EMMANUELLA OZIOFU: 9-year old Nigeria’s ICT wizkid lunch new websit, app, holds six U.S ICT certifications

The ineffective management of her hugely impressive human resources is something management experts believe has been one of the major problems throughout Nigeria’s remarkable history. Although regarded as the most populous country in Africa, Nigeria relies excessively on foreign professionals to execute certain professional tasks and this has affected the labour market within the country. And truth be told, there is no hiding of the fact that many young Nigerians are no strangers to crimes on both the local and international terrains. As it has been generally observed, these are minds that could have developed the country if attention had been paid to draft them to the side of the law or generally not allowing them stray against it. However, some bright sparks occasionally shine through this in spite of this reality and not minding the state of matters, they push to make something for themselves.

One of those who have refused an unflattering place in the country’s anthology of untapped talents is a 9-year-old Nigerian known as Emmanuella Oziofu. Despite being that young age wise, Miss Oziofu has done enough to prove that she is in possession of a big brain and a sound mind and to put it mildly, her incredible penchant for creating something new, with a view to solving problems in Nigeria, is simply stunning. Born on January 7, 2009, Emmanuella Oziofu is a Grade 5 student of Skycrest Schools.

She enrolled at Mikon Institute of Information Technology, where she graduated and bagged a Certificate in Basic Training – Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint – and later on, a Diploma in Desktop Publishing in 2016. Thereafter, she enrolled at Complete Computer Technology Institute (CCT), where she studied Web Design and graduated in 2017 after which she went on to bag another certificate in Web Design. In 2018, she proceeded further with her stunning career in ICT.

So determined was she that even her routine class work could prove to be a stumbling block in her path and she enrolled to study Web Development and Graphic Design at NIIT. Emmanuella went on to enrol for Mobile App development at Tech24, ending that endeavour by developing her personal mobile app.

Not just that, she also designed and hosted her own website, known as Emma’s ICT Academy.It all began with her enrolment as a pupil of Fortune Schools in Benin City, Edo State capital, before she relocated to Lagos where she has been a student of Skycrest Schools. Being a young girl of 9 years has not led her into thinking she has time on her side as she already has the drive and presence of mind of an adult, effectively discovering and adequately honing her talents in web development and the field of Information Technology in general. Today, she is knowledgeable in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, WordPress, PHP, Mysql and Graphic Design.

To that effect, in April this year, she successfully completed and bagged the a total of six online certifications from SOLOLEARN in California, United States of America. They are Certificate in HTML Fundamentals Course, Certificate in PHP Tutorial Course, Certificate in CSS Fundamentals Course, Certificate in SQL Fundamentals Course, Certificate in JavaScript Tutorial Course and Certificate in JQuery Tutorial Course.

Her journey into the multi-faceted terrain of Information Communication Technology commenced when she was just 7 years old. Two years on, apart from the certifications from US, she is a proud holder of a diploma in Desktop Publishing, Advanced Excel, Adobe Page Maker, Advanced Power Point and Corel Draw. After carefully working out a plan, Emmanuella has successfully designed a website and at an age when most girls would prefer to have all things handed over to them, this particular young girl is picking things up by herself.

“The Food Website” is what she calls her creation and this quite plainly understates its purpose, which is a beautiful testament to the young lady’s humanity. According to her, she designed “the Food Website” to encourage people including parents and children to imbibe a culture of eating healthy local and international dishes. Her ultimate aim, as she points out many times, is also to help people cut down massively on harmful junk-laden diet, the consumption of which, apparently, represents a solid problem for many people who later go on to attain varying levels of obesity.

A futuristic young woman Emmanuella is not just stopping at developing her website, she wants to do something more, even to the point of transforming the website into an application on the Google Play Store which she hopes to launch before her 10th birthday in 2019. The young girl, who studied web design at the Com-plete Computer Technology Centre in Benin, is bent on having her website set up to meet with the highest standards. And for the young ICT guru, knowledge is not a thing to be hoarded as she also revealed that she would in future help to teach young children about ICT and also broaden her knowledge about the field. Summing up her intentions, Emmanuella has asserted that she wants to break certain records before she attains the age of 14. Without a doubt, there are many young girls and boys like Emmanuella with incredible talents around Nigeria but who need one form of encouragement or the other.

They need an adequate enabling environment to function properly and hone their skills better to produce incredible works of utter genius. The Federal Government needs to go about creating a truly enabling environment to help children at a very young age like Emmanuella learn ICT and grow in it.

It is noteworthy that young children in places like China are doing awesomely in the field of technology because they have been given the enabling environment to function. The Nigerian government can do the same by creating good ICT infrastructure in schools around the country and encourage children who are as young or even younger than Emmanuella who have a desire to pursue their dreams delve in technology. Emmanuella Oziofu, who celebrated her success while speaking with reporters about the project at her 9th birthday in January, stated that one of her objectives on the path to making the world a better place was to become a professional web designer.

“My target is to become a professional web designer and analyst at age 9, and I have accomplished it,” she said. The fact that a girl so young could have so clear a vision and take steps towards achieving it is a project worth celebrating not just for her but for the country as it is a sign that Nigeria can still produce driven and motivated young ones. It is a tangible beacon for the future that the country can be handed when our time is done and spent to these ones who have dared to dream.With that stated vision now accomplished, the 9-year-old web and mobile apps developer was yesterday presented to the public. The ICT prodigy and graphic designer unveiled her works in Lagos State.

Through a tweet on her handle, @emmaoziofu, she said interested Nigerians and the general public were invited to the public presentation of her website, mobile app and graphic creative works. The event, which took place at the Lagos NUJ secretatriat in Ikeja, commenced at 11 am prompt with Wale Olajumoke, a Business Strategist at Tech24 and Boluwaji Apanishile, a Creative Director at GVP as keynote speakers.

The public presentation of Emmanuella’s website and mobile app held under the distinguished chairmanship of Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin, the Managing Editor, Online and Special Publication at The Nation Newspapers. Having initially had the nerve and pure, creative drive to create her own website with an intention of helping people cut down on food junk, she is now ready to show the whole world what her site looks like. In addition to that, the young girl unveiled her mobile app which she had carefully developed in a project supported by the Coalition For Good Governance and Economic Justice in Africa.