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Food for Living: Need for Self Evaluation
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Destiny Friends,
“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates
One of the most valuable character traits one must have if they truly want to succeed in life, is honesty. If you don’t have this trait, please endeavor to have people who are honest working with you or in your family. If you have these people, please hold them very close because they are priceless.
In the journey of life, you can lie to others, but you can never lie to yourself. As a matter of fact, one of the highest disservices anyone can do to himself is lying to himself. It’s sad to note however, that some people live in deception by existing as opposed to living.
As a progressive being, one of the things you can do is to evaluate your life on a continuous basis. According to Socrates, “an unexamined life is not living”. Evaluating one’s life is very important, and this evaluation is not limited to one’s personal life; you can evaluate your career growth, spiritual growth, financial growth, personal and professional growth. It is generally stated that you cannot do the same thing repeatedly and remain the same. Whoever does that is insane. Hence the need to continually evaluate yourself whenever you embark on any task to know if it’s progressing well.
Every serious-minded entrepreneur, student, parent, leader etc. must take time to evaluate how the year fared for them. Evaluation helps to determine how well one is faring. Evaluation does not only apply when we fail, we can also celebrate our failures because it shows we are doing something. It’s sad to note that sometimes, we don’t take time to celebrate our wins no matter how small it is.
Evaluation comes into play when there are small wins. Do you think it’s easy to register a business? Do you think it’s easy to get accepted into a school, company? Do you think it’s easy to attend events and network with resourceful people? Do you think it’s easy to be alive? Do you think it’s easy to make a business post on social media? Do you think it’s easy to send a meaningful text message, email etc. to a resourceful person? All these involve process, procedures, and strategies because anything of value is done with process. So, celebrate your small win when you do the needful. Remember, nobody will celebrate you if you don’t celebrate yourself. You wear the shoe, and as such know how far you have come in life.
On a personal note, when I take stock of my life, I can confidently say, I have done reasonably well for myself. I have been able to hone some new skills in addition to having some new hits in my personal and professional career. I may not be a billionaire, but I have been able to author two books in addition to being recognized globally as a mentor, life coach, youth advocate, creative writer, and public speaker. These qualities didn’t come with me, I had to acquire and hone them by constantly evaluating myself and adding value to my life.
Furthermore, I do take time to evaluate the people in my life, my personal life, my career path, and spiritual life. In some cases, I ask trusted friends and family members to critically evaluate my life on where I am doing well and where I need to work on.
Above all, none gives me joy more than seeing my three-year-old son saying, daddy each time he sees me on television and social media for a good cause. The feeling is truly priceless. Imagine, being on the internet for a negative cause. The moral here is that I see how my video contents have truly grown due to constant evaluation.
Evaluating your life is a process that can help you check whether you are living your best life, or if it needs improvement. A critical way of evaluating your life is by asking yourself, am I leaning on the right side of the ladder? This question is very important because you might think you are leaning on the right side of the ladder only to get to the finish line and discover you were merely leaning on the wrong side of the ladder and that might lead to a disaster if not properly managed.
Here are some thoughts you need to ponder on. You must ask yourself, what do I want? Am I happy with the kind of life I’m living? What is the kind of dream job or life I would love to live.
1. Honesty
This is the most important trait one must apply if one is truly serious in the self- evaluation process. Self and professional evaluation starts with authenticity whether at the workplace, church, or political setting.
2. Alignment
The first piece of the reevaluation process is aligning your future goals with your current self. Alignment works with values, visions, and passion. When your profession, vocation and ministry are in alignment, one can be said to be living on and fulfilling purpose.
3. Humility
Humility is very critical when it comes to self evaluation and your goals, One must approach the entire process with humility. Life happens to everyone, and as such being amenable and dynamic to change is a great way to live through life. It takes humility to realize you may never achieve everything one desires.
As the year is winding down, take time to evaluate your business, family, career, spiritual life, and personal and professional life to know if you have fared well in those areas. Planning for the new year or season without first examining the mistakes of the previous year, will not make much impact if you haven’t learnt from your past mistakes. For one to achieve more in life, one must do or become more. Success in life is not a result of what you are doing, but what you are becoming.
In conclusion, as the year is about to end, you must endeavor to improve each area of your life by practicing self-examination, look inwardly and identify areas of your life that need to be modified and what needs to be eliminated.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correctionp as the Legal Coordinator. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
It’s impossible for any mortal person to claim that he has not at one time or another felt envious. In other words, everyone somehow has wished they have something other people; friends, partners, siblings, colleagues or even family members, have. It is worthy of note that the Creator of heaven and earth designed the universe in such a way that everyone needs to depend on one another for survival. Nobody has it all.
While one person may be gifted in singing, another might be gifted in praying, healing, speaking or writing. Yet another might be gifted in playing soccer, while another might be gifted in sprinting, tennis, swimming, and more.
As a Human Capacity Development expert, I have come to realize that we all have different strengths and weaknesses. The mistake most people make is to chase what is not chasing them instead of focusing on developing themselves.
When you develop yourself, it will be easy for other people to appreciate and support you, but when you focus your energy on being jealous of what other people have, you deprive yourself of attracting blessings and opportunities to your life. As a Life coach, I always tell my tribe, major on your major and work on your weakness.
Envy is not only when one is jealous of what someone has, it also means greed when one is not satisfied with what one has. Isn’t it true that greed makes a rich man poor and contentment makes a rich man poor. It is important to note that you can’t attract what you hate. If you see anyone thriving, please if you can’t support them, please leave them the way you are instead of pulling them down.
One of the best ways to succeed in life is to know oneself. According to Socrates, “man know thyself”. When you understand who you are, you will understand what’s unique about you, and you won’t be concerned about the activities of others. The benefit of self-discovery is priceless. Self-discovery will help you to make the right choice, it will assist you to unleash your potential, and it will ultimately help you to be intentional with your life.
One of the reasons why envy is paramount is that we don’t practice gratitude and appreciation. Most often, we look towards what we lack instead of looking at what we have. There’s an adage that says, it is because the philosopher was too busy to get to the promised land that he forgot there’s a ditch in front of him and he fell inside. That’s the philosophy of envy.
It’s instructive to note that envy is not only deadly, but also “cancerous” because when it envelops someone, it blinds the person not to see the good in others. Envy, if not properly managed, can cause more than damage.
There was a story about two friends- John and Paul. John woke up one morning to a gleaming new model Toyota Camry in Paul’s garage. He went green with envy, and by the next day, he had the same brand of car in his own garage to prove a point. Unknown to John, he didn’t know that Paul’s car was a gift from his wealthy father-in-law. John on the other hand had to exhaust all his savings to buy his own car just to prove whatever point he had in mind.
At the end of the day, Paul was smiling well and living his best life, but John was experiencing financial challenges that threatened his marriage because of his pride and greed to prove a point. The moral of this message is to desist from competing with people, rather compete with oneself by being better than you were yesterday.
One good reason why envy and covetousness are such terrible afflictions is because what is right for others may not be right for you. If your motivation is to have what others have, your decisions will be targeted at the wrong or goal. Your goal must be self-geared and not to keep up with the neighbors.
It’s instructive to note that we are not on earth to impress anyone, except God. Yes, it’s good to impress our boss at work, our friends, family members, mentors, and benefactors, etc., it should be done with moderation. What is important is for one to know the intention behind whatever they are doing. This is because when you try to please man, you’ll fail, but when we try to do the right thing, everything will fall in place. According to Bill Cosby, I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone. Moral: Just do you and everyone will be fine because at the end of the day, those that care, don’t matter and those that matter don’t care.
In conclusion, as you journey towards life, please avoid envy, run from it and be satisfied with what you have.
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
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WAEC Dismisses Viral Letter on Deployment of Security Personnel to Exam Centres As Fabricated, Fake
By Eric Elezuo
A statement signed by the Ag. Head, Public Affairs, West African Examinations Council (WAEC), National Office, Yaba, Ms Moyosola Adesina, on behalf of the Head of National Office, has denied and dismissed a letter purportedly issued by WAEC, and making the rounds on the internet, as forged, fake and fabricated.
The statement stated categoricrally that ‘the Council has not issued any such directive regarding the deployment of security personnel to individual examination centers as described in the rogue letter.’
The Council urged schools and examination centres to disregard the letter and it’s content as ‘it did not emanate from the office of the Senior Deputy Registrar (Test Administration) or any other department within WAEC Nigeria’.
Below is WAEC’s statement in full:
The attention of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, has been drawn to a fraudulent letter making the rounds in the media space.
The fabricated letter, dated May 27, 2026, bears the reference number L/SED/12/DIST/VOL. 4/460 and is addressed to “The Proprietor/Principal of schools.
The forged document falsely claims that the Council has finalized plans for a “comprehensive deployment” of personnel from the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to all WAEC examination centers across Nigeria, effective June 1, 2026. The letter also features a forged signature of the Senior Deputy Registrar/Head (Test Administration), Mr. S.D. Kum.
The Management of the West African Examinations Council wishes to state categoricrally that the said letter is fake, as it did not emanate from the office of the Senior Deputy Registrar (Test Administration) or any other department within WAEC Nigeria. Similarly, the Council has not issued any such directive regarding the deployment of security personnel to individual examination centers as described in the rogue letter.
Furthermore, WAEC recognizes that this letter is the handiwork of mischief-makers and fraudsters aiming to create unnecessary panic, disrupt the smooth conduct of the ongoing examination, and mislead school proprietors, principals, parents, and candidates.
On this note, school authorities, supervisors, invigilators, parents, and the general public are hereby advised to completely disregard the contents of the said letter.
The Council hereby wishes all registered candidates for WASSCE for School Candidates, 2026 the very best in their preparations for the examination.
The crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) has continued to deepen, as the President Bola Tinubu’s daughter, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, on Wednesday, called for the disbandment of the influential Justice Forum and Mandate Movement groups over alleged manipulation of the party’s primaries.
Tinubu-Ojo, daughter of President Bola Tinubu, specifically faulted the conduct of the House of Representatives primary for Mushin Constituency I, Agege Constituency II, and Ojokoro, alleging that the mandate of aspirants in the constituencies was stolen and handed to “a non-winner”.
Speaking during the weekly meeting of market leaders and stakeholders at the Iyaloja-General’s office in Alausa, Ikeja, she condemned what she described as political shenanigans and warned against attempts to subvert the will of party members.
She also decried the alleged marginalisation of traders by political office holders despite their contributions to the growth and electoral success of the APC in Lagos State.
The Iyaloja General cited the cases of Mutiu Olaide Oladeebo in Agege Constituency II, Seye Oladejo in Mushin Federal Constituency, and Olotu Emmanuel Ojo in Ojokoro, insisting that the aspirants won their respective primaries convincingly before moves were allegedly made to alter the outcomes.
She said: “We have to cry out now; let the APC cancel Justice and Mandate Forums because our governorship candidate belongs to the Justice Forum.” Everybody is now joking at the Justice Forum because that is where our incoming governor belongs. Are we not Lagosians? When he becomes the governor, he will not be the governor for the APC alone; he has to balance it. Even when you are the governor, you have to lead both your friends and foes. It is saddening that when a Mandate Forum aspirant wins, he jumps to Justice Forum; it is saddening. It is a way of telling us that hard work doesn’t pay in politics.
“Something must be done on that because it is important.
We are sure that Seye Oladejo won in Mushin Federal Constituency and Olotu Emmanuel Ojo in Ojokoro won in Ojoroko with a landslide.
“In fact, we decided to calm down and see what they will do about it because we are ready to protest. We know they won the election and their mandate should not be given to somebody else.”
She urged APC leaders at the state and national levels to immediately investigate the disputed primaries and ensure that justice prevailed before final ratification of the results.
She warned that failure to address the grievances could worsen internal tensions within the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Tinubu-Ojo declared that market women across Lagos remain committed to supporting the governorship ambition of Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat and other APC candidates nationwide, but stressed that traders deserve recognition and political appointments in return for their loyalty and sacrifices.
She also urged President Bola Tinubu to acknowledge traders as critical stakeholders in national development.
Meanwhile, aggrieved APC members and supporters in Mushin have threatened mass protests if the alleged mandate of Oladejo is not restored.
The protesters accused leaders of the Justice Forum bloc of attempting to impose candidates and undermine internal democracy within the party.
“We know who won the election, and the mandate should not be stolen. We are ready to protest if justice is not done,” one of the protesters said.
