Work-life balance is typically the amount of time you spend doing your job versus the amount of time you spend doing what is important to you outside of work, whether that is with loved ones or pursuing personal interests and hobbies. When work demands more of your time or attention, you will have less time to handle your other responsibilities or passions. Truly, many people want to achieve a greater balance between their work and their personal life, but in practice, it can be difficult to achieve, sometimes a demanding job means more money to support a family. Sometimes, a job contributes to deteriorating your mental health, which then leaves you drained in personal relationships. But work and life integration or the synergistic blending of our personal and professional responsibilities has become an increasingly popular concept. Work is simply one aspect of our lives that needs to be considered alongside other  home and family lives, our community and our personal well-being, rather resembling a scale with two computing sides.
The importance of work-life balance can never be over-emphasised.  Improving your work-life balance can improve your overall well-being including your physical, emotional and mental health.  Studies have found out that working long hours can lead to such serious health issues as “impaired sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease. Unfortunately, as these conditions arise, they can also exacerbate our work-life issues, leading to burnout and other negative repercussions. Ordinarily, the unique nature of each of our lives and our fluctuating responsibilities mean that work-life balance and work-life integration look different for everyone. It is a constant negotiation about, how and where you spend your time. In striving for greater work-life balance, you get to determine your priorities, whether they are related to your work or personal life.
Different workers or employees have different schedules to take care of their responsibilities. For instance, a stay-at- home parent who tackles work assignment while her newborn is napping. You can also look at a student who prioritises spending time with friends rather than rushing to study for an upcoming midterm exam.  An employee who crafts his schedules to work specific days so that she can take care of her elderly parents. Notably, an employee has more advantages when it comes to work-life balance. One of those is increased production.   When you are able to take a step back from work and recharge, it is amazing how much more productive you can be when you return to your tasks. Studies have shown that employees who have a better work-life balance are more productive, creative, and motivated.
One study found that employees who have great balance of work and personal lives are more productive by as much as 30per cent. Being able to disconnect from work and focus on other things, whether it is spending time with family, pursuing a hobby or simple relaxing, can help you come back to your work with renewed energy and focus.  When you are feeling more balanced you are less likely to burnout, which can lead to a decrease in productivity and even health issues. Additionally, better work-life balance leads to improved health of a person.  When you are constantly working, it can be easy to neglect your health. But maintaining a good work-life balance can have a positive impact on your physical and mental well-being. Study by the American Psychological Association reveal that people who maintain a good balance of work , as well as personal life are more likely to report good health and less likely to report poor health.
When  you are able to focus on other things, like exercise, healthy eating, and getting enough sleep in addition to having a better balance will reduce stress. When you are working long hours, it can be easy to neglect your relationships. But maintaining a good work-life balance will have a positive impact on your personal relationships. When you can disconnect from work, you can focus on other things, like spending time with friends and family, pursuing hobbies , and building new relationships. Furthermore, having a better balance can reduce stress which can lead to better communication and understanding in your relationship. When you are feeling good in your personal relationships, you are better able to handle the demands of your job, which in turn can lead to better performance and more job satisfaction.  A good work-life balance can lead to happier and more fulfilling life overall.
If you just focus on getting things done without proper planning, it can be easy to neglect your overall career development. But if you maintain a healthy work-life balance, it can have a positive impact on your career opportunities. Employees who have a good balance of work time and personal lives are more likely to be promoted and have better job satisfaction. By disconnecting from work, you will be able to focus on other things like learning new skills, networking and exploring new career opportunities. Additionally, when you can disconnect from work, you are able to enjoy your personal life and recharge your batteries , which in turn, helps you stay engaged and motivated at work. Work-life balance also has its negative impacts on the employee. It may be difficult to meet up work demand. It is not always easy to find a balance between work and personal time, especially when you have a demanding job or tight deadline. Maintaining a good work-life balance can be difficult and it is common to feel like you are not doing enough in either area.
In fact, employees who are struggling to balance work and personal life are more likely to experience stress and burnout. When you are trying to balance work and personal life, you may find yourself feeling pulled in different directions. It can be hard to focus on when you are thinking about personal obligation and it can be hard to enjoy your personal life when you are thinking about work. Furthermore, when you are trying to find the perfect balance between work and personal life, you may feel like you are not able to give your full attention to either area. This can lead to feelings like guilt or dissatisfaction with your job or personal life. It is important to remember that finding a balance between work and personal life is a work in progress, and it will require constant adjustments and flexibility. It is also important to be realistic and set boundaries for yourself to communicate them with your personal life.
When you are focused on maintaining a good work-life balance, you may end up sacrificing financial opportunities. For instance, you may turn down a promotion or a rise because it will require more time away from your personal life. Or you may take a leave of absence from your job, which can lead to a loss of income. Employees who take time off for personal or family reasons often experience a loss of income. They also may have difficulty getting back into the work force, which can lead to long term financial consequences. Furthermore, employees who are constantly working overtime or taking on additional responsibilities may be eligible for extra pay or bonuses, but if you are trying to maintain a good balance, you may end up missing out on those opportunities. It is important to remember that balancing work and personal life is not just about time but also about financial opportunities and stability.
Finding a balance will require careful consideration of both your personal and financial goals and communicating with your employer about expectations and limitations to ensure that you are able to meet your financial needs without sacrificing your life. Prioritisation is very important.  Considering which one is more important than the other.  When trying to balance your work and personal life, you may find it difficult to prioritise what is important. According to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 60per cent of adults said that work is a significant source of stress in their lives. This stress can be compounded when you are trying a balance competing demands on your time and attention. Remember, that finding a balance does not mean that you have to divide your time equally between work and personal life. Instead, it is about determining what is most important to you and making sure that you are allocating your time and resources accordingly.
Robinson is a student of Pan African Institute of Management and Technology, Port Harcourt.

By: Happiness Nkiruka Robinson

Before the Saturday, October 5, Local Government Council Election to midwife the rebirth of elected Local Government administrations in Rivers State, it was hard on me to believe that general elections can hold in Nigeria without the Nigerian Police and other statutory security organisations’ participation to provide security. So when the Abuja High Court restrained the Nigerian Police from giving security for a seamless, hitch-free election processes, I was startled on the security of election materials, adhoc staff of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the voters, even though legal luminaries posit that it is not within the ambit of Federal courts to legislate on Local Government matters. Many people thought that the Inspector-General of Police’s decision to promptly obey judicial orders would either truncate the process or trigger voter apathy.
However, the outcome: violence-free, massive participation of voters even the participation of those who confessed that they had not exercised their franchise in the last 24 years of Nigeria democratic dispensation, does not only prove me wrong but also speak volumes of a people yearning for self determination at the grassroots. It also shows that the time of a marked departure from the ugly, repressive and dictatorial past has inevitably come to an end. It underscores the emergence of  a new political order and structure that are the prerogative of the people and a function of legitimacy from the people, not a structure that is a product of a coercive, repressive , and other measures that negate democratic values and norms. For once, Rivers people have sent a message that they remain a distinct political entity with the right to decide who leads them.
The people of Rivers State, from the Ikwerres, the Kalabaris, Etches, Ndonis, Wakirikes, Andonis, the Ekpeyes, Ogonis, Abuans and several other micro ethnic and language people as a resilient and brave people have gained consciousness to dislodge the human instrument that perpetrates oppression even as Karl Marx said, “It is only when people are conscious of the fact that they are oppressed can they rise to dislodge the instrument that makes the oppression possible”. The October 5, Local Government Election, shows that despite its ethnic  and language diversity Rivers State is homogeneous, united in  corporate interest and goal. Rivers people have  proven that general election without the presence of Nigerian Police is possible. Some voters have also alleged that considering the peaceful election achieved without the presence of Nigerian Police, the crisis-ridden elections in Nigeria may have been the architecture of the Police. Some believe that their presence poses a discomfort to voters and an uneasy calm in voting environment.
Now that it is possible to conduct elections without them the Federal and Sub- national electoral bodies can reduce cost of conducting elections. The huge budget allocated to security for election purposes presupposes waste, so can be channeled to other critical sectors. This laudable achievement-a peaceful election without Nigerian Police would have been elusive without the peaceful, mentally and emotionally matured, God-fearing disposition and Rivers First mantra of the Executive Governor, Siminalayi Fubara. The Governor’s passion for peace and development even amid provocative and inciting statements by detractors and enemies of Rivers State, has endeared him to the people and whittled down the influence and relevance of the opposition in Rivers State. It is not gainsaying the fact that in recent times, the Nigerian Police has flagrantly violated professional, ethical and moral standards.
The high command seems to have sacrificed their statutory obligations to the people on a whim for personal relationships and filthy lucre. They seem to have allowed pecuniary gains to dull and cloud their sense of reasoning and their primary statutory responsibilities of crime detection and prevention, protection of lives and property. The occupation of Local Government Council Secretariats in the 23 Local Government Areas of Rivers State by the Nigeria Police, preventing Caretaker Committees and staff of Local Government councils to access their offices to carry out legitimate duties when States with caretaker administrations functioned without Police interference, is a dent on the credibility and integrity of the Nigerian Police. At the wake of the political upheaval in Rivers State, the Executive Governor of the State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, received his dose of the rascality of some men of the Nigerian Police. Canisters of water were shot at the Governor as gleaned from viral videos and other media outfits.
How could the Nigerian Police have descended so low to derecognise the Executive Governor who is the Chief Security Officer of Rivers State? What came on them to compromise their duties to the people and Government of Rivers State? How on earth could they have deemed serving the interest of one man in Abuja is paramount and transcends that of the generality of Rivers people? The Nigerian Police by their inactions and untoward activities in Rivers State, tried to convey a false assumption that there are two Governors in Rivers State. This animosity on the state lends support for the quest for and against State Police. A State Police formation will be necessary, Purpose-driven and effective under a cool-headed, humane, objective and listening governor like Governor Fubara. However, a State Police in control of the opposition in Rivers will be the German Nazis – an instrument of torture, oppression, and autocratic governance.
The Nigerian Police should be and be seen to be professional, neutral, non- partisan, conscientious and sagacious in their conduct, if they must earn the respect of the people. The Nigerian Police and the Judiciary should resist the allures of being used as anti-democratic institutions to truncate Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy. No doubt every profession has its hazards. If the challenges of a profession do not allow a person to uphold integrity and ethical standards, it is better to quit the job. It is honourable to die for what you know is right than living for the shadow, and the mundane. When money and wealth are lost, nothing is lost but when integrity is lost everything is lost.

Igbiki Benibo

That President Ahmed Bola Tinubu plans to reshuffle his cabinet is no more any secrets. Before now many notable Nigerians, civil society groups, socio-cultural bodies and even Mr President’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have called on the president to weed-out non-performing officials from his government in the face of worsening hardships engendered by poorly conceived and implemented federal government policies. Mr President had himself hinted at heeding the calls when he warned that top government officials whose periodic performance reports turn out poor would be dropped from his government. “If you are performing, nothing to fear. If you miss the objective, we’ll review it. If no performance, you leave us. No one is an island and the buck stops on my desk,” President Tinubu had warned cabinet members and other top government officials, during a three-day retreat last November. Since then, a Central Delivery Coordination Unit headed by Presidential Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, has been established to receive ministerial reports and measure performances. But while the criteria for performance verification and rating remain unknown, no publication has been made by the unit since its inception.
Nearly a year after inauguration, Tinubu’s cabinet remains the same in the face of worsening state of affairs, except for the suspension early this year, of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Minister, Dr Betta Edu, following a financial scandal that so embarrassed the administration. Many had long expected far-reaching measures from President Tinubu to reverse the worsening economic hardships in the country. However, after rising unrests culminated into major nation-wide protests in August, and another billed for October, grapevine sources inside the presidency revealed frantic considerations of the calls for cabinet change. But would Mr President play to the gallery by appearing to yield to popular demands, or has he finally reckoned that rising poverty is pushing the nation towards breaking points, hence the need to re-tool? As lofty as the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ sounded, to many ordinary Nigerians, the reality of the mantra is nothing but abysmal failures.
But having dragged for months, it appears the supposed tonic of cabinet reshuffle poses a hard nut to crack for Mr President, which had set herculean tasks for presidential aides to continuously deny the hushed effort, until presidential spokesperson, Mr Bayo Onanuga, finally acquiesced to the veracity of the rumours. Ever since, the whirling vortex of rumours shifted from it being a possibility, to how soon it comes, much as speculations now brew on who makes or has made the new list, and who gets or got dropped from the current. Intense lobbies said to have been mounted at the presidency may have caused Mr President so much distractions to force him scamper abroad with the unfinished list, on a pretext of going on vacations. The inability of Mr President to make swift changes that quickly respond to urgent challenges reflects the complexity of our system and how sourcing for trusted technocrats, contending with vested interests and the need for political balance, may hamstring a government’s ability to maneuver through troubled times.
It is note-worthy however, that lasting solutions to many of Nigeria’s problems lie much not in cabinet make-ups than in corruption and the lack of sincere, political will to getting problems solved, which situates Mr President at the centre of blames for much of our nation’s current woes. For instance, if Mr President is determined at tackling Nigeria’s major economic failures of recent past, the first consideration should be to critically review the declining performance of the ministry of petroleum resources, which serially became lacklustre since the portfolio got vested on Mr President’s office since from the time of President Mohammadu Buhari in 2007. With the sole heartbeat of Nigeria’s mono-economy entrapped at the very busy office of Mr President, who has no time to over-see the day-to-day affairs of the petroleum sector, yet is so immuned to accountability summons, no one should wonder why the petroleum industry, as well as the Nigerian economy, has degenerated ever since. Coupled with general insecurity, the decline in official petroleum production data since then led to dwindling foriegn exchange, ballooning official debts and the current general inflation.
As for the performance of the ministry of defence, whose past lapses led to the destabilisation of Nigeria’s agricultural sector by bandits, the current momentum at last, against terrorism and banditry, looks encouraging. But while it is worrisome that sources reveal that some saboteurs who fraternise with terrorists also seat in our nation’s high offices, the direct accusation by a sitting governor against no smaller personality than the current minister of state for defence, is an alarm that should not be neglected. Even as the accused denies and reverses the accusation, government should beware that the presence of such controversial figures is a burden to the image of government. Mr President also needs to take serious reviews at the performance short-comings of our nation’s ministry of interior which over-sees law enforcement and compliance establishments. Bedevilled by corruption, inadequate financing and institutional weaknesses, some of these institutions fall short of expectations and reportedly bow most times, to the whims of corruption. The current Bobrisky saga for instance, has put the Nigerian Correctional Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in gloom spotlight, and reflects how badly our institutions may have been compromised.
It is advisable however, that the move to scrap the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry may not be good for ordinary Nigerians who pass through the harshest consequences of the policies of this administration. Even if the ministry faces distrust from many due to years of non-transparent distribution of reliefs worth billions, and from which so many vulnerable Nigerians did not get a dime, Nigerians still desperately in need of bail-outs would prefer a disciplined and better managed public welfare ministry. The current situation in the country requires the collective concentration of all to ensure full recovery. The president should therefore beware of cabinet members who would let themselves be drawn to divisive political grand-standings that not only drain energies needed to restore the economy, but distract the focus of his government at tackling pressing challenges.
So, as Nigeria and Nigerians await President Tinubu reshuffle his cards for another chance at good governance, history beckons on him to set name and good marks, in gold.

Joseph Nwankwor