Inspirational Stories

14/02/2025

**🚨 *Valentine’s Day Alert: Love Smart, Stay Safe* 🚨**

This Valentine’s Day, let’s talk about something important: YOUR SAFETY. While love is in the air, it’s crucial to stay grounded and vigilant. Here’s your safety checklist for the day:

✨ **1. Share Your Whereabouts**
Always let someone you trust know your location in real-time. A quick text or app update can make all the difference.

✨ **2. Know Who You’re Meeting**
Share the name, contact info, and even a photo of your date with a friend or family member. Transparency is key!

✨ **3. Double-Check Communication**
Use your date’s phone to call someone you trust—while they’re watching. This ensures a backup plan if your phone dies.

✨ **4. Set a “Home by” Time**
Be clear about when you’ll be back, and ask your trusted contact to check in if you’re late.

💡 **Why This Matters**
The world can be unpredictable, and incidents of abductions and crimes are on the rise. Staying alert isn’t about being paranoid—it’s about being prepared.

💌 **Spread the Love, Share the Message**
Your safety is priceless. Share this post with your friends, family, and loved ones to remind them to stay safe while celebrating love.

💖 *Because the best Valentine’s Day is a safe one.* 💖

05/09/2024

This statue is in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, in memory of a cleaning worker who fell in love with a girl and left him after he told her about his work!
She did not have the courage to dump him face to face, so she promised to drink coffee with him but broke her promise.
He waited for her every day, at the same time and in the same place. His friends (who knew about it) tried to sympathize and console him. He died few months after out of melancholy and pain.
The city decided to honor him by making this statue and opening a coffeeshop next to it so that people would come to drink coffee with him and express their love, sympathy and their appreciation for his work.

19/07/2024

TENSION TO TRANSFORMATION:

Once upon a time, in a vibrant village in Africa, there lived a woman named Amina who had grown tired of her marriage to her husband, Kofi. She felt neglected and unloved, and bitterness filled her heart. One day, in her frustration, she sought out the village healer, Mama Zuri, known for her wisdom and remedies.

"Mama Zuri," Amina began, "I cannot bear my husband any longer. He is distant and unkind. I want to find a way to end my suffering without anyone knowing. Can you help me?"

Mama Zuri gazed at Amina with wise eyes and replied, "I can help you, but it will require dedication and patience. Are you willing to do whatever it takes?"

"Yes, I am," Amina said without hesitation.

"Alright," said Mama Zuri. "Here is what you must do:

1. **Treat Kofi with kindness**: Speak to him with love and respect every day.
2. **Take care of your appearance**: Dress beautifully and carry yourself with joy.
3. **Prepare his favorite meals**: Show your care through the food you make.
4. **Be patient and understanding**: Listen to him and support him without judgment.
5. **Be generous**: Share your time and resources with him without expecting anything in return.
6. **Promote peace in your home**: Avoid arguments and foster a harmonious environment.

Mama Zuri handed Amina a small pouch of herbal powder and added, "Mix a pinch of this into his food every day. It will slowly bring about the change you desire."

Determined, Amina followed Mama Zuri’s instructions with care. She treated Kofi with unprecedented kindness, dressed in her best clothes, cooked his favorite dishes, and listened to him patiently. Over time, she noticed a remarkable transformation in Kofi. He became more attentive, loving, and appreciative. Their home filled with laughter, warmth, and harmony.

After a month, Amina returned to Mama Zuri, her heart filled with joy and relief. "Mama Zuri, I no longer wish to harm Kofi. He has become the husband I always dreamed of. How can I stop the powder from affecting him?"

Mama Zuri smiled gently and said, "The powder I gave you was just ground herbs, harmless and without any magical properties. The true change came from within you. By treating Kofi with love and respect, you nurtured the same qualities in him. The real remedy was your kindness and dedication."

Amina realized that her own actions and attitude had been the key to transforming her marriage. From that day forward, she continued to love and cherish Kofi, understanding that the power to change her relationship had always been in her hands.

26/04/2024

THE SILENT RISKS OF FUMIGATION: A PROFESSIONAL'S PERSPECTIVE
As a seasoned professional in the pest control industry, I have encountered numerous challenges and risks associated with my line of work. One particular incident stands out as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by fumigation chemicals when not handled with the utmost care and caution.
In 2014, during a routine fumigation job for a client in Abuja, I experienced firsthand the silent but potent effects of exposure to these chemicals. Despite being equipped with protective gear and with the mask on, there is always a faint smell of the chemicals in the air—a subtle warning. However, on this occasion, I didn't know that my protective gear was faulty........click under to continue reading

As a seasoned professional in the pest control industry, I have encountered numerous challenges and risks associated with my line of work. One particular incident stands out as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by fumigation chemicals when not handled with the utmost care and caution.

24/01/2024

24/01/2024

THE BEAUTY OF CLASSMATES

Many years ago I was working as a clerk at a faculty in one popular university in Nigeria, then I saw an advert for NDA (Nigeria Defence Academy), I have always loved to go to NDA so I applied, submitted my form and was called for admission examination.

I had to travel to Kaduna all the way from Osun State, I have a distant uncle that was resident there then. I wrote a letter (no telephone at the time) to my uncle that I was coming to sit for an exam in Kaduna and would love to stay in their house.

I didn't get a reply to my letter even as my departure date was approaching. I became so worried because I needed to go anyway, as I was talking to a colleague in the office concerning my fear of where to stay, our office cleaner who was a Hausa man overheard us and in his broken English interjected that he knew someone right inside NDA.

Who could he know there? *Is it not a cleaner like himself*, I unintentionally said it out to his hearing. "Oga no o, the commandant op za NDA na ma classmate and ma priend". In his bad handwriting, he scribbled the commandant's name on a piece of paper. "Just mention my name's por am, him go helf you."

I reluctantly collected the paper from him, not because I intended to make use of it but because I didn't want him to feel bad.

The next day, I set out on this long journey by train from Osogbo. I got to Kaduna a day later towards evening. Upon getting there, I went straight to my uncle's house only to find out that they had relocated from that place and no one knew their new address. I became stranded and it was getting late.

Around after 7pm, I made up my mind to give my cleaner's contact a shot. I got to the gate of NDA and mentioned the name I was given. To my utmost surprise, everyone in that bit, recognized the name and one person was promptly detailed to take me to his office.

I gave the paper where Kabiru wrote his name and that of his friend to the secretary who took it inside. On sighting the paper, the commandant shouted from the office and followed the secretary outside to usher me in. "Where do you know Kabiru?" "He's my colleague in the office, Sir," I answered.
"Where is he? How is he? Hope he's doing well?" This man was asking me many questions in an obvious excitement.

The look on his face confirmed to me that Kabiru was his beloved friend. He asked me what I came to do in Kaduna and I said it was for the NDA exams. "Wow, do you have where to sleep?" "No, sir." He immediately called someone to take me to his house. On getting to the house, I was lavishly entertained.

This man came late in the night and he woke me up and took me up on tutorials for the next day's exams. After the exams, he personally drove me to the park the next day.

When I got back to the campus, I began to look at Kabiru with a different eyes. How on earth does this man know such a powerful person? Needless to say, my name was number four on the list when the results came out.

Friends, I put it to you today that relationship is a currency. Every man needs another man to move up and that man may be the neighbour you look down on, maybe the taxi driver you so despise or even the house help you think is a nobody today.

Relationship is a stream of income. Everything in life actually reproduces on the basis of relationship. Those we know in life matter. *Most of us are talented but we need a cupbearer that will tell Pharaoh that there's a Joseph that can interpret dreams.* we need our old school mates irrespective of their status today.
Hook up with your class mates in the primary, secondary and tertiary schools alumni.

There are some heights you may never get to in life until someone tells someone about you even in church or mosque. Therefore, shut the door on relationships gently. You may need to use it tomorrow.

Let us take our relationships seriously. Even if you meet online, don't look down on anyone. You never can tell which of the relationships will be your own key to success.

1. Classmates Are Family.
- Avoid Things That Divide Family.

2. In Class You Would Always Be ABUBAKAR, EMEKA and ADEWALE etc Despite the PhD, SAN, Hon, Chief, General, Prof, Mr, Dr, Rev, Ustaz etc.

3. Check On, Reach Out To Classmates Who May Be Less Successful.

4. Achievements Are Processes Not Destination; Everyone Has His Time.

5. Class Groups Are Not Places For Intimidation But Co-operation.

6. Classmates Are Not Political Or Cabal Groups

7. Be Humble and Sincere With your Classmates, They Knew You When You were Nobody.

8. A United Class Is a Successful Class, No Matter Who Succeeds First.

9. Never Treat Classmates Like Employees..

10. Be Kind To Classmates, Table Can Turn in Future.

11. 💰 Money Can't Buy You Classmates' Support When You are In Trouble.

12. Forgive Classmates' Mistakes ,They are Human.

*COPIED*

1. Classmates Are Family. - Avoid Things That Divide Family.

27/10/2023

Nigeria in a nutshell. 😡

THE VOYAGE ~ About 30 years ago, I slept at the Murtala Muhammed Airport for four days.

No, I was not a homeless vagabond.

I had bought the Nigeria Airways ticket to fly to the United States for a one-year sabbatical leave.

But when I arrived at the airport, I realized that my ticket was not honored, though I had bought it legitimately.

Whenever a plane was about to leave Lagos for New York, the NA officials posted a manifest list, and my name was not there.

They would ask me to wait for the next list.

This drama of “Your name is not yet listed, wait for the next manifest list” continued for four days.

I couldn’t leave the airport and return home because I lived in Ile Ife, and had bid my people goodbye for one year. They all expected I would be in NY already.

I was therefore forced to sleep by the door of the NA office at the airport, waiting for the release of the manifest list with my name on it.

I was not alone. There were hundreds of stranded passengers like me there—men, women, young, old, tall, short, thin fat—all sorts of people.

The Murtala Mohamed Airport was different then than what we have now.

There were no security officers. People drifted in and out in their hundreds. It was rowdy. There was no order of any sort. Food hawkers milled among the crowd of the stranded passengers like me, selling hot dogs, sandwiches, puff-puff, moin-moin, gala, meat pie, hamburgers, even rice and dodo.

People hawked sodas such as Cocacola, Fanta, Sprite and malt drinks.

The interior of the airport was packed like the Oyingbo market. There were also pickpockets and other fraudsters pulling fast tricks on unsuspecting victims.
I was hesitant to buy anything.

I had changed all my naira to dollars at the rate of one dollar to three naira. But if I wanted to change my dollar back to naira, I could only collect one naira for my dollar at the airport, which would be a loss.

I was desperate when I got hungry. But someone was willing to give me two naira for a dollar, so I changed two dollars. I bought some moin-moin and coke.

The guys who helped me to change my money said I had no hope of traveling unless I was willing to bribe someone.

I was adamant. I wasn’t going to bribe anybody. It was my right to fly out, after all, I had paid for my ticket.

By day four, I lost hope of traveling out. I used my handbag as my pillow and reclined on the floor, to take a nap.

The young woman who slept a couple of feet away from me was also napping, snoring loudly. I asked her earlier, and she said she had been there for almost a week. She said she was ready at that point to accept the offer of a Nigeria Airways official who wanted s*x in exchange for helping her to get on the manifest list.

For how long I had been asleep I couldn’t tell, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. It was Segun Odegbami, the famous international soccer star, who played for the Green Eagles. I thought I was dreaming. I had met him through a friend, Tunde Fagbenle, and we had shared drinks at Fagbenle’s house in Lagos a couple of times.

I couldn’t refer to him as my friend, and I didn’t even know he would recognize me or remember my name.

I was a fat nobody next to a big star like him, someone for whom Ebenezer Obey had waxed an album, with the chorus, “It is a gooooal, Odegbami,” a bestselling song throughout Nigeria.

When I opened my eyes and it was him, I wanted to close my eyes back, thinking I was just dreaming.

But he spoke to me. “Moyo, what are you doing on the floor here?”

I quickly sat up, wiped my eyes, and smile at him. I narrated my story.

He shook his head, and said with a sigh, “That’s Nigeria Airways for you. I came to see someone off to London, and as I was leaving I happened to see you.”

“Na so we see am o,” I told him.

“Where is your ticket?”

I dipped my hand inside the pocket of my agbada, made out of new Ankara textiles. It had double as my daywear and my pajamas for four days. I retrieved the ticket and gave it to him.

He said, “Excuse me for a minute. Let me go and talk with them.”

Then he went inside the Nigeria Airways office, and within minutes he was back, with two young men.

“Moyo, are you ready to go now,” Odegbemi said, “because a flight is leaving in about fifteen minutes.”

I didn’t need to say yes. My eyes said it all.

The two young men picked up my luggage.

Odegbami gave me a hug and wished me bon voyage.

The two young men led the way with my luggage—just a suitcase and my hand luggage.

They took me to the back of the airport, and there was a Peugeot 505 waiting for us.

They loaded my luggage in the boot and drove me down the tarmac to the huge aircraft about half a mile away.

From a persona non grata, I instantly transformed into a VIP, driven on the tarmac like a departing president.

Nobody checked my luggage for any contraband. Everything was loaded directly on the plane and I was given the luggage tags.

I walked to my seat and sank into it. I couldn’t help but notice that the plane was less than half full.

There were empty seats everywhere when the plane took off. Yet, there were scores of people waiting at the airport, denied their right to fly, after paying their fares.

I remembered the poor woman snoring next to me on the floor at the airport.

Tears began to fall from my eyes.

“If they ever see me again in that godforsaken country,” I swore silently, “they should cut off my head.”

- Professor Moyo Okediji

⚫ Moyo Okediji is a professor of Art History at the University of Texas, Houston , United States of America.

I copied this from Uncle Segun Odegbami's page. I have often said that our major problem in Nigeria is not really corruption. Corruption only happens to the symptom.

The real problem is WICKEDNESS!

Read this article and you would agree with me. It's been long that the rain has been beating the vulture......

~ Kay Lord

18/10/2023

Back in the day, Stallone was a struggling actor in every definition. At some point, he got so broke that he stole his wife’s jewelry and sold it. Things got so bad that he even ended up homeless. Yes, he slept at the New York bus station for 3 days. Unable to pay rent or afford food. His lowest point came when he tried to sell his dog at the liquor store to any stranger. He didn’t have money to feed the dog anymore. He sold it at $25 only. He says he walked away crying.

Two weeks later, he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that match gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie, ROCKY. He wrote the script for 20 hours! He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. But he had just ONE REQUEST. He wanted to STAR in the movie. He wanted to be the MAIN ACTOR, Rocky himself. But the studio said NO. They wanted a REAL STAR.

They said he “Looked funny and talked funny”. He left with his script. A few weeks later, the studio offered him $250,000 for the script. He refused. They even offered $350,000. He still refused. They wanted his movie, but NOT him. He said NO. He had to be IN THAT MOVIE.

After a while, the studio agreed, gave him $35,000 for the script and let him star in it! The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for BEST ACTOR! The Movie ROCKY was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever!

NO ONE KNOWS WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF EXCEPT YOURSELF! People will judge you by HOW you look. And by WHAT you have. But Fight on! Fight for Your place in history. Fight for your glory. NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

Even if it means selling all your clothes and sleeping with the dogs, IT’S OKAY! But AS LONG AS YOU ARE STILL ALIVE, Your STORY IS NOT OVER.

Keep Up the Fight. Keep your dreams and hope alive. Go get it !!!

18/07/2023

Her name is Lethukhanya Mjaja. She is three years old. She was sent to buy bread. Her uncle who is a commercial photographer, saw her playing in muddy water with the bread in her hand. He took some photos of her and posted them online. The pictures went viral and became the talk of South Africa's social media space. She caught the attention of the company that produces the bread. They decided to use the picture on their billboards and delivery trucks. This increased their sales massively, so they decided to reward the little girl in cash and kind.

From playing in a childlike, carefree manner in the mud, this little girl became the face of one of SA's leading bread brands. From going on an errand to buy bread for the family, she brought the bread company home and has become a breadwinner.

Her story reminds me of our own Jumoke the breadseller. She was photographed albeit accidentally, carrying bread. Today, she graces our tv screens. She is hardly recognisable because her story has changed. Whenever l watch her in the Amstel Malta 'My time is now' commercial, l see the real definition of when grace speaks for someone.

There is this thing about "time and chance." We never know when it will happen but when it happens, there is no stopping the flow. Lethukhanya and Jumoke were just doing their own thing and grace found them at the time it was meant to find them.

For LungJisNi Mjaji, Lethukhanya's uncle, l don't see his career remaining the same again. I won't be shocked if he becomes the Official photographer for many brands in SA. He was just being himself, doing something he enjoys doing. Little did he know that the pictures he took of his 3 year old niece, would catapult him to fame as well. The story of his niece is not told without mentioning his name.

What are you doing? Do it well. Do it joyfully. When it is your time, grace will find you. May grace find us all.

,

09/06/2023

He boasted "bro, I dey change babes like underwear. E get no babe wey I no fit bed. Last weekend, I lodged 3 babes in 3 different rooms but in the same hotel - dem no know. I am the king of kpekus.".

I looked at him. He looks handsome and he's conscious of it. Nice body. Good sense of fashion too. And Yes, he smells like he's worth a few millions in rands. I just didn't ask what he does for a living. We were meeting for the first time at a mutual friend's divorce party and locker room talks got in. He was honest about his claims and the atmosphere seemed right too.

I took a second look at him, this time with more pity than admiration and I said "bro, you are a slave to v@gina. And most men are slaves to the birth portal while thinking they are the King of it. With kpekus, the more you conquer, the more you are conquered".

His excitement level visibly dropped and I knew I would soon be called to make my speech. I was casually introduced by the MC and I love it that way - I spoke for about 7 minutes and my last words were "as you restart your life today my brother, always remember that with the other gender, Less is More."

They all clapped but my new friend didn't clap. After the party, during the goodbye rituals, he approached me and said "Charles, I think I am a slave. How can I break this slavery?" I held his hands and said "bro, we are all slaves, we shouldn't just think we are kings when we are actually slaves."

There's hope for a slave who knows he's a slave but he is hopeless who is a slave but thinks himself to be King.

My name is Charles Awuzie and is not a King because of the kpekuses he conquered but he's a king because of the industry he conquered. I hope he knows this too.

07/06/2023

What you need to know about men.