ABUSE OF POWER.
Stories coming out of the Internally Displaced Persons camps are heartbreaking to say the least. They are stories of man's inhumanity to man. Abuse of power. Misuse of authority. Selfishness. Unfortunately, the worst hit are the women and young girls.
Insurgency drove them out of their homes such that one who once was a breadwinner and landlord became relegated to a beger and squatter in make shift huts provided by the government who placed them under officia...ls to oversee camp activities but made to provision to protect them from these so called officials.
They fled from the Boko Haram terrorists only to fall into the hands of other terrorists in the guise of government officials. So they never really escaped terrorism. Though they have not been killed or maimed by Boko Haram, they are being molested and sexually abused by camp officials who force the girls and women to sleep with them before having access to basic necessities donated to residents of the camps by well meaning Nigerians. They are still grappling with the trauma of insurgency only to be flung into the added trauma and nightmare of insecurity and sexual exploitation causing sexual infections, unwanted pregnancies, confusion, low self esteem and shame.
It is so annoying that the girls and women have to be subjected to such indignity for things that are freely given to them. Now many are pregnant. They are homeless, jobless and uncared for. They do not even have access to basic healthcare, yet they are Nigerians in their own fatherland.
These women and girls have rights like you and I. Those paedophiles and rapists masquerading as government officials must be sacked and brought to book. They must be prosecuted and jailed.
Every Nigerian must feel and be safe in their Fatherland, whether they are in their own homes or in Internally Displaced Persons camps.
Our government must get justice for these voiceless Nigerians.
See More

YOU CAN.

Be innovative. Never be afraid of trying new things. If you do not get the desired result the first time, try and try again. Do not let the fear of failure keep you from trying out what your heart is telling you. Even if it has never be done that way before, trying out new things or new ways of doing things is what gives birth to genius. You might just make a success of that thing. Even if you fail, you have only found out how not to do that thing. Keep trying and you will come out with a perfect result. Do things that make you feel good about yourself. Do things that come naturally to you. People who are experts at what they do did not just become experts overnight. They must have had a few blunders at the beginning, but they must have also had some early successes. One thing is sure; they never allowed any obstacle to stop their advancement toward their life goal. History has it that Thomas Edison tried to invent the electric bulb and failed 99 times. He was not discouraged, he tried again the 100^th time and he got it. Thomas Edison died decades ago, but we all still use his invention – the electric bulb – worldwide.

Many mocked him when he failed but their mockery only fired a determination in him to succeed. His mockers told him he failed 99 times, Edison told them he did not fail but discovered 99 wrong methods of manufacturing the electric bulb. No matter how many times you miss it, keep trying and one day you will hit gold.

Never be afraid of facing challenges, they only bring out the best in you. You are not an ordinary person. You are created for greatness. Do not allow challenges reduce you to a nobody. You are not the only one, every one faces challenges. There is no great man that never faced opposition; you do not become an overcomer without a challenge or opposition to overcome. You have a seed of greatness within you and your potential is unique to you. It may be similar to someone else’s, but your path to it is different from anyone else’s. So also, your final outcome is incomparable to anyone else’s. Your natural abilities, gifts, talents and potentials are by no means inferior to that of any other person.

You have an incredible capacity to achieve beyond what you think your limit is. Even if no one believes in you, believe in yourself. This is the beginning of your success in life.

GET BUSY

You have a gift in you that God has given to you to carry out your special assignment that He has created you for. Even so, your value and worth do not originate in your assignment. You can only find your worth personally in yourself not in your assignment or in others.

Get busy with the assignment God has for you.

Your gift is not insignificant and it is not inferior to anybody’s own. The devil, your circumstances and acquaintances may have made you to believe you do not have the talent, gift or skills needed to fulfill God’s purpose or that God will never be pleased with the things you can do. My dear, those are lies to keep you from utilizing your gifts to achieve the greatness that God has destined for you. God does have an assignment for you and that is why He has endowed you with all you have. Carrying out the assignment God has for you gives you peace and success, you receive energy, passion and fulfillment. If you refuse to carryout God’s assignment, you will live in frustration with sadness and restlessness as companions.

A wise man once stated that, “We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die, nor do we choose the time or condition of our death. But within the realm of choiceless-ness, we do choose how to live; and there is nothing that helps you live a good life than knowing who you are.”

APPRECIATE YOURSELF

Most young girls are just not satisfied with their looks. You are worried, unnecessarily concerned and agitated about your hair, your body shape, your complexion, the size of your breasts, your nose, and so on. According to Dr. James P. Comer, “Body image is part of self image. It can affect a person’s self confidence and what he does and does not do in life.” Therefore, it is sensible to be concerned about your appearance; however, it is senseless if you are so self conscious that you keep feeling bad about yourself, to the extent of withdrawing from others.

When you really think about it, you sometimes feel sad about yourself because you wish you were somebody else and not necessarily because you are unattractive or inadequate. You are even sadder when you are not getting as much attention as others are getting or when someone says something negative about your looks. The media compound the problem constantly brainwashing you into believing that happiness and fame come from having the ‘figure 8’ body shape, flawless skin and long hair. Those celebrities you see on television screens, magazine covers and bill boards (those ladies that give you the inferiority complex and make you feel less than human), they have the help of make-up artists, beauty experts, stylists, lights and camera. If you have the rare opportunity of seeing some of them without make-up, you will be so shocked at how ordinary they look. Meanwhile, the advertisers are making money by making you feel incomplete so you can buy their product. No one but you should decide what make you attractive.

Accept yourself. You are whole. Nothing is missing in you. Let your self esteem and confidence soar. Nobody has everything, so stop feeling bad about yourself. You do not have to be everything people think you should be. Use the ability you have to be the best you can be. Stop trying to please everybody. That is an exercise in futility; you can never please everybody. You will only keep struggling and striving and getting frustrated.

EMBRACE YOUR UNIQUENESS

Does being unique mean you are different from others? Yes, by all means it does. You are certainly different because God created you to be different: to stand out and not to blend in.

There is a reason God created you the way you are. He made you short or tall or fat or slim or dark or beautiful or brainy for a specific reason and that is part of your identity. It is part of who you are. Your challenge is for a reason. Someone once said if Stevie Wonder, the multiple award winning songwriter, producer and musician were not blind; he may never have achieved the success he has achieved in life.

 God makes no mistakes. Do not let anyone put you down because you do not look or act like her. You must not put yourself down by believing their lies and letting them control and rule your life. Do not permit another person’s opinion to determine your worth. Do not disqualify yourself because you feel you are not as pretty or as slim as someone else. We cannot all be slim and you certainly do not need a pretty face to pass your examination or to achieve success in life.

However, being unique often makes you feel awkward as though you do not belong or fit in. Despite the fact that everyone is unique, you must find a common ground with people around you. Religion, academics, trade and social gatherings are examples of where you can find a common ground to mix with and relate with people.

You are unique for a reason, embrace your uniqueness

GIRL! YOU’RE IN CHARGE.

 

Damsel, one of the reasons do not know who you are, is that you are busy trying to live out someone else idea. You allow other people’s opinion to define your destiny, you look up to others to tell you who you are, you fashion your lives after what someone has said about you. The fact that someone said you should be a teacher does not mean you should start forcing yourself to teach when your heart tells you to be a nurse. Also, do not let the fact that someone said you will not amount to anything push you into living a life that proves them right.

Whatever anyone said or did to you in the past has no power over your future if you do not allow it. You must define yourself and your own life.

You must also deal with your belief system because you become what you believe. It has been proven that what you believe has more power than what you dream of or hope for.

In your journey to self discovery, you must pin point what your heart desires and longs for. You must take time to listen to what your heart is telling you and where it is leading you to. Let your heart speak to you through your intuition. Your intuition is that inner voice that tells you heartfelt secrets about you and your life.

In getting to know yourself, do not over estimate your strength and think you are more superior to others. Also, do not over emphasize your weakness and think you are inferior to others. Do not allow other people’s opinion to overshadow the way you see yourself. Do not allow anyone to look down on you. You may listen to others, especially your siblings and parents. Their opinion may help you re-examine your perception of yourself but you don’t necessarily have to accept these opinions.

Having clarity about who you are, what you want and why you want it empowers you to consciously and actively make those wants a reality. According to Tao Tzu, “knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.” 

God created you unique and different from every other person around you. He deposited special abilities in you in a combination that does not exist in anyone else. There can never be another you. You are born original. You must not die a copy because God makes no copies. You are a marvel, you are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another girl like you. Your arms, legs, the way you move, reason, your beautiful face, what you love, what inspires you and what makes you laugh are all unique to you. You can become anything you want to be. You can achieve anything you want to achieve. You have the capacity for anything. Just dream it and you can achieve it.   God made you brilliant. You are not a dullard. You are not a waste of time. You will amount to something. You will achieve greatness. Therefore, you must know and believe in yourself. Stop trying to be someone else, stop wasting time trying to change what you cannot. Work hard at being the best you can be, start by simply being yourself. Trying to be somebody else means you are struggling to be a copy when God already made you an original.