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Food for Living: Keep Working on Yourself
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
“Your next level requires transformation” – Germany Kent
I believe it will be in order if I say compliments of the season. The year is gradually coming to an end, and it is imperatively important we take time to examine how we fared in 2022. Though we have less than two weeks to wrap up the year, I strongly believe we can still make great impacts in our personal and professional lives.
While some businesses are winding up, some businesses are still sending proposals, working on already existing proposals, and exploring opportunities. Regardless of the setbacks, challenges and rejections you may have after investing time and money in a project, it’s instructive to note that, in the journey of life, you must not give up hope until you give up the ghost. If you feel like giving up hope, imagine a soccer match or basketball competition. Any team can spring up surprises until the final whistle is blown. What is the interesting thing about this analysis? In life you must work on yourself if you desire to see any progress.
Working on yourself means different things to different people. As a health expert, it can be eating healthy and staying hydrated. It also requires quitting bad habits such as smoking and/or drinking. As a student, it requires you going the extra mile by reading, researching, sleeping late and waking up a little bit early. As an entrepreneur, it requires thinking out of the box. As a professional, it requires taking professional and certification courses.
As an individual, the best thing you can do for yourself is to work on yourself. Working on yourself could be learning a new skill, getting education, and adding value to yourself. One of the best things that can happen to any progressive being is to work on himself. Couple of years ago, I discovered the benefit of working on myself. Having studied the lifestyle of successful people, I discovered that when you work on yourself, the opportunities that will come to you will be priceless. For instance, when I began to create content online with my articles, books, videos, quotes, workshops, etc., via social media, I discovered my social currency began to increase.
It is instructive to note that it is better to work harder on yourself than to work harder on your job. This is because when you work on yourself, you are invariably working on your job because you are adding value to yourself. Don’t get it twisted, working harder on your job is good because it might be paying the bill. But the point I want to emphasize is that when you work on your job, you earn a living, but when you work on yourself, you earn a fortune.
Most people think life revolves around their job. Nor matter how much you are paid on a job; it can’t be as satisfying as the reward you’ll get when you innovate a product. To work on yourself, after your day’s job, go back home and ask yourself, what can I do to increase my income, market value, investment, etc. When you answer that question, you will begin to learn new skills, it could be a language, develop a product, business, service or even networking with resourceful minds. All things help to add value to your life, and it will in turn increase your value.
When you add value to your life, it will attract people to you and when people are attracted to your value, they will appreciate you by paying you for the problem you are solving or the service you are providing. It is pertinent to note that one of the most motivating values in the world is progress. You can only progress when you work on yourself by adding value to your life. It is worthy of note that people will only pay you for the value they perceive of you and the value you present to them.
According to Dr. Lucas D. Shallua, “You influence others better by working on yourselves to grow and add your own value; others will see what you have become and be attracted by what they see and observe.”
Working on yourself requires a lot of sacrifice. It will require you to eliminate what is working and what is not working. To add value to your life, you must endeavor to learn something new everyday, week, or month. It could be cooking, taking an online class, or even seeking mentors.
The benefits of working on yourself are priceless. It will increase your value at the workplace; it will enhance your personal growth and relationship. To do this, you must surround yourself with people who want to see you do well.
In conclusion, endeavor to add value to yourself if you desire to go far in life.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a Human Capacity & mindset coach. He’s also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer. 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 and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has reacted to her acquittal by a London court after bribery charges brought against her were dismissed.
The Southwark Crown Court in London, United Kingdom, on Wednesday acquitted the former minister of all charges, including five counts of accepting bribes and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Reacting to the judgment, Alison-Madueke expressed relief and said she and her family had endured years of emotional distress over the case.
Speaking to News Central, she said she has remained in the United Kingdom since the legal proceedings began 11 years ago.
She said: “I’m just thankful to God, it’s been arduous, almost 11 years. It’s been traumatic not just for me but for my family, friends, my 93-year-old mother in Port Harcourt and for my son.
“It has been a hard journey, but I tell you this, God will always do as He will. God will be God and God is not a man that He should lie; when He promises you something, He will see it through.
“For almost 11 years I have been here. I did my job to the best of my ability.”
The lawmaker representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), at the Senate, Ireti Kingibe, says she did not see any report that led to the suspension of Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Kingibe made this disclosure on Wednesday when she featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’.
She said she was at a retreat with Edo North Senator, Adams Oshiomhole, when she heard about the report.
“I never saw the report that led to Natasha’s suspension. I was at a retreat. I had earlier stated that I was there with three or four other senators who are members of the committee.
“We attended the Committee on Petitions and Public Complaints, signed the attendance register, and I later left for the tax reform retreat, which I considered more important at the time.
“It affects my constituents much more than disciplining a senator, and I figured that the other people who were not part of that committee would take care of it.
“I even complained to other Senators, specifically to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. I complained to him very bitterly that I had not seen that report. I didn’t see it then. I have not seen it till now,” she said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to stay the execution of the judgment that ordered the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.
The Commission also threw its weight behind a notice of appeal lodged by the political parties.
Addressing a three-member panel of the appellate court on Tuesday, the electoral body said it was shocked by the decision of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja to deliver the judgment despite an order that stopped him from doing so.
INEC, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Haliru Mohammed, decried that it was not notified that the judgment would be delivered, saying it only heard about the court’s decision through media reports.
“My Lords, we are aware of an order that this court made on May 22, which stopped the delivery of the judgment of the lower court, which was initially reserved for delivery on June 5.
“We were not aware of any notice from the court regarding the delivery of the judgment. We only saw it as breaking news in the media.
“We therefore do not oppose the application of the appellant to stay the execution of the judgment.”
Likewise, counsel to the ADC, Mr. Shuaibu Aruwa, SAN, told the appellate court that Justice Lifu notified the party of the delivery of the judgment via WhatsApp.
Insisting that the decision of the high court was an invitation to anarchy, counsel to the ADC urged the appellate court to invoke its powers and sanction Justice Lifu for disrespecting the judicial hierarchy.
“Sincerely, my Lords, a lot has happened to the judiciary and this profession. What the trial judge did was dare this Court of Appeal by insisting that no one could arrest his judgment, even after his attention was drawn to the stay order from this court.
“The action of the trial judge calls for swift and extraordinary measures from this court. We have come to the stage where this court should press the reset button.
“We are calling on this court to exercise disciplinary jurisdiction under Section 6 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
“We urge this court to take disciplinary steps by immediately suspending that judgment. This court has the power to protect its own integrity. We pray this court suspends the judgment immediately without further delay,” ADC’s lawyer submitted.
The other parties also drew the attention of the appellate court panel to the fact that on June 20, INEC would conduct by-elections across six states of the federation.
They contended that if the judgment were not stayed, it would create problems across the country, maintaining that the Court of Appeal has inherent powers to act in a supervisory capacity and not allow its orders to be disregarded by lower courts.
The appellate court is still hearing submissions from the other parties in the matter.
It will be recalled that aside from the ADC, the other parties the high court directed INEC to deregister are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
According to the court, the five political parties failed to meet the constitutional requirements to warrant their continued existence and participation in future elections.
It barred INEC from further according recognition to the parties, accepting nominations of candidates from the affected parties, or giving effect to their activities for the purpose of participating in the 2027 general elections.
Moreover, Justice Lifu ordered the defendants to stop parading themselves as registered political parties in the country.
He held that there was merit in a suit filed against them by the National Forum of Former Legislators (NFFL).
The group, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2637/2026, prayed the court to determine whether INEC has a constitutional obligation to remove political parties that fail to meet the electoral performance thresholds set out in Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as reinforced by the Electoral Act 2022 and INEC’s regulations.
It was the position of the plaintiff that the five political parties listed as defendants had persistently failed to meet the constitutional benchmarks required to retain their registration.
The former legislators stressed that the requirements include winning at least 25 per cent of votes in a state during a presidential election or securing at least one elective seat at the national, state, or local government level.
They told the court that the ADC and the four other parties performed poorly in both the 2023 general elections and by-elections conducted by INEC, thereby failing to win seats across key tiers of government.
