By Gbenga Akingbule
Guinness World Record holder of the longest marathon chess game, Tunde Onakoya on Friday said the government at all levels in Nigeria should see Chess as a game changer in its bid to reduce the number of out-of-school children across the country.
Gatekeepers News reports that Onakoya who was hosted by the Nigerian Airforce Officers Mess ( NAFOM) Chess Club, Maiduguri, said the chess game should as a matter of urgency be included in Nigeria’s educational curriculum to make students better thinkers and better problem solvers.
Onakoya made this known when he visited Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital. He disclosed that he is in the state for Chess training and sensitisation.
The Lagos-born chess player who took ample time to interact and play chess game with children who were displaced by the over a decade-long insurgency said the government should back the game of chess “as it will serve as a simple entry point for many out-of-school children.”
“The government should be able to back at the institutional level and that chess should be part of the learning curriculum and because it’s very low cost, It will give children a semblance of education especially when we have a lot of these children out-of-school.
“It is more important that we empower the children in a way that we give them agency and not in a way that creates a dependency culture. I think chess has the power to do that where the children can learn to think for themselves and they can have a very solid beginning in their education.”
At both the Muna and Shuwari IDP camps visited, Onakoya who took time to teach the children how to be better chess players narrated his transformative story of how playing chess game removed him from the shackles of poverty.
He told the children (boys and girls ) at different locations to be dedicated to their education and as well as chess game pointing out that in no distant future, it will help to transform their lives. He also admonishes parents to encourage their children to play chess.
“I hail from Ikorodu town in Lagos State, my parents were poor but while playing chess, I got a scholarship and that has transformed my life, I believe these children here can even get better opportunities than me ” Onakoya said.
The young chess champion and coach who stormed Maiduguri alongside his team also commended the military for the fight against insurgency and urged them to maintain the tempo
He told the Commander of Nigeria Airforce 105 Composite Group, Air Commodore Caleb Olayera during a visit to his office in Maiduguri that the perception of Borno State by outsiders is far from the reality of the emerging peace and tranquillity being enjoyed by residents.
“The few people that wanted to travel with me backed out when they heard I was coming to Maiduguri, but I’m glad to make it down here, I must commend the Military for doing a good job,” Onakoya said.
