• * Promotes FG's Local Content Policy Initiative

By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-chief)

Makems Jewellery, an Abuja-based fast-rising jewellery-making company in Nigeria, has set the city agog, as it recently held its annual jewellery exhibition with a wide range of trendy, fine and unique handmade, locally-produced and imported jewellery products on display for hundreds of visitors to the venue of the event.

By Robert Kiyosaki

The author offers practical advice on how to build wealth through smart investments, focusing on mindset, strategies, and financial education.

By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This book highlights the distinctions between constructive feedback and harmful criticism.

By A.S.A Harrison

1. Deceptive Appearances: The book underscores the idea that appearances can be deceiving. On the surface, a marriage may seem stable and content, but beneath the facade, there can be hidden tensions and secrets.

2. Unaddressed Issues: Ignoring or avoiding underlying issues in a relationship can lead to long-term problems. The characters in the book demonstrate the dangers of not addressing concerns and conflicts head-on.

3. Consequences of Infidelity: The Silent Wife explores the devastating consequences of infidelity on a marriage. It delves into the emotional toll that cheating takes on both partners and the ripple effects on their lives.

4. Emotional Detachment: The book illustrates the impact of emotional detachment within a marriage. When partners become emotionally distant, it can create a void that may be filled by external factors, leading to further complications.

5. Power Dynamics in Relationships: The novel delves into power dynamics within relationships, examining how one partner may exert control or influence over the other. Understanding and addressing imbalances of power is crucial for a healthy partnership.

6. Self-Reflection: The Silent Wife suggests the importance of self-reflection. Characters grapple with their own flaws and shortcomings, and the narrative encourages readers to reflect on their own behaviors and motivations within their relationships.

7. Communication Breakdown: A breakdown in communication is a central theme in the book. Misunderstandings, lack of communication, and assumptions contribute to the deterioration of the characters' relationships. Open and honest communication is presented as vital for maintaining a strong connection.

8. Dependency and Independence: The novel explores the concept of dependency within relationships and the consequences of being overly reliant on a partner. It advocates for the importance of maintaining individual identities and a sense of independence.

9. Coping Mechanisms: The characters in the book employ various coping mechanisms to deal with their emotions and the challenges in their relationships. The story prompts readers to consider healthy ways of coping with stress and adversity.

10. Choices and Accountability: The Silent Wife underscores the idea that individuals are accountable for their choices and actions. The consequences of decisions, whether intentional or not, play a significant role in shaping the course of a relationship.

While these lessons are drawn from the themes explored in The Silent Wife, it's important to approach them as fictional insights rather than prescriptive advice for real-life relationships. Each relationship is unique, and individuals may find different lessons resonating with their own experiences.NNL.

By Susan E. Schwartz

1. Beyond Physical Absence: The book argues that an emotionally unavailable father can be just as damaging as a physically absent one. Critical, distant, or emotionally neglectful fathers can leave a lasting impact on their daughters' development.

2. The "Father Desire" and Identity Formation: Schwartz explores the concept of the "father desire," a daughter's innate longing for a loving, supportive father figure. This desire plays a crucial role in shaping her sense of self-worth and identity. When this desire is unfulfilled, it can lead to feelings of insecurity, loneliness, and a fragmented sense of self.

3. The Archetypal Wound: Drawing on Jungian psychology, the book explores the archetypal father figure. A healthy father embodies masculine archetypes like strength, guidance, and protection. The absence of these qualities can create an "archetypal wound" that affects a daughter's relationships with men and authority figures throughout her life.

4. The Splintered Voice: Schwartz suggests that the "father wound" can manifest as a "silenced voice" within daughters. They may struggle to express themselves authentically or feel unworthy of being heard. The book explores methods for daughters to reclaim their voices and find their authentic expression.

5. Healing the Wound: "The Absent Father Effect on Daughters" is not a book about blaming fathers. Instead, it offers a path to healing for daughters affected by father absence. The book explores therapeutic methods like journaling, dream analysis, and inner child work to help daughters understand the impact of their upbringing and begin the healing process.

6. The Importance of Self-Compassion: A core message of the book is self-compassion. Schwartz encourages daughters to understand that their father's absence was not their fault and to treat themselves with kindness and understanding.

7. Reclaiming Your Power: The book empowers daughters to reclaim their personal power. By understanding the "father wound" and working through its effects, daughters can develop healthy relationships, strong self-esteem, and a greater sense of self-worth. NNL.

By Robert T. Kiyosaki

1. The importance of financial education: Kiyosaki emphasizes the need to educate oneself about money and financial matters. He argues that schools often fail to teach us about money management and that financial literacy is crucial for building wealth.

By Jeffrey Pfeffer

If you want to "change lives, change organizations, change the world," the Stanford business school’s motto, you need power.

By Piero Ferrucci

1. The Deliberate Choice of Kindness: Ferrucci argues that true kindness requires intentionality. It's not just automatic politeness or hollow gestures, but a conscious decision to act with compassion and understanding. This often involves actively seeking out opportunities to be kind, even when it's inconvenient or requires sacrifice.

2. Kindness creates a ripple effect: The book showcases real-life stories where tiny acts of kindness, like a smile or a helping hand, sparked a chain reaction of positive change. This emphasizes the butterfly effect of kindness, highlighting how our individual choices can have unforeseen far-reaching consequences, and reveals the psychology of social influence, how merely witnessing kindness encourages others to follow suit.

3. More Than Just Giving: Ferrucci delves deeper into the various expressions of kindness beyond material generosity. He explores how forgiveness, honesty, gratitude, and service all weave into the tapestry of kindness, each contributing to building stronger, more meaningful connections.

4. The Science of Kindness: The book cites research studies demonstrating the tangible benefits of kindness for both the giver and the receiver. Kindness not only boosts happiness and well-being but also improves physical health and strengthens social bonds, creating a mutually reinforcing cycle of positivity.

5. Setting Healthy Boundaries: Ferrucci advocates for establishing clear boundaries to prevent burnout and manipulation. Kindness doesn't require self-sacrifice. In fact, true kindness must start from within, yourself. He emphasizes that kindness thrives alongside self-respect and self-care, ensuring a sustainable approach to fostering compassion without self-harm.

6. The Healing Power of Forgiveness Towards Ourselves and Others: The book discusses different types of forgiveness and their role in promoting healing. It highlights how forgiving others and ourselves frees us from negativity and allows us to move forward with open hearts, fostering both personal and interpersonal well-being.

7. Connecting with Kindness Through Service: The book highlights how forms of service like volunteering connect us with our community, foster a sense of belonging, and allow us to put kindness into action, creating a tangible impact on others' lives.

8. The Authenticity of Kindness: Ferrucci emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and understanding your values to guide your acts of kindness. He encourages readers to avoid mimicking others' actions without genuine care and intention behind them, ensuring true meaning and connection in their kindness.

9. Starting Simple and Building Momentum: The book suggests specific, achievable acts of kindness suitable for beginners, like holding the door open or offering a sincere compliment. It emphasizes celebrating small victories and tracking progress to stay motivated and gradually build a habit of kindness. NNL.

By Jack Canfield

This book is a popular self-help book that offers principles and strategies for achieving success in various aspects of life.

By David Brooks

1. Humility is the Foundation: Recognize your limits and flaws, and appreciate the vastness of the world beyond yourself. True humility leads to openness, learning, and genuine connection.

2. Moral Fitness Matters More than Resume Values: Focus on developing your "eulogy virtues" like love, courage, and faith, rather than just "resume virtues" like intelligence and achievements.

3. Engage in the Struggle for Good: Building character is a lifelong journey, not a destination. Embrace moral challenges, resist self-centeredness, and actively cultivate virtues.

4. Practice "Long Obedience in the Same Direction": Develop sustained commitment to your values, passions, and relationships. Resist the allure of shortcuts and instant gratification.

5. Cultivate Humility through Faith and Rituals: Connect to something larger than yourself through spiritual practices and traditions. Rituals can remind you of your values and provide an anchor for moral development. NNL.

By Travis Bradberry

This book offer practical insights and strategies for developing emotional intelligence, a key skill for personal and professional success. Bradberry outlines habits that individuals can cultivate to enhance their emotional intelligence and improve their relationships, communication, and overall well-being.

By Seun Oladele

I am a woman. I want to help you guys know what makes a lady ticks, get her say yes to you and put an end to years of frustration in getting a quality woman to marry. The first place to start is know what turns ladies off and avoid them like plague. Know what turns them on and do them with pleasure. Now let's go:

1. NEVER APPROACH A LADY WITH PET NAMES: It's a huge turn off. For crying out loud, you don't know her, you just saw her from afar or on Facebook and you are saying "Hi honey." Honey? Honey for where? Who dash monkey banana?

2. DON'T BE DESPERATE: Desperate guys are a huge turn off! You look like someone who doesn't have a job and he's desperate to get a lady solve all of his life's problems. We take to our heels fast!

3. GET BUSY: No lady likes an indolent guy who spends all his life on facebook. If you are a clean online business person, carry go but if all you do is post your pictures while waiting for comments morning, noon and night then you are not qualified for marriage.

4. BE CLEAN: Drooling mouth, stinking breath and stained shirt doesn't get any lady's attention unless you want a dirty woman as a wife because you attract who you are. Learn to be clean from head to toe. Never approach a serious lady with bad breathe.

5. BAD GROOMING: Avoid it. Tangled hair, colour riot, bad body posture is a hiss. You can't wear a brown shirt on lemon trousers matched with white shoes and black tie, and you want to approach an intelligent lady, what? Are you a clown?

6. STUDY HER FIRST: This is where some bros land into trouble. You don't know a lady from Adam. You just see her waka pass and gbam! The Holy Ghost has spoken! The next thing is "Sis, God says you are my wife!" Well, desperate, frustrated and cheap ladies may give you a "Yes" right away, not the virtuous ones.

7. START AS FRIENDS not with "I love you." What do you love about her? Have you seen her at her worst? Please keep that to yourself and give her a break.

8. START WITH GENUINE COMPLIMENTS not flattery and not something stupid : Don't say "What sexy hips you've got!" on the first meeting. Well, a whore may blush at that, not a virtuous woman.

9. PAUSE, DON'T RUSH HER: Don't bombard her with all manner of questions on the first date. Puh-leeeeeeeeze! Give her time. You don't need to know how many boyfriends she's had or if she finds you sexy, urrrgh!!!

Gentle guys are a huge turn on. Learn to be a gentleman around ladies.

11. SHOW COURTESY: It speaks volumes. Open the door for her, let her go in first, hold her chair while she sits and open the car door for her.

12. KNOW WHEN TO CALL HER: Definitely not during her busy schedule at work. When she's at home and fully relaxed is better.

13. BE A GOOD LISTENER: Women talk and they love a man who listens genuinely and take note of everything they say.

14. FIND OUT ABOUT HER vision, dreams, goals and hobbies: It shows you are interested in her as a person not just a woman to warm your bed and slave in the kitchen.

15. DON'T PROPOSE until she shows interest in you and that takes time: she needs to find out if she can really spend the rest of her life with you.

16. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? Her bust, hips and behind? Come on, take your eyes off and look at her tenderly in the face, you are not gonna lay her, are you?

17. PRACTICE SELF CONTROL: That is where some men completely lose their senses and wander why they can't find a good woman to marry. Let me ask, will a GOOD woman have sex with you on a FIRST date? Will a GOOD woman sleep with you when you have not put the wedding ring on her finger? Why do you order for sex and complain the women in your life lack character? That is who your lust has attracted man. A principled, virtuous and godly woman won't sleep with you in courtship. She RESPECTS herself and won't give herself cheaply to any man. She's not in your life on trial. She's not there to waste her time and check you out. She really wants to marry you and contribute to your life. She has seen a great future ahead of you and wants to contribute her quota to bring it to pass so she's not someone you can use and dump! The moment you ask a godly woman for sex in courtship, you lose your respect by 50%.

18. DON'T ASK FOR SEX: Same thing as above. If you want a woman to find you sexually attractive, do not pile sexual pressure on her head.

One of the reasons I said yes to my husband is, he treated me with respect and for the five years we courted, he NEVER asked for sex once. I told him at the beginning that that was a no go area until we get married and he agreed. He was a principled man himself so that was not a problem. It made him VERY sexually appealing to me. A man who controls himself around a woman is always sexy and very much respected. He didn't need to try me out to see if I am good in bed. Sexual compatibility is determined by the degree of chemistry between us and his attitude determines the level of chemistry. The more he showed me love and respect, the higher the chemistry and that foundation has helped us a great deal in marriage. I still find him very hot and our sex life is excellent.

Stop checking all the ladies on the street out. Look for the one you love and keep your eyes focused.

Never be rude to a lady. Treat her with care. Control yourself and do not use abusive words -it is degrading. If you can do all these with prayer, you will locate your future spouse faster, get her fall in love with you and go on to have a blissful courtship and stress-free marriage.

God bless you. Cheers!

© Seun Oladele.