As part of her Independence Day Celebration Assembly yesterday, the Year 2 students of Lagos Preparatory and Secondary School took time to honour young Nigerian children who are making their mark in the world.
According to the Headmaster Mr John Samuel, ‘Independence Day is both a chance to look back at where we are coming from and to look to the future.
Our children of today are Nigeria’s future, therefore, it is indeed fitting to celebrate these young gifted Nigerians.
Young gifted Nigerians get attention
These acknowledgements occurred in the form of various skits with the school children representing each of the people below:
DJ Young Money, the youngest DJ in Africa who began performing at the age of 9. At age 11, he has performed in shows both home and abroad and has a net worth of $6000.
Akorode Odukale, winner of the second season of Nigeria’s Got Talent is a 13-year-old saxophonist.
Marylove Edwards, a 13-year-old tennis champion ranked as number 1 in Africa who is focused on emulating her role model, Serena Williams.
Ozzy Bosco, a 12-year-old singer worth $150,000. Popularly known as ‘African’s biggest teenage star, Ozzy was good at singing, dancing and composing songs. He is also a motivational speaker who has touched the lives of many underprivileged children through his philanthropy.
Emmanuella Samuel, a 9-year-old comedienne who became popular at the age of 6 with her famous skit ‘This is not my real face oh!’. She has won several awards such as the “Best New Comedienne and princes of comedy at the Afro Australia Music and Movie Awards. (AAMMA).
Amarachi at 8 became millionaire
Amarachi Uyanne was the winner of the maiden edition of Nigeria’s Got Talent at the age of 8. She is a singer, dancer and violinist whose net worth is about $100,000.
Esther Okada is a very brilliant British Nigerian who passed her Maths GCSE examination at the age of 6. She wrote a book on Maths and is now in the process of obtaining her PhD at the age of 14.
Ify Ufele, a 13-year-old Nigerian born American fashion designer. At the age of 10, she became the youngest designer to feature in New York fashion Week.
Ify is a United Nations Junior Ambassador of Peace. She is also an anti-bullying activist who started a non-profit called ‘Bullychasers’.
Zuriel Oduwole is another Nigerian born American and the youngest filmmaker in the world. A passionate activist for educating African girls and at 16, Zuriel has already met 28 presidents.
Emmanuella Mayaki, a 10-year-old British Nigerian computer whizkid, whose technological changes to an Artificial Intelligence Project led to her appointment as an IT teacher in an English School.
In addition to these celebration, the assembly was filled with presentations from all the other year groups in the school. The Year 4 students took out time to share facts about the Nigerian National Anthem.
They sang from the original version to the current one. We also enjoyed a remix of the National Pledge put together by the Year 5 students.
Nigerian cultural outfits acknowledged by children
Children in Year 1 shared facts about the various tribes and they took to the runway, parading their various cultural outfits for all to see.
Year 3 and 6 pupils decided to display their dance skills through their Igbo and Contemporary dances respectively.
The Year 6s included a skit around the various issues in Nigeria and how change begins with us. In their thought provoking skit, they got the audience thinking about our responsibility in the issues we face as a country. challenged the participants to check their mind-set and not only blame the government.
The secondary students put together a group skit, highlighting the strengths of all the parts of Nigeria. And how we need each other to succeed as a country. Without the tomatoes and peppers grown in the north, the western ‘Owambe’ parties will not hold.
Finally, the youngest members of the school (18 month olds to 5 year olds) took to stage looking very cute in their traditional attires. They displayed their knowledge of the various Nigerian greetings. They ended the assembly with a beautiful rendition of ‘We are Nigeria’ by 1 Nation 1 destiny initiative.