The Nation Newspaper

Tag: panacea

  • ‘Peace, love panacea for nation’s woes’

    ‘Peace, love panacea for nation’s woes’

    The violence and destruction in the country have provoked a spirited reaction from a cleric in Taraba State.

    Apostle Joel Lenbang has launched a spiritual assault on all seen and unseen agents who are bent on destabilising the peace and unity of the country during one of his church sermons.

    It was during an open ground crusade at a trough that is encompassed by a range of exotic mountains at the Mambilla Plateau, Bang Sardauna Local Government Area of Taraba State.

    The Accountant-General of the state-turned cleric said:

    “We are here for a purpose; I would have been in the state capital accounting for the finances of the state. Territorial demons and evil doers must die wherever they are –in the water, on land or in the air. As I address them now. …Let the blood of Jesus flow.”

    Preaching on the theme “Who Should I Love?” he said the map of Africa is like a pistol, and Taraba State, particularly the venue (Bang) is metaphorically the spiritual trigger of a gun.

    He further said he was going to release the missile in Bang so that enemies of the establishment would be spiritually paralysed.

    The missile or projectile, which he said was from God, will start destroying the demons and evil doers in Taraba, Nigeria and the entire Africa.

    Noting that the “The Bible is my sword,” he said God sent him to clean the country of evils.

    Lenbang said he crept into Bang –his native home-at midnight and headed to a stream where God showed him all the evil places in Nigeria.

    “I will tackle the places now,” he insisted, noting that secret societies, cultisms, shrine activities and wickedness in high and low place were not good for the country.

    He said some people attack their neighbours. “Some eat human flesh and drink human blood.

    “Some people pick shit and pour on other people’s houses while they are sleeping. The anger and curse of God are on evil doers. We are going to destroy them today.”

    The cleric said he knows the witches would attack him after the service, but they would all die because he was only delivering the Word of God.

    On the theme, Lenbang said God has given us a new commandment, because man could not obey the first laws.

    Quoting copiously from Genesis chapter 2 verses 16 and 17, he said God created a garden in Eden and commanded man to be free to eat from any tree, except the tree of knowledge and evil, but man was unable to obey that commandment, even as he said in Exodus 20:1 to 17,  the Israelites were unable to keep the 10 commandments.

    He said: “God is wonderful and polished. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 40 years without God’s punishment until he gave them the 10 commandments, after emancipating them from the land of slavery.

    “But they broke even the first law that bars them from having other gods. They had carved an idol and were worshiping it.

    “The commandments were written by God Himself so they are as holy as Him; no one can keep them except Him. That is why Jesus came to fulfil the laws on our behalf.

    “Is there anyone who keeps all the 10 commandments?” he asked.

    The Apostle gave example of a rich man who went to Jesus and claimed he was fulfilling all the laws. Lenbang said humorously that when Jesus asked him to go and sell all his properties and give the proceeds to the poor and follow Him, the rich man left in anger.”

    He said we are of the flesh and blood so we must fall. “But when one falls, one should not stand on one’s error. If one does that, one is condemning oneself.”

    “What would you do for Jesus who died for you, in spite of your many sins?”

    He said the new law is simple: “Love one another like you love yourself”, adding that the new law has no conditions attached.

    “If you love your neighbour, you would not judge him; after all, no man is qualified to judge another man.

    “Who and how should we love? The answer is: love everybody, anyhow,” he said.

    Continuing, he said: “If you don’t love your neighbour, you are a dead person merely living.

    “Where is it written in the Bible that Christians shouldn’t love unbelievers?

    “Where is it written that Christians shouldn’t love Muslims, or Muslims shouldn’t love Christians?

    “Where is it written that a Christian should not love his perceived enemy? And where is it written that you should love God and hate your brother? If you cannot love your brother whom you know, how can you love God?”

    He maintained that no power was comparable to the power of love. “The power of love is supreme as the supremacy of God.

    “Jesus came and displayed love. So, the power of hatred cannot stand that of love, it is too strong. Love covers everything.

    “When you are saturated with the power of love, no weapon can succeed you, and you can destroy the works of Satan.”

    He added that when God chooses anyone, he will become a territorial apostle, saying there is only one God, and the only way to reach God is through Jesus Christ. But the new law brought by Jesus is love.

    “If you love your neighbour, you will not seek demonic powers; you will not belong to secret societies or indulge in cultism,” he said. He declared that whoever persists in evil acts would be destroyed.

    Concluding, he said: “I will only speak the Word and God will do the battle. Death and life are in the power of the Lord.”

  • Panacea for wealth, happiness

    Panacea for wealth, happiness

    It is a reality that wealth and happiness are two of the great desires of human beings. In short, they often go together because most people that are financially wealthy often feel happy because of the attendant financial abundance. I am sure this realisation must have informed Jim Rohn’s decision to entitle his book “7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness”. Rohn is America’s foremost business philosopher who has helped people of all walks to improve their lives.

    In this text, Rohn offers guide on how you can unlock the fountain of your prosperity inside of you. The author reveals the seven valuable strategies that are central to your achievement of success and enjoyment of happiness. According to Rohn, for you to realise your aspiration of enduring success and happiness, you need to unleash the power of goals; seek knowledge; learn the miracle of personal development; control your finances; master time; surround yourself with winners; and learn the art of living well.

    This text is segmented into seven strategies (parts) of 11 chapters. Rohn isolates chapter one from the strategic segmentation, thus grouping chapters two to 11 into seven strategies. In chapter one, he examines five key words.

    According to Rohn, all the ideas in this book stem from a group of key words. He adds that to understand this book, therefore, and get maximum value from its contents, it is essential that we examine these key words one after the other.

    These key words, according to Rohn, are “Fundamentals”, “Wealth”, “Happiness”, “Discipline” and “Success”. He says fundamentals refer to those basic principles on which all accomplishments are built. “Fundamentals form the beginning, the basis and the reality from which everything else flows,” he adds.

    As far as the second key word “Wealth” is concerned, Rohn submits that wealth is a controversial word because it brings to mind a wide variety of images and sometimes conflicting concepts. The author educates that to one person, wealth may mean having enough money to do whatever he or she wishes; and to another, it may mean freedom from debt, etc.

    As regards happiness, Rohn observes that happiness embraces the universal quest, a joy that usually accompanies positive activity. He says happiness is the skill of reacting to the offerings of life by perception and enjoyment. Rohn expatiates that it is achieved by both giving and receiving, reaping and bestowing.

    In his words, “It belongs to those who are in control of both their circumstances and their emotions. Happiness is also the freedom from the negative children of fear such as worry, low self-esteem, envy, greed, resentment, prejudice, and hatred.”

    As far as the last key word, that is, “Success” is concerned, the author educates that it, too, maintains elasticity of interpretation. Rohn adds that it is an elusive notion, a paradox as it is both a journey and a destination. “Success is both accomplishment and a wisdom that comes to those who understand the potential power of life,” reflects the author.

    Strategy one of this text is generically labelled “Unleash the power of goals”, and contains three chapters, that is, chapters two to four. In these chapters, Rohn examines the concepts of what motivates people as regards goals, how to set goals, as well as how to make goals work for you.

    In strategy two that is notionally christened “Seek knowledge”, and contains one chapter, that is, chapter five entitled: “The path to wisdom”, this great business philosopher says one of the fundamental strategies of living the good life is to know what information you need to achieve your aims. Rohn says once you know what you need to know, it is also helpful to know how to go about gathering that knowledge.

    Strategy three is labelled “Learn how to change”, and covers just a chapter, that is, chapter six, which is based on the miracle of personal development.

    In strategy four that is notionally summarised as “Control your finances”, and contains one chapter, that is, chapter seven, which is based on how to achieve financial freedom, Rohn emphasises the importance of taxpayment, the 70/30 Rule, charity, capital investment and savings to achieving financial freedom.

    Strategy five is tagged “Master time”, and covers just a chapter, that is, chapter eight, which is based on how to be an enlightened time manager, while strategy six is based on the need to surround yourself with winners.

    Strategy six covers chapter nine, which discusses the principle of association. “One of the major influences shaping the person you want to be is also one of the least understood. It is your association with others – the people you allow into your life…,” says Rohn. He adds that the influence of those around you is so powerful and subtle that you often do not realise how it can affect you.

    In the last strategy, that is, strategy seven which is tagged “Learn the art of living well”, and covers two chapters, that is, chapters 10 and eleven, he examines your road to richer lifestyle and the day that turns your life around. “Think of something you can do today to make you feel richer and better about your life…,” advises the author. Rohn says you should be happy with what you have while pursuing what you want.

    Stylistically, this text is a success. Apart from the simplicity of language, the presentation is also logical. Brilliant segmentation of the chapters into different strategies makes this text very reader-friendly. What’s more, to achieve conceptual reinforcement and ensure easy understanding on readers’ part, Rohn uses biblical allusions as well as autobiographical illustrations.

    However, “And”, the coordinating conjunction of adding should have been used instead of “&” in the title of the book to convey linguistic formality. Another error noticed in the book is, “I was yet to understand….” instead of the Standard British English version “I had yet to understand….” Please check any standard dictionary for confirmation of this standard usage.

    Generally, the text is a fantastic. If you aspire to be wealthy and happy in life, then it is a must-read for you. It is simply a must-read.

     

    PS: For those making inquiries about our ongoing Public Speaking and Business Presentation training programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details. We are here to satisfy you. Till we meet on Monday.

  • ‘Social justice, a panacea for security’

    ‘Social justice, a panacea for security’

    Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Okey Wali (SAN) has said the society can only be secure if there is justice.

    Speaking at the NBA Gombe Branch Law Week programme, he said insecurity is stalling Nigeria’s development.

    Wali was represented by NBA Second Vice-President Mr Stephen Abar.

    He said: “The topic chosen by the Gombe Branch of the NBA for this year’s Law Week could not be more apt given the prevailing state of insecurity being experienced in most parts of Nigeria and particularly in the North – Eastern parts of the country.

    “The state of affairs has constituted a serious impediment to development and is even threatening to undermining the territorial integrity of the Nation.

    “The leadership of the NBA has demonstrated deep concern about this seemingly intractable situation which is not only undermining the sanctity of human life, but has also portrayed the security agencies as incapable of reining in the challenges posed by belligerent elements who are hell-bent on unleashing mayhem on innocent members of society and visiting untold hardship by engaging in systematic destruction of both private and public properties.

    “It was borne out of this deep concern for the deteriorating security situation in the country that the NBA, under her current leadership convoked a National Peace and Security Summit as a priority programme in January, 2013.

    “It is apposite to state that social justice cannot find expression in a system where the rule of law does not prevail. It is therefore trite that the two concepts are inseparable.

    “This explains why the NBA has remained consistent at the vanguard of advocacy for all strata of governance in the country to evolve and pursue policies and programmes that will entrench social justice. This is one of the surest ways to dousing discontent that inevitably results to insecurity.”

     

  • Panacea to Nigerian graduates’ global irrelevance

    SIR: Robert Kiyosaki in his book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” asked the question, “Does school prepare children for the real world?” “Study hard and get good grades and you will find a high-paying job with great benefits”, parents used to say. But gone are those days!

    There has been a paradigm shift from focus on paper qualification to skills acquisition in the last couple of decades. But rather unfortunately, Nigeria and other African nations are waking up to these realities rather too late. It is absolute disillusionment for a twenty first century student to have a mind-set that a first class degree is sufficient to land him that plum job when he knows next to nothing about how real corporations are run. It is a saddening reality that prompts me to address this anomaly as leaving the status quo spells doom for the Nigerian future.

    The University of Lagos only recently had its convocation ceremony where over six thousand graduates received degrees in different categories. Every year, our ivory towers of higher learning churn out tens of thousands of graduates into the labour market which is already heavily saturated. It is no news that job availability is a mirage but even if there were more jobs than job seekers, the quality of these job applicants leaves more to be desired, constituting one of the main challenges of employers.

    So much noise has been made to have our educational policies reviewed. The ministry of education has been incessantly called upon to embark on a comprehensive overhaul of our curricula and make them relevant to the real world of work. Our students in higher institutions cannot see the gap between what our lecturers teach and what prospective employers would require from them. Hence, they just sit tight with books of the 1950s and ‘60s with no bearing on post-recession economy. The quality of academic staff in these ivory towers is another conglomerate of disturbing issues. It is a pathetic situation!

    So much as I concur that the bulk of the restructuring lies on the government, we cannot sit back and wait for a government. The private sector has got to come to the rescue because standing aloof would only be to the detriment of their future business concerns. Many thanks to corporations and organizations which have invested relentlessly to salvage the menace of skill gap existing in our graduate set. It is high time we shifted to a sixty-per cent-practical, forty-percent-theory system of teaching. This would avail our students in higher institutions the exposure to application of learnt theories to real life situations. It is my belief that the present administration is aware of the defects in the educational system more than any before and should be better poised to living up to its responsibility. And this responsibility involves the upgrading of the theory-focussed system to one with a healthy balance between theory and practical applications.

    •Joshua Oyeniyi

    Lagos

  • ‘Good governance, panacea for insecurity’

    ‘Good governance, panacea for insecurity’

    Rotary club has said installing the right set of people at various leadership positions in Nigeria would bring about an enduring peace in the country.

    Dr. Georgiana Ngeri-Nwagha stated this during a lecture by  Rotary Club of Port Harcourt, District 9140, to mark 2013 World Peace and Understanding Day, entitled “ensuring an enduring peace in Nigeria”, held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital yesterday.

    Ngeri-Nwagha observed the decay in moral and family values as main factors responsible for the increase in corruption, insecurity and unemployment rates in Nigeria.

    She also cited “decline in educational system, promotion of gospel of materialism by religious leaders, the entrenchment of culture of corruption and greed in the society and the failure of the government to cater for the welfare of its citizens and ingrained injustices and inequality in society” as some more reasons.

    Ngeri-Nwagha, who lamented lack of social and basic amenities in the communities, regretted that rather than the government addressing the main cause of kidnapping and Boko Haram insurgencies in the country, it is busy chasing shadows.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘Social security scheme panacea to poverty’

    ‘Social security scheme panacea to poverty’

    The social security scheme of Ekiti state government has been described as “the ultimate panacea to endemic poverty in Ekiti.”

    Nearly 20,000 elderly residents who have attained a minimum of 65 years in age are currently receiving N5,000 monthly from the scheme in the state.

    Speaking at his community empowerment programme in Ijan Ekiti in Gbonyin Council Area yesterday, Chairman of Ekiti State Local Government Service Commission (LGSC), Chief Aderemi Ajayi, stated that other state governments and even the federal government should copy the scheme to “genuinely reduce poverty and assist the needy.”

    Chief Ajayi, who distributed empowerment materials valued in excess of N3 million, observed it was time states “peer reviewed” themselves with a view to accommodating ideas and policies of others which would enhance living standards of the citizenry.”

    He said: “Governance has moved from the realm of surmises and conjectures to the field of realities and observables.

    “Leaders and politicians in positions of authority have to learn to implement programmes which will directly and immediately cushion hardships on the populace.

    “By doing this, they will not only be justifying their choices and victories at the polls but would be adding cubits to the credibility of the process of their emergence.”

  • ‘Global pricing, panacea for grey products imports’

    Japan’s global leaders in imaging, Nikkon, says global pricing is the panacea to unbridled importation of electronic products from the grey markets as it officially annouces its presence in Nigeria.

    Rohit Sawhney, the Area Manager, Nikkon, who spoke with TheNation in Lagos, said Nigeria is a huge market that cannot be ignored in Africa, adding that the firm has therefore decided to establish a firm footing in the country with a view to boosting its global market share and discouraging grey imports of its products into the country. He added that the official entry of the firm into the market also marked the availability of the one year warranty on its products.

    According to him, the menace of grey imports can only be tackled through global products pricing, adding that the opening up of Nigeria’ office marks the end of the road for grey imports.

    “As far as grey import is concerned, one thing that is important is global pricing. Our aim is to cut grey imports through global pricing so that our customers can get the one year warranty and value for their money.

    “Nikkon has an office in East Africa, set up at the beginning of this year. We are now opening regional offices. We have one in Kenya, we are opening another one in Nigeria so that customers can get the best value for their money and get the one year waaranty on our products.We are leaders in Europe, India, US and now in the UAE,” he told said.

    He disclosed further that Nikkon has an office in Dubai that takes care of the Middle East and Africa, arguing that the aim of the imaging firm is to be closer to the customer instead of sitting in Dubai and deciding how the Nigeran market is.

    “That is why we have set up an office in Opebi Road, Ikeja. The idea is to be close to the customers and serve them well. We have a service centre to take care of after sales services too,” he added.