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Food for Living: Steadfastly Develop Your Craft
By Henry Ukazu
Greetings Destiny Friends,
Life can be incredibly challenging and frustrating, especially when you are not getting desired results in your investments and craft. You may have been working on a product for a while and your dream is to introduce it to the market but it’s unfortunate if it doesn’t turn out as expected.
As an entrepreneur, writer, producer, marketer, student, devoted Christian and many more, you may have experienced that secret frustration which nobody knows. It is hard to feel that way, but being consistent and believing in your craft can turn the tides around even when no one believes in you and your product. Remember, you have to believe in yourself even if no one believes in you.
As human beings, once in a while we have the feeling that makes us feel we can’t do it, that we have completely lost it, as result of background, environment, or academic qualification. Yes, these factors can influence our nature of productivity, but they are not the conclusive factors that can decide our faith.
You may have felt disappointed because a friend didn’t keep his word, a bank loan didn’t come through or an investment deal didn’t work out. All these might be legitimate reasons to back out, but the biggest question you have to ask yourself is, who defines my success or failure? Is it me or someone else? It is important to know that you have the key to your success, the universe only comes to facilitate the process for you.
As an entrepreneur and productive minded being, you don’t need a perfect performance to succeed, all that is necessary is for you to try; even if you fail, just know that you have tried your possible best, and learnt from your mistakes.
One of the reasons most businesses fail is because they don’t have a clear-cut vision of what they want to accomplish. If you have a well-structured business and know what you really want to do, you won’t have to engage in several businesses; you’ll be concerned about a specific area. As you plan to develop your craft, you must know the vision you have at the back of your mind. It is your vision that matters and not your mistakes and failures. Your mistakes and failures don’t define you, rather what defines you is what you have been able to achieve and accomplish.
No doubt, we all face challenges in our personal life, business, professional work environment and even in financial life. The big question is how do we manage these challenges? The first step in managing these life challenges is to have peace of mind. Once you have peace of mind despite the obvious problems, you’ll overcome any storm of life.
It is instructive to note that many people may not see your vision not feel what you feel. it’s not really up to them to see or feel it; it’s completely up to you to see and feel it.
Developing your craft entails a lot, especially when the odds don’t add up. As an advice, don’t be hard on yourself; learn to enjoy the moment; learn to appreciate every experience whether negative or positive because they are all part of the building process.
You never know the next big opportunity waiting for you. You may be at the brink of success without knowing it. There was a story of two men who were on an exploration looking for gold, Mr. A was on the brink of hitting a milestone of gold, but he didn’t know, but because Mr. B was able to strike gold and quietly left. Mr. A left his spot and re-routed to Mr. B’s position not knowing he was not far from hitting gold. If only he knew he was few strikes from hitting a goldmine, he would have remained on his position without moving to Mr. A’s position. The story had it that, assuming he had not left, he would have hit goldmine.
The story is not different from everyone of us. At different stages in our life, we all experience the feeling of giving up, especially when you must have given your best by trying to pitch your idea or business plan but it gets rejected on a continuous basis.
As mentioned earlier, don’t be hard on yourself, just be steadfast, you may be close to hitting a jackpot. As a word of advice, don’t feel bad if your work is not being accepted or a potential mentor didn’t acknowledge your work. Remember, people only identify or support projects they are passionate about.
Just continue to give your best, if anyone is destined or inspired to support your work, they’ll definitely engage or communicate with you with little or no effort from you. Trust me, if you are consistent in your craft/work, and do what is needed, you’ll succeed.
Furthermore, it is important to note that who you are is different from what you are. Who you are is what you are created or destined to do, what you are is the work you do. Maintaining steadfastness in your craft really entails a lot. It’s a process. It’s just like in mathematics, it is not your answers that matter but your steps , formulas and analysis that made you arrive at the answer.
In conclusion, it is pertinent to note that there are many stories littered in the internet of many great men who failed many times before they succeed, so don’t get strained when your plans don’t work. Stay strong and positive.
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 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.
