AT 15, in an age when children are wont to take to their own ways, ignoring their parents’ and schools’ instructions, Miss Mezisashe Ojuba of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja, has started winning laurels. And, in Mathematics, the Queen of the Sciences, at that. Ojuba, who is one of the children who came early under the wings of Professor Adewale Solarin won the Kangaroo Mathematics Competition in which students from 90 countries participated.
Ojuba’s feat in this age is an indication that it is not all over for Nigerians. Out of the rot in the Nigerian educational system, Ojuba brought smiles to her parents and the country. We salute her, Professor Solarin, a former director of the National Mathematics Centre and the teaching faculty of her school. It is an indication that, given the needed encouragement, Nigerian children could blossom and compete with the best in the world. It is an indication that Nigeria could yet veer the narrative of the coming generation from one defined by tramadol quaffing, codeine gobbling and drug sniffing, with the boys sagging their trousers and girls/ladies walking the streets almost naked. A generation that wants to start making millions by whatever means even before they had left secondary school. The girl should receive all the assistance to bring out the best in her anywhere in the world.
We urge Professor Adewale to do more in bringing up such children, but it should not be left for him alone. It is not enough for the education authorities to glow in this feat, they must redouble efforts at ensuring that hundreds of other Ojubas in the country are discovered, nurtured and encouraged to turn around the country’s fortunes. The laureate is following in the steps of Ekene Franklin, a past winner of the national mathematics Olympiad and the American Mathematics Academy competition. There was also nine-year-old Kingsley Ikenna, who scored 98.85 per cent in the 16th Annual National Mathematics Competition, defeating more than 38,000 pupils who participated nationwide.
Mathematics, being the key to unlock the physical sciences, is seen as terror by most students. It is therefore a step in the right direction to introduce students to it early. Ojuba is a product of a private school; public schools where sometimes there are no Mathematics teachers, and infrastructure decrepit could achieve the same feat if states and the Federal Government commit enough human and material resources.
All states in the federation, as well as foundations should hop onto the train with a view to bringing up future Chike Obis. The search for geniuses should, however, not be limited to Mathematics. The physical and biological sciences, too, deserve more attention. There is need for more competitions at various levels to encourage those who would be great engineers, doctors and pharmacists at a time when funding has become a major challenge to schools in the country.
Indeed, the move should be extended to the social sciences, creative and liberal arts. All round, the genius in Nigerian children must be unlocked, with the brilliant ones serving as models for the others.
Almost forever, Nigeria has been described as a country of great potential, it is time to start raising children who can actualise the potential; children who would raise Nigeria to the pedestal of the true ‘giant of Africa’ and, not only the most populous black country, but one ready to assume its place to win respectability for the race.
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