Chiderah writes

  There's an Igbo adage that says, "Ahú ihe ka ubi, èréé óba" (If one sees something greater than the farm, one sells the barn).  It means that if you see (foresight) what is bigger and better than what you have, you'll sell what you have to get that thing. I like to use Igbo adages. They have deep and instructive🙇 meanings. There's a level of growth and understanding you'll attain which will make you consider your present earning or level in your career as unfit to remain in. In that situation, you'll "sell that barn" in order to step into that desired place. Foresight🧐 is the ability to judge correctly what the future will be and prepare for that future. If you quit your job to further your studies or take a training, it may seem you just lost the money you will make while working that job. But the level that additional training, schooling or certification will place you afterwards, will exponentially increase your relevance, demand as well a...

💪Resilience is the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. It is that characteristic exhibited by some trees, in that when a heavy wind blows against that tree, the tree bends backwards almost to breaking point, but you see it spring back up afterwards. The world comprises of challenges and how you take challenges define the outcome of your life. Being tough is a matter of your inner being and not your outward appearance.  In Igbo language, there's a proverb that says,"Mberede nyírí dike; mberede ka eji amara dike." When translated into English language, it means, "Sudden adversity weighs on the strong; in sudden adversity the strong is known."  Fire is not interesting at all, but it reveals the beauty of gold! Having it bread and butter does not give you the accurate picture of life and it does not give you any inspiring story to tell. Such stories are capable of strengthening the weak and giving hope to the hopeless. The challenge you f...

 Do you like yourself? 'To like' according to the Cambridge dictionary means: "to enjoy or approve of something or someone" >Do you enjoy being you? >Do you like the way you talk, smile, laugh? >Do you admire you and are happy that you are you and not someone else? I have come to that point where I look at my picture and I'm happy to be me. I like the way I smile, laugh, talk or even stare, regardless of what anyone may think. There are times after hearing myself talk, that I would lavish accolades on me. I would be like, "Wow, you are really smart. I mean, you really have good brains and wisdom to have come up with such great lines." Enjoying and approving yourself is the gate pass to genuinely enjoy and approve of others. You cannot give what you don't have. If you can't spot out the gift(s) and abilities you have, how will you be able to see that in another? Jesus was careful to say, "...love your neighbor as yourself." Henc...

The difference in time zones is God's way of informing us that we are not in a competition with another's time and season. Your dawn is another's dusk. Your summer is another's winter. Your rainy season is another's dry season. Stay in your time zone and make the most of it! You complain of the cold while another complain of the heat. You love the sunshine while another wish to see the snow. You are overwhelmed with constant rainfall while another longs for just a drizzle. Make the most of your time and season. Remember that what you have now, where you are now and who you are now may be another's dream or past. Don't beat yourself up now for what is scheduled to come later. Respect process and timing. You can prosper in your time zone!

The happiest moment in your life is not when you can afford to buy anything you want, travel around the world, mingle with top persons in the world, eat anything at any five-star restaurant in the world, the list goes on. The happiest and the most fulfilling moment in your life will be when you realize that with or without all these afore-mentioned accomplishments, YOU ARE ENOUGH!!! You are enough as a person, a human being created wonderfully and fearfully and you are enough for the purpose for which you were made. Knowing you are enough is not a licence to be a mediocre. No! It is a licence to be ambitious, to desire to accomplish great things because you know that you are deserving. It is a licence to wait for breakthroughs with your head held high about yourself, knowing that with or without that accomplishment, YOU ARE ENOUGH! It is a licence not to let how many goals you achieve determine how valuable you are considered, because without that goal, YOU ARE ENOUGH! It is a licence ...

  Anything or anyone in your life that requires you to reduce/lower your values, principles, standards, ethics, morals and/or behavior in order to be or stay relevant to you is faulty, defective and not worth being in your space/life. By reducing/lowering your values, principles, standards, ethics, morals and/or behavior, you will be conversely affecting in a negative way the functionality of the needful things or people that depend on your original values, principles, standards, ethics, morals and/or behavior to be and stay relevant to you. Test : If you have a faulty Television set that requires you to reduce the current of your Generating Set in order to function and you have an expensive and new Freezer that it's compressor will be damaged if you effect that reduction, what will you do? For me, I will discard the Television set, save up and buy a new one that can function with the current of my Generating set. I cannot afford to end up with two faulty appliances: the already fa...

You don't need everyone you come across to see your value. You just need that one right person to see the value in you.  You can be an amazing footballer all you want, but until a manager (or someone responsible for the recruitment of football players) of a football club sees how valuable you are and absorbs you into the football club, you will keep rigmarolling in a football academy and remain unknown and uncelebrated. We appreciate the persons of Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo and other football stars because of how sensational they are on the football pitch. However, if the right person didn't see their value and decide to give them a hand to get to where they are now, we will not have the opportunity to have such football champions to celebrate. Truth is, there may have been other players who were better than them in their football academy, but were not chosen. There may have also been other players they were better than but those were chosen before them.  You just need ...

Be vocal about who you are, what you want and what you stand for. Being vocal is far from being rude, abusive or talkative. It is the quality of being able to help people around you understand your difference and uniqueness so that they can differentiate between you and every other person. It is the ability to say NO to disregard or being taken for granted. We live in a world where it is easy to be classified into a group where you may not belong. We live in a world where it is easy to be treated like every other person though you may not like that treatment. Hence, it is your responsibility to make it clear that you don't fit into a general classification and that you are different. You have to let people know that you cannot be spoken to, viewed as and treated as every other female or male. People find it convenient to lump everyone they meet into one group and use the same measure of attitude towards them with the misconception that all are the same. It is only those who are unc...

It is the people in a country that bring wealth to the country. There's no tree in the Government houses of each state in Nigeria and in Aso rock that yields money to the government for the running of the nation as well as the expenditure on the leaders. Nigerians should understand that our leaders don't spend their money while serving in any political position. Rather, we are the ones that feed, clothe and pay for their luxurious life. We do this by the direct and indirect taxes we pay. There's nobody in Nigeria that does not pay tax directly or indirectly. Hence, you should disabuse your mind from thinking that a politician that gives you any amount of money has done you a favor worthy of your loyalty and support. Remember, if that politician gets into power, he will be maintained with your money. He will fly on private jet but you will be trekking or driving on bad roads.  The tax you pay on the phone calls you make, the personal effects you buy, the food, water and clot...

  A sign of good leadership is the improvement of the standard of living of the people in that nation. There should be an improvement on the economy of the nation. The bible records that when David was on the throne, the nation of Israel was unconquerable. Israel was a force to the outside world. There was national security and boundary protection. Also, the economy of Israel was good. It was good to the extent that King David built a magnificent palace without borrowing a dime from any nation. Israel's economy was so good that King David thought to build a temple for God. He had the design of the temple mapped out and the resources were provided by him before he died. The temple was a wonder to behold. Then Solomon came on board as the King of Israel after his father David. He chose to rule by wisdom and that wisdom set Israel on a pedestal which was higher than the nations of the world. The Bible records that during King Solomon's reign, silver was like sand in Israel. Solomo...

  It is noteworthy that this article is not an analysis of the laudable Judgement delivered by Honourable Justice D. E. Osiagor (Judge) but a reproduction of the parts of the judgment where His Lordship held that the Ikoyi Marriage registry can lawfully conduct, celebrate and register marriages, as well as issue marriage certificates. The need to write this article arose due to the booming nation-wide rumour that Ikoyi Marriage Registry is banned, which has led most persons into misunderstanding the above-stated Court judgement.  BRIEF FACTS The Plaintiffs' (Eti-Osa Local Government Council,  Lagos State, Egor Local Government Council, Edo  State, Owerri Municipal Local Government Council Imo State and Port-Harcourt City Local Government Council Rivers State) filed a suit against the Defendants (Hon. Minister of Interior, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and Anchor Dataware Solutions Limited) before the Federal High Court, Lagos State in Sui...

One thing that has existed since the creation of man is the will. Free will to make one's choices and decisions is always a part of man's existence. Anything that comes to take away a person's will should be properly scrutinized. No matter how good and beneficial a thing is to human beings, when you force it on them, especially when they are grown-up, it starts to look like it's evil.  There are a lot of diseases that exist on earth at present which are deadly and infectious like HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Lassa fever, Cholera, etc. Why is there no world movement to get everyone vaccinated against them? However, persons infected by these diseases still have the choice to take the treatment or not.  Let's tell ourselves the truth, the development of Covid-19 has caused people to raise eyebrows on the truism of what the government alleges. The surfacing of different variants as if it is calculated to still keep the whole world in fear of Covid-19. Even if they are correc...

  Written by Chiderah Beulah Ojukwu-Ngele There's nobody that has life going smooth for them all the time. Even motivational speakers have days of being unmotivated. They may have issues in their life that can be a thorn in the flesh and have resisted many remedies. Don't even think rich people are always happy. There are times they despair of life, hate life and even money. Things happen to everyone in life. Those who are highly placed have problems that even make them not savour the delicacy served on their exquisite dinning table. Everyone, I repeat, everyone has their share of challenges that are really challenging. Don't even resort to social media to determine the condition of people's lives. Everything there is selected. When it's picture time, it's only natural for us to put on our best smile, use a nice background, dish out our best pose and to crown it all, to use a catchy caption to post it on social media. It doesn't show anything! Don't try ...

Life is like driving a car on the road. You will overtake some cars, other cars will overtake you. That is the normal way of life. No offense is taken. The major concern is your destination. Your destination is more important than counting the cars that overtook you.  Being overtaken by another car does not preclude you from getting to your destination. You just keep moving! You'll get to a junction where every car will take the different turns to their different destinations. A fool is one who keeps up a race competition with another car, while forgetting he has a place he is  going. He is more interested in overtaking the other car just for the sake of it despite the likelihood of an accident.  Don't forget why you are on the road of life. Keep your destination in mind. You'll avoid some senseless chase, while patiently keeping on to get to your destination. Written by Chiderah Beulah Ojukwu

Rejection can be your stepping stone to self-actualization. I know a lawyer who was rejected by a notable law office in Lagos even though he was previously offered a job position in the law office. It made him go back to the city in which he completed his national service. Shortly afterwards, he established his own law office in that city-a place considered unlikely for him to practice law, owing to where he hails from. Currently, he has become a shining light in darkness and has influence beyond the said city. I have experienced rejection which made me weak and disappointed. When it seemed that I was down to my last option, one more option came to mind. Amazingly, that door opened! It was better than the others and was what I really desired. You may be knocking on a door which you have passed the level. It may be a door which is not yet time for you to enter in or a door that is not for you to enter. Sometimes, we need to get rejected into a better place. We need disappointments to p...

Temptations and deceptions usually don't look like what they are. They usually mask themselves as opportunities. They come so you can abandon where you are and what you have. They come to give you hope but this hope disappoints. TAKE CAUTION! Most times, when you are having some problems with your God-ordained place or person, the devil introduces the distraction of another option.  The other option is a bait to lure you out of the God-ordained place or person for your life. Those other options are desert clouds: you cannot hold onto them. Like fog they will disappear and make you miserable. If you make the mistake of impulsively deserting the place you were or the person you were with to go for the new option, you will discover that at the end, you lost at both ends.  That is why entrusting one's life to God and trusting God for one's life is the assured life-saving option one has. When these things are happening, you may not understand that their mission is to cause you t...

Observation is not enough! Understanding mechanism is the life of learning by observation. Why is it done this way? That is the question which understanding mechanism seeks to answer. I used to observe my mum while she cooked. I noticed that in making stew, she would pour groundnut oil into an empty pot till it gets to a certain level, before she puts her tomato paste. When I was in the junior secondary school, I'd already started cooking in my house. I was to prepare stew that Sunday night. I carried the gallon of oil and started pouring the oil into an empty pot just like I observed my mum do. It got to a certain point where I thought she normally stopped, then I stopped. How was the outcome of the stew? My Dad jokingly said that the oil he bought must have finished.  The stew was a fountain of oil! I kept making mistakes in cooking until I understood the mechanism of cooking those dishes. Until I understood the reason behind the methodology in cooking of those meals, the outcom...

Have you ever felt so disappointed and anxious? Anxiety and feelings of disappointment arise when one is engrossed with having expectations of people or systems. When you have made certain applications, registered for some programs and the likes, you expect feedback or result. When it is not forthcoming, you get tensed. At a point, you may start feeling that nothing works. You may have tried your best and it seems nothing responds to you. I've been there. But no more! I've found out that it was not the right way to view the situation. Each situation comes to pull out the innovative YOU . Therefore, for that anxiety, hopelessness or feeling of disappointment to disappear, you have to think about the situation differently. WHAT DO I HAVE TO OFFER MY WORLD? When you think of what you can give to your world, your mind leaves what others can give to you. You will focus on delivering value to your circle of influence. When you are engrossed with making things happen for people, you w...

  My parents' room were usually under lock and key all the time when we were kids. The keys to their room were like hidden mysteries. The only time you can access the room legally was when they were inside the room or you were specifically sent by any of them to get something. If they mistakenly leave their rooms open, the moment they come back, they will be in suspicion as to what may have gone wrong in their absence. One will ask me: How do you expect your parents to leave their room open when they find it difficult to leave the parlour open when they leave? Thinking back on these facts keep me in wonder as to how all those have changed. Not just changed to the point that one can enter their room in their absence without their permission but that the very keys to the room can be left in one's care. My God! When one speaks of paradigm shift, I believe this is what is being referred to! The answer that flashed into my mind like a picture was: The benefits of sonship. Sonship do...

Ihunanya means Love in Igbo language. When broken down, it reveals the Igbo people's concept of love. 'Ihu' means 'to see' 'nanya' means 'with the eyes' So ihunanya means 'To see with the eyes'. By this interpretation, it means that the Igbo people believe that love is a function of the sight. Love is inspired by what you see with your eyes and maintained by what you see with your eyes. Although this sounds like 'fake love' because love should not just lie with what a person sees but should be unconditional. However, there lies truth in that concept. When you love someone, you have eyes for that person only. You may see every other man or woman but your eyes (attention and interest) have been captured by just that one man or woman. That is why you hear people say, " I have eyes just for you" or " I see you ." These statements are traced to the Igbo concept of love which is seeing only that person with your eyes. I...

Everybody has something they will pay any amount to have, even though the price may be high. It is all about need and interest. I have seen trainings offered for free but did not register for them, inspite of the juicy topics and subjects they will treat. But when I saw a training for French language that I had to pay for, I registered for it. That is interest! This is the same for every other person. There are products and services people will be willing to pay high prices for but have ignored others which were cheaper. Interest is built.  In my Adminstrative Law class in 300 level at the University, the lecturer was talking about the Royal family of Britain in passing. I was amazed how she knew so much and spoke as though she was from there. Then I asked her a question, "How do you know about all these?" "Interest," she replied. I was like, "Huh?"  She repeated the same word, "Interest." I thought to myself that I was not done with my studies ...