Basil Okpara, a nine (9) year old Nigerian genius, became an online sensation after drawing inspiration from his father to build over 30 mobile games using a free programming application that provides a wide variety of features. The app allows users to create animations, games, or stories.
Father of the tech sensation was very supportive in his success story; he disclosed to reporters that Basil picked inspiration from a statement he made one day about his obsession with playing games on a tablet he bought for him.
“There was a day he was on the tablet, as usual, he was so carried away with the game he was playing that I got upset with him,” his father said, adding that “Out of annoyance, I said to him, ‘you are always playing games, can’t you think about building your own games so others can play yours too?’. I was angry when I said it, and I did not know he took it seriously.”
According to the father, the young boy started developing an interest in creating his own games after that encounter, so he got him a laptop to familiarize himself with the basic steps.
Additionally, he signed Basil on a five-day boot camp organized by Codefest International for children aged five (5) to fifteen (15).
He explained further that the said camp was organized purposely to expose these kids to technologies, including virtual reality and robotics. With a good observation of the interest of his child, he deems the program appropriate and signed him on.
Speaking to reporters, the young genius stated that he learned the skill from a tech camp; “I learned how to build games at a boot camp. Now, I build to keep me busy when I am bored,” young Basil told reporters.
Basil built over 30 games and counting. He programmed a bat to hide with commands that reward players for catching the bats with one of his games. His game captioned ‘Mosquito mash’ is available on Google play store for downloads.
Basil is an example to any ordinary African, that innovation and invention at any age can be possible. It is all about self-determination, hard work and a lot of creativity.
This is the same discipline we encourage at the Kidds' Coding Club, children absorb a lot of information at a young age and we believe this is the best stage to introduce these technical terms and concepts as their creative side will assist in their learning.
If your child is not a part of the Kidds' Coding Club yet, well, now is the best time to #PioneerYourChildToTheFuture!
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