Quote:” Not everyone gets the chance to say thank you to the teacher who made the difference. Some have moved on. Some have passed on. But their influence lives on in every book written, business started, problem solved, or student mentored by someone they once taught”

Every year on October 5th, the world pauses to honor a group of individuals who shape the future with nothing more than a whiteboard marker, a patient voice, and an unshakeable belief in potential: teachers. World Teachers’ Day is more than just a date on the calendar—it is a reminder of the quiet, powerful influence educators have in shaping lives, societies, and futures. For many, the day evokes memories of classrooms filled with chalk dust, books stacked high, and a steady presence at the front of the room guiding lessons, asking questions, and waiting—always waiting—for that lightbulb moment in a student’s eyes. While every teacher leaves a mark, there’s often one who makes a deeper impression. One who doesn’t just teach but transforms. For me, that teacher was Mrs. Okoro.I met Mrs. Okoro in Junior Secondary School Two.

I remember walking into her English Literature class with the usual mixture of adolescent apathy and anxiety. English had always been a subject I tolerated rather than loved. To me, it was a series of essays, comprehension passages, and exam questions about metaphors and similes that seemed more confusing than meaningful. But Mrs. Okoro didn’t teach English. She lived it. She had a way of stepping into the classroom like a performer stepping onto a stage. Her voice carried energy, her expressions demanded attention, and her passion was infectious. Within weeks, I found myself looking forward to her classes—not because I suddenly loved Shakespeare or Chinua Achebe, but because I saw in her someone who believed in what she was teaching, and more importantly, someone who believed in me. The beauty of an exceptional teacher lies not in how much they know, but in how deeply they care.

Mrs. Okoro had an eye for those students who tried to stay invisible. I was one of them—never the loudest, rarely the top of the class, often unsure of my own voice. But she noticed me. One afternoon, after returning our essays, she held mine up—not to ridicule, but to read it aloud to the class. My heart pounded as she read my words, giving them life and rhythm. When she finished, she looked at me and said, “There’s a writer in you. You just need to let them out.”It was the first time someone outside my family had validated my potential in such a specific, personal way. That one comment, simple as it was, sparked something in me that would never fade. From that moment, I started writing more. I filled journals with stories and poems. I volunteered to read aloud in class. I even entered a school writing competition—and won.

World Teachers’ Day celebrates the efforts of educators around the globe who go beyond teaching curriculum to nurturing character. That was Mrs. Okoro in every sense. She taught us about empathy through literature, helping us connect to characters from different backgrounds, cultures, and histories. She encouraged debate, critical thinking, and respectful disagreement—skills we would come to rely on far beyond the walls of that classroom. She also taught us grace. I remember once when a student mocked another’s reading aloud. Mrs. Okoro stopped the class, not with anger, but with a calm that silenced the room. “We don’t laugh at people trying,” she said. “Trying is where learning begins.” It was a simple statement, but the dignity she afforded every student left a lasting impact. It is often said that teaching is the profession that creates all other professions.

That may sound like a slogan, but it’s true in the most personal of ways. Without teachers like Mrs. Okoro, I might never have found the confidence to write, to speak, or to believe that my ideas mattered. Today, I write professionally. I speak at conferences. I mentor others. But behind every achievement is the echo of a teacher who once said, “There’s a writer in you.” Imagine that: a single sentence, spoken in a secondary school classroom years ago, setting off a chain of events that would define the trajectory of a life. That is the power of teachers. World Teachers’ Day, established by UNESCO in 1994, aims to commemorate the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. It is a day to advocate for the rights and responsibilities of teachers and to appreciate their essential contributions to education and development.

But beyond the global observance, it is also a deeply personal day for many. It is a day to reflect on the individuals who, in their own unique ways, lit the path ahead for us when we couldn’t see it ourselves. Not everyone gets the chance to say thank you to the teacher who made the difference. Some have moved on. Some have passed on. But their influence lives on in every book written, business started, problem solved, or student mentored by someone they once taught. If your teacher is still around, consider writing them a letter, sending them an email, or simply letting them know the role they played in your story. If they’re not, honor them by being the kind of person they believed you could be—and by supporting teachers around you who are trying to do the same for others.

World Teachers’ Day is not just about celebrating teachers in general, but also about recognizing your teacher—the one who changed the way you saw yourself. For me, that teacher was Mrs. Okoro. Her name might not appear in the pages of history books, but in the story of my life, she’s a chapter I will always return to.  October 5, may have come and gone, it should continue to remind us of the need to celebrate our teaches, remember their words, share their impacts,  and  where possible, be that kind of light for someone else.

By: Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi

Quote:”Sadly, what Rivers State experienced during the emergency rule was more than the devastating effects of a plague of locusts. The tragedy is that the “alien” invasion left a developmentally retarded  landscape and a psychologically traumatized people in its wake.”

Locusts are infamous for their devastating impact on agriculture and food security, especially when they enter their gregarious phase. At this stage, they form large, migratory swarms and move with rapid speed, covering up to 150 kilometers in a day. As a result, they strike without warning and make early control very difficult.   One locust can eat the equivalent of its body weight in plant materials daily. Its diet includes wheat, maize, rice, fruits, vegetables, and even tree leaves. Locust outbreaks can cripple subsistence farming communities and cause damage that could lead to food shortages, economic losses, and humanitarian crises. Adjudged one of nature’s shapeshifters, the locus leaves a devastated landscape in its wake. The declaration of state of emergency in Rivers State from March 18 to September 17, 2025, crippled   the otherwise smooth-functioning bureaucratic institutions and many aspects of life in the state.

The first salvo, which heralded the “locust effect” was the appropriation of N30bn to acquire gunboats. Rivers people wondered aloud if their State had a navy or was at war. Again, N22bn was expended on installing a new close circuit television (CCTV) in a Government House that already had an effectively functional CCTV. Regarding this, Kenneth Okonkwo jocularly asked if they are “trying to see the [genitals] of an ant”. That was an anomaly given the fact that the administration was a stopgap measure. Not a few Rivers people questioned the motive behind the installation, in view of the sensitivity of security; this fact remains very worrisome.      Like the shape-shifting locust, the Sole Administrator (SOLAD) consistently shifted from the authoritarianism of  military demeanor to the multi-tongued man-of-many-words mien of politicians.

Between these two behavioral extremities of the SOLAD, Rivers people groped in the dark and lived in confusion; they ached from the antics of an admix of “a bird of passage” and “soldier of fortune” who responded only to directives from his masters voice  from a distant land. Consequently, non-indigenes began  making decisions for Rivers State: Bola Tinubu  (Lagos State), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Tajudeen Abass (Kaduna State) and Kudirat Kekere-Ekun (Lagos State). The SOLAD’s mindset became akin to that of an imperial officer assigned to milk a colonial outpost. Resultantly, a non-indigene was appointed to the sensitive position of  Chairman, Rivers State Electoral Commission; the position of Chief of Staff went to another non-indigene and, and, and. In the end, it was a classical case of two brothers fighting over inheritance and a stranger stealthily steals it.

 In line with the “imperial officer” metaphor, the SOLAD arrogantly and audaciously said that he is not accountable to anybody other than President Tinubu.  Incidentally and quite tragically, when asked how the days of the plague will affect the people of Rivers State,  one of the SOLAD’s masters gutturally bellowed thus: “To hell with them”. To hell with Rivers people?!! Of course, subsequently, salaries were delayed till the 34th or later in the months. As at September 18 when the days of the locust ended, many workers and pensioners were not paid for August thereby extending the month of August beyond 49 days. This was a sad reminder of the grueling yesteryears of agony occasioned by bureaucratic bottlenecks in salary administration, organizational recklessness and systematized insensitivity to the plight of the people.

   In what Rivers people viewed as an adventure of “Alibaba and the Forty Thieves”, the Senate of the Federal Republic approved a budget of a whopping N1.48 trillion for an emergency rule of six months. A clear case of anomalous overreach and an outrage given the fact that the suspended governor was vilified for operating a budget approved by a factional section of the house. Even with the humongous budget, projects across the state were abandoned thereby affecting the economy of the state negatively. Meanwhile, Reuben Abati informs that  “over N400bn”  was spent within the days of the locust. On September 5, the agony of the ignominious experience of going on holiday without salary, a phenomenon that stopped when Fubara ascended the position of Governor of Rivers State, raised its ugly head again and Rivers people celebrated Id el Maulud empty handed. In other words, Rivers people celebrated “Sallah without Salary”.

 Soothingly, the Rivers State House of Assembly has expressed the intention of probing the finances of the State during the emergency rule. Whether anything positive will come out of it is another matter. For Abati, “Ibok Ette Ibas must be prepared to give proper account”. Here is a call to duty for civic groups in Rivers State. Sadly, what Rivers State experienced during the emergency rule was more than the devastating effects of a plague of locusts. The tragedy is that the “alien” invasion left a developmentally retarded  landscape and a psychologically traumatized people in its wake. Certainly, March 18 to September 17, 2025 has gone down in the history of Rivers State as 184 days of the locust. No wonder Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe said that “Nigeria’s problem is not the absence of resources, but the presence of too many resourceful thieves”. Again, skeptical of the then novel  concept of democracy, Socrates projected that: “thieves and fraudsters will want important government functions, and democracy will give it to them…when they finally democratically take authority…there will be worse dictatorship than in the time of any monarchy or oligarchy”.

It is however, consoling that, following his reinstatement on September 18, Governor Fubara “directed the immediate payment of pensioners August salary”. Regarding this directive, an author asserts that “This swift action underscores Fubara’s commitment to the welfare of employees and ensuring financial accountability in the state”. What there is to take home from the swiftness of this action is that Fubara is not only simple and humble, he harbors a humane heart.   Doubtlessly, the “grasses” of Rivers State have been brutalized and traumatized in the supremacy fight between two elephants. The prayer now is that the actors in the ring and those in the wings, including the millions of cheerleaders on both sides of the amphitheater, should sheath their swords.

By: Jason Osai

Quote:”What the time demands is not the old strategy of might and arbitrary power claiming right, but balancing of past acts of arbitrariness, subterfuge and live by what the current period demands would fare better and not want to create more entanglements and encumberances.”

 Astrology and astronomy may be regarded as being more of speculative than empirical fields of studies, but same can hardly be said about astrophysics. Thus there is an atomic principle known as stellar Activity Cycle (SAC) which stipulates that everything composed of atoms or matter has a duration or time of expiration. Thus all things that exist in physical forms must at a certain stage shed such forms, in preparation for another cycle in an evolutionary movement. A process of re-embodiment is provided for in the evolutionary cycles, which also have duration of time attached to each cycle of movement. Attempts have been made to estimate the age of the earth as a planet, using some plausible assumptions and data, including studies of old rocks. In this way the age of the earth is given as about 4.5 million years, ever though humans came much later when conditions of the environment could accommodate human life form.

Throughout the long period of the earth’s existence there had been cycles of changes meant to prepare conducive environment for human habitation. There had also been other races of different anatomical features floors. There are stones about Lemurians and Athlanteans.  Ancient races of previous cycles reached the peak of their civilisations and then gave way for another cycle of which present races of mankind may not bethe last. The story of Noah in the scriptures illustrates how an old order can give way for a new cycle to evolve. Nature does not show that anything in physical form lasts forever; nor does the form of the earth remain same always.  Revolutionary movement of the earth in relation to other planets and solar systems, is governed and controlled by strict and accurate order, such that no unintended occurrence ever takes place. Where disasters and calamities occur, the purposes are usually intended to correct some imbalances and arbitrariness caused by human activities and volition.

 Thus apart from the cyclic movements in the whole of creation, there are also regulatory movements, meant to restore imbalances and regenerate the system. Specifically, by 21st July 1929, the earth experienced a significant turning point, whose purpose include a comprehensive purification and balancing of imbalances, brought about by humans, over past cycles of existence. What some religious sects called End of the World, War ( 1914-1945) were marked as a period of great expectations, actually ushered in a new turning point for humans, even though the actual event remains unknown to many people. In cosmic events marking major turning points, human concept of time can create misleading ideas, such that a thousand years expressed as one day, can cause confusions.

There are minor and major turning points whose occurrences follow some cyclic order, depending on the maturation and evolutionary movements of various celestial bodies. Such turning points and the changes which accompany them are not accidents but signify various segments in the march towards progressive perfection. Sadly humans usually lag behind in the process of improved status, while the earth follows its marked steps of revolutionary movement. Sweeping changes which become painful calamities are usually the results of human negligence, derelictions and ignorance. There is a strong scientific opinion currently that the earth’s orbit is widening fast, causing the earth to move further away from its central axis (The Sun) and resulting in climate changes and global warning.

 From such changes, the earth is likely to reach a stage of catastrophe, with its climate unable to support life as we know it now. While anxiety may be uncalled for with regards to cosmic designs and turning points,  it is important to note that human recalcitrance make the application of forceful means to restore order inevitable. The likelihood is that such use of force is called for, now.   In the long history of the involution and evolution of man on earth, there was a period of deviation or fall, resulting in attachment to physical demands and over-cultivation of the sensory faculty. Gradually and over a long time, natural intuitive faculty was left unutilized, thus bringing about a grossly limited range of perception, It is to be expected that any ability or endowment that is not used zealously and in the right way must gradually become dormant and lost.

 So it was that through personal volition and choice humans became more and more myopic and restricted in perceptive capacity. While the cosmic cycles of revolutionary movements and maturation went on unhindered, the pace of human maturity and transformation became stuggish and encumbered. Having entered a new phase in the revolutionary movement, but with the humans therein lagging behind in the pace of development, the earth bears a pressure too high for humans to endure. This imbalance results in accelerated pace of events and experiences, forcing humans into a state of panic, stress and having to make up for past negligences. Everything dormant now rises to a boiling point. Thus apparently inexplicable events taking place all over the globe currently, are the result of accelerated rays of the new turning point, in which the status of man falls short of what time demands

94 years from 1929 should be long enough a time from anyone to know that humanity is at the beginning of a new era having to do with the cleansing of impurities, to restore good health. What the time demands is not the old strategy of might and arbitrary power claiming right, but balancing of past acts of arbitrariness, subterfuge and live by what the current period demands would fare better and not want to create more entanglements and encumberances. But those who would want to carry on with business as usual are more likely to meet with surprises and frustrations that would force them to find right answers to perplexities of the present time. Experience will be the best teacher of recalcitrant humans. More recalcitrance, more pain!

Vital lessons to learn include the truth that God’s Will manifests as three laws: Sowing and Reaping; Attraction and Repulsion, and rising and sinking; all powered by a cyclic, rhythmic motion, which sustains justice, harmony and equity in creation. Man’s wrong use of his free will brings about contrariness and disharmony, which he must rectify sooner or later, to be able to free himself from burdens. Some drastic measures would feature in the cleansing process which the new turning point entails, so that those striving seriously towards improvement can be protected from recalcitrant ones. The pace of the law of sowing and reaping will be accelerated to an alarming degree! Turning point demands shifting of ground, to have a balance.

By: Bright Amirize