By Kizito Duru
A few days ago, short videos of a little boy with a modulated and singsong voice, reciting some lines of the Catholic hymn, went viral on social media. There was hardly anyone who was not moved by the boy’s innate musical voice.
Few days later, mere Facebook comments and shares, Twitter retweets and Likes gave rise to some good individuals asking for the profile of the lad which was made available, and its revelation was that boy is an Imo son, from Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area and just 9 years old.
Having ascertained his family’s financial status and social background, which manifested in the boy hawking coconut and pear in the videos that went viral, people showed interest in investing in the young boy’s dream of becoming a Catholic priest.
Top on this list of Oluomachi’s admirers is the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma. The governor, through the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Declan Emelumba, visited the boy’s family in his hometown and announced full scholarship to his family’s delight. That was not all. The governor adopted the boy and promised to henceforth play a fatherly role to his future.
What the governor did is a departure from the norm. The first move by another governor would have been to invite the boy and his family to Sam Mbakwe Exco Chamber Hall, Imo Government House Owerri, promise Oluomachi scholarship and have both local and national radio stations, newspapers and television stations capture the event, so as to curry applause from the public. Gov Hope Uzodimma honoured the boy right under the roof of his (Oluomachi) home with no official press present. It is a day the young man and his family won’t forget in a hurry.
Congratulations Oluomachi Joseph.