging out with a friend, only take the good part and leave the bad part.
We currently live in the 21st century, where the internet leads. The internet is regarded as the fifth estate for a reason, because it empowers networked individuals and alternative media to hold traditional institutions, governments, and mainstream media accountable. Everyone and almost everything is on the internet; however, sometimes, the information we get on the internet is regarded as fake because it’s unverified.
In some quarters, the internet has been regarded as a bad influence on the younger generation because of the limited restrictions and the negative information it has exposed their minds to think in a particular way. Some other schools of thought have opined that the internet has done more good than harm due to the knowledge it has exposed their minds to, as opposed to the information being peddled by some other schools of thought. Regardless of the aisle one belongs to, the internet truly has its pros and cons, especially as it relates to influence.
The big question one needs to answer is what influence is. According to Nosakhare Tune Oni – A Pan-African Strategist, leadership and business coach, “influence is when people trust your judgment enough to act on it. It is when someone calls you before making an important decision. When your recommendation opens a door. When your name carries weight in a room, you’re not even in. When people are willing to put their reputation behind yours. That’s influence.
Let’s take a minute to dwell on those lines again. Has anyone played any of such roles in your life? If yes, that’s the best definition of influence in a nutshell. Influence is not about quantity, but quality. The quality of people in your life is more valuable than the quantity of people one’s life. Do you know we don’t really need battalions of friends, whether online or in person, but just one person of influence can be a game-changer. According to Les Brown, a leadership coach, we need only quality people.
Do you know we are everywhere and nowhere at the same time? Do you also know that we can be everywhere and still have very little influence? Influence is about knowing your value and the right people who appreciate the value you bring. Do you know one can be a person of value to the wrong person or audience?
Influence is about having followers who believe and follow your teaching. We can have visibility with little or no influence. One may have 100,000 followers. We may trend on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, or even WhatsApp. Your name is a household name. That is visibility.
Let me give you a practical example. If you have a large crowd of people following you online or in person. The critical question one must ask oneself is: why are they following me? Are they following me because of my ideology, my talent/gift, academic process, position, profession, vocation, skill, or jokes? If they follow you because of the ideology you represent, you are a person of influence. If they are following you because of your jokes, you may be a content creator or comedian with little or no value in influencing them to do or not do certain things. Real influence provokes action.
According to Nosakhare Tune Oni, influence is built differently from attention. Attention can be bought. Influence must be earned. You can manufacture visibility with advertising, controversy, or constant posting. But you cannot manufacture trust that easily. It comes from consistently being useful. Keeping your word. Knowing what you’re talking about. Showing up when it matters. Building relationships before you need them.
And creating value for people without constantly asking, “What’s in it for me?”
Do you know a person with 1,000 followers and deep trust within a particular industry may have more real influence than someone with 100,000 followers who nobody listens to. So, I don’t think the goal should simply be: “How many people know me?” A better question is: “How much does my presence actually change things?” Because visibility gets you noticed. Value gets you remembered. Trust gets you listened to, but influence is what happens when people trust your value enough to move.
As I prepare to conclude, please take a minute to ask yourself: are you a person of influence? Do you have influence? What positive influence have you had on people or anyone? Today, I want you to be a man/lady of influence like Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Theresea, Evangelist Ebuka Obi, President Nelson Mandela, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Dr. Kola Adesina, Dr. Joe Abah, Dr. Dele Momodu, Barr. Henry Ukazu and Miss Ginika Dike.
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
