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Food for Living: The Gainful Pain
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Every human being experiences one form of pain or another, and in different ways, as the journey of life progresses. The pains of a lady in search of a child is quite different from the pain of a broke man. The pain of a student who failed an examination is quite different from the pain of a divorced man/woman. The pain of an injured person is quite different from the pain of one, who has experienced failure in business. The pain of a politician who failed an election is different from the pain of someone who has lost a loved one. Pain means different things to different people.
In all these, the manner the pains are processed and managed, is what ultimately makes the difference. Speaking from a personal experience, it is worthy of note that every pain has an associated gain if considered critically and wholistically. I have experienced failure at one time or another in my academics, relationship, business and career, but one thing is certain, I learnt a lot from each experience, and it helped to shape me for the next opportunity.
One may be wondering how pain can lead to gain. Yes, every pain has a corresponding lesson for one for learn. Let’s take a case study of a student who has failed an examination. Does it mean the student is a failure? No. I’m of that the student either needs to prepare more or work on areas he didn’t perform well. Again, does it really mean that a man, who performed badly in business is a failure? Again, no! It might be case of negligence, bad decision, not learning the ropes or not paying attention to details. These are situations he can correct if learns from his mistakes, and the previous pain will metamorphose into gain.
Sometimes, we view pain as sorrow, affliction or injury, but that’s not what pain connotes in the real sense. A great mind feels pain, and seeks solution.
Pain can be a blessing if one is able to think out of the box. We all learn from our pains and mistakes. It is imperative for one to run away from anyone who hasn’t experienced failure in life because anyone who has experienced failure has a way of impacting knowledge to others. For instance, imagine someone who has failed in business, marriage, election and examination advising their mentees how to deal with the shame, pain and failure, the lessons will be huge and impactful more than a person, who has no experience.
As a matter of fact, it is said that a wise man learns from his mistakes, but a wiser man learns from other peoples’ mistakes. Mistakes and failures come in different shapes and sizes, and they mean different things to different people. Let’s take a case study of a divorced man or woman, who gets re-married to a partner interested in their vision; will one call that a pain of sorrow? I personally think it’s a pain of gain if they fail fast in the marriage and move on to the next person passionately and interested in supporting the vision.
Let’s take it a little bit further, anyone who has failed in their relationship would have picked up one lesson or the other and if the person goes into another relationship, they will learn from their mistakes, and try not to repeat their previous mistakes.
It’s good to cry when a relationship didn’t work out, especially after investing so much emotions into it, but in the midst of crying, kindly take an inventory into the pros and cons and see if the gains are more than the losses, if that’s the case, you really gained.
In the journey of life, there’s no venture without some level of pain. We all must undergo one form of pain if we must go to the next level of life and this next level entails some kind of sacrifice. Some people will have less sleep to read and research, some will volunteer, others might have to pay for a course or even work on their diet to get a particular body physique.
It’s a fact of life that nothing good comes easy, if you want to have a good physique, one will have to eat healthy and exercise well. Abstaining from fats, junk food, and alcohol are part of the pain we must undergo to gain the kind of body we desire. So, whenever you experience a form of pain, please don’t take it personal because the rain falls on every roof without exception.
Let’s put this into perspective; anyone who wants to be delivered from the pain of a bad tooth must be prepared to go through the agony of tooth the extraction. If one decides to keep the bad tooth, it might decay and affect another tooth.
So, one must be prepared to put in more in their craft or life, to get more out of their craft or life, and this involves investing time and effort for life to offer its bounties to you. This can be done refusing or despising to engage in free lunch or frivolities. Decide today to launch yourself into action by paying today to play later. However, anyone that decides to play now, will unfortunately pay later.
In conclusion, to get the gain that comes with pain, one must intentionally decide to go through the burning furnace which entails doing the needful. Refuse to be in the comfort zone, because nothing great has been done in the comfort zone. All great ideas and actions were executed under unfavorable conditions and atmosphere which came with mixed feelings and reactions, but at the end of the day, ones determination excelled over one’s feeling.
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
Former Kano State governor, and presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the 2023 elections, Rabiu Kwankwaso, has criticised the President Bola Tinubu administration for what he described as the neglect of the northern region of Nigeria and the concentration of the nation’s resources on developing the southern part of the country where the president comes from.
“Let me advise the Federal government on the distribution of federal resources,” the former Kano governor said on Thursday at the Kano State Stakeholders’ Dialogue on the 2025 Constitutional Amendment.
“From the information available to us, it’s like most of the national budget is now tilting in one direction in this country.”
Kwankwaso, the 2023 presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of lopsided allocation of scarce resources between the two regions of the country.
He said: “Let me advise those who are struggling by all means to take everything to remember that some of the issues that we have in this part of the country today have to do with the lack of enough resources and mismanagement of the little that comes in.
“That is why we have insecurity; we have poverty and so on. It is happening here mainly, but like a desert, it would go everywhere.”
Kwankwaso said most roads in the northern region remained in deplorable condition, whilst the APC government continued to allocate lump budgetary allocations for infrastructural development in the southern region.
“Yesterday, I was to come by air, but unfortunately, my airline decided to shift our takeoff from 3pm to 8pm. I had to come by road. From Abuja to Kaduna to Kano was a hell. Terrible; very bad road. This is a road started many years ago, right from the beginning of the leadership of the APC.
“Now, we are told that there is a road from the South to the East. We support infrastructure anywhere in this country…and any other thing that is good for the masses but a situation where government is taking our resources and dumping it in one part of the country and other parts of the country are left just like that, I don’t believe that is the right thing to do by the government itself.”
He urged the Tinubu administration to change for the better and ensure the equitable distribution of scarce resources for the development of all parts of the country.
“This is the time for the government to change, to convince our people that the government is not just on one side of the country,” he said.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has settled on a new national chairman, with Professor Nentawe Yilwatda emerging as the consensus nominee to lead Nigeria’s ruling party.
According to a Premium Times report, Yilwatda, the present Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and a former university don, was nominated to replace Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who recently resigned from the position citing health concerns.
His emergence followed a late-night meeting in Abuja between President Bola Tinubu and governors elected on the platform of the APC, sources familiar with the development told PREMIUM TIMES. The party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) is expected to ratify his appointment at a meeting scheduled for later this Thursday.
Mr Yilwatda, 56, hails from Plateau State and was the APC’s gubernatorial candidate in the state during the 2023 general elections. His nomination aligns with the party’s zoning arrangement, which allocated the national chairmanship to the North-Central geopolitical zone comprising Benue, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau states.
Multiple party insiders said his Christian faith also worked in his favour. With both the President and Vice President being Muslims, APC leaders reportedly reasoned that appointing a Christian chairman would help the party project inclusivity and appeal more broadly to voters of other faiths.
“He is young, suave, well-educated, and doesn’t carry the usual political baggage.
“We believe he can give the party a new face and restore credibility ahead of future elections,” says a senior party official.
Source: Premium Times
The West African Examinations Council, Nigeria, has firmly dismissed a viral press statement alleging the cancellation of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, branding the information as false, misleading, and the handiwork of “mischief-makers.”
The purported statement, widely circulated across social media platforms on Saturday, July 19, 2025, claimed that the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with WAEC, had cancelled the entire 2025 WASSCE due to massive exam malpractice, coordinated leakage of question papers, and unauthorised digital dissemination of exam materials.
In a swift rebuttal issued on Sunday, July 20, 2025, and signed by the Acting Head of Public Affairs, Moyosola Adesina, WAEC described the report as spurious and categorically denied issuing such a notice.
“The said examination has not been cancelled.
“Though the source of the information cannot be ascertained, the Council is certain that the false claim is being peddled by mischief-makers who are bent on bringing the Council to disrepute and causing confusion and panic among candidates who sat the examination,” the statement partly read.
WAEC added that marking of scripts has just been concluded and assured the public that results would be released on or before Thursday, August 4, 2025.
The Council emphasised that all its official announcements are made via its verified social media platforms, accredited national media outlets, and the Public Affairs Department.
“We therefore urge our stakeholders and the general public to disregard the said publication,” the statement concluded.
