Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN in honor of Children’s Day invited the Chess in The Slum Africa Group led by Tunde Onakoya to play Chess in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa and was also taught how to play Chess by a Chess Champion Ferdinand Maumo. 26th May 2023.
Cliché as it may sound, children hold the future of our nation and indeed the world. We must pay attention to developing their talents and capabilities. Yesterday, I had the privilege of hosting the "Chess In Slums Africa" group at the State House led by @Tunde_OD, the Founder.
Chess is a cerebral and complex game but this extraordinary group took chess training to struggling neighbourhoods, training underprivileged children to play chess, some even under the age of five.
In five years, they have trained over 10,000 children and produced several national, and regional chess champions. Of the number, some are children with special needs, one of them, a child with cerebral palsy but a chess genius!
Several of the children now have scholarships to go to school, invitations to international competitions and as Tunde Onakoya said yesterday, they have even moved “from the slums to Aso Villa”.
A remarkable benefit of the chess training is the discovery that many have strong numeracy skills, and are particularly astute at code-writing and several other IT skills. The group has in collaboration with others focused on developing these special skills too.
So by the vision and compassion of one young man, turned into action, talented children are rising from poverty and physical challenges to confident, motivated children, winning local and international laurels.
Chess In Slums has shown us that the efforts of a few can turn around the fortunes of thousands of children. What can you & I contribute to developing the talents of children especially those living in deprived conditions?
I wish every Nigerian child a very happy Children’s Day.
