Unveiling the Extraordinary Intelligence of a Young Boy

All through my years, and since I've grown up to become a teacher, I've never come across such an intelligent child whose intellectual ability got not only me standing in awe, but the governor of the state and his entourage, and I can't help but marvel at how he could know and do all of those things at such a tender age, and believe me, though a teacher, there're topics I found difficult to comprehend, and yet this boy dissects them into pieces as though it's ABC.

This is a narration of my encounter with an 8-year-old boy, Muhammad Muhammad by name, whom I came across during my stay in the north-eastern region of Nigeria, Yobe State, to be precise. When I was working part-time at the Ministry of Environment of the State, to maximize my income and also make use of the times I was not working at the ministry, I decided to get another job, and that's how I got this job a subject teacher in this private school.

Yeah, it's the first time I've seen such a primary school in Nigeria where they've got subject teachers for all subjects rather than a single teacher teaching the entire subject in a class, and I thought that's the biggest surprise the school holds until I came across this young boy, Muhammad. I mean, the very first day I entered their class and tried to break down the definition to their standard and then asked who'd give it a shout to define computer, Muhammad raised his hands, and that was the beginning of my amazement that lingers throughout my time in the school.

He stood up and gave me a comprehensive definition that I believe would have only been given by someone in the university, or better yet, a professional in the field of computers, and yet here he's just in primary 4. While he was defining, I was caught off guard, jaw dropped, and had to walk down his side, so I'll be sure he's not reading from a book or probably an elderly man who's just short. I got to his side and asked him to repeat himself, and he did without flinching.

There and then I knew this wasn't the kind of class I must go to on prepared, or else he'd embarrass me with corrections, objections, or questions that are beyond my expectations for a class of their age grade, and truly, he did embarrass me with questions.

One faithful day, I went to their class, and he asked questions about programming, which is an aspect I'm not too good at. To be on the safe side, I quickly told him that's unrelated to the current topic we're dealing with, so he should ask things related to it, as we've got no time to waste.

If I were the only teacher who's sceptical about going to their class, I'd have said I probably believed I'm poor at what I do, but every single teacher felt that way, and it's as though he's just a genius who's interested in every single subject, read tirelessly just so he can understand everything written down in a book, his level of curiosity is second to none, and you'll always see him with his head buried into a book reading while his mates are playing during break time.

I believe his curiosity, intellectual ability, and resilience in reading habits are what bring about his all-round intelligence in all subjects, I can remember one day the school decided to register him for the junior high leaving school exam while he was still in primary 4. He sat for the exam, and the results came out; his results were the 3rd best in the entire state, and in light of that, we as a school were thrilled and more curious about what he'd score if he were to sit for the WAEC, which is the secondary school leaving certificate examination.

Again, the school registered him in agreement with his parents, and the outcome of this was what led him to the presence of the then-governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidam. This young boy, then 9 years old and in primary, was the overall best student in WAEC through the state, and to think he achieved that feat without ever being inside a secondary school classroom just makes me wonder what he'd have scored had he undergone that phrase.

I guess it's the tradition of the state to always honour their best students in WAEC with a meeting with the governor and also scholarships to study abroad, and when it was time for him to grace the invitation of the governor, his parents and we, the teachers of the school, tag along, and the governor can help but find himself in a position where his mouth is widely open. What a surprise for someone who had such a result!

The governor even had to ask him several questions and asked teachers from other schools to interrogate him with questions, so it would seem as though his results were doctored or gotten via the Malpractice Act, and after all the questions were asked, he kept giving answers that got everyone amazed, but we, his teachers, were accustomed to it.

To cut a long story short, the governor, as per the tradition of the state, wanted to give him a full scholarship to study outside the country, but his parents believed that he was too young to enter that stage and couldn't be standing by himself there, and since the state won't be sponsoring the entire family to the United Kingdom, where the university is located, they had to turn down the offer, and the governor in return gave him a scholarship throughout his education within the country.

He went on to keep amazing us daily in school and was given double promotions on several occasions, my thoughts about him are that he'd probably be the next Albert Einstein of our time, and he usually reminds me of the brilliant genius kid by the name of Sheldon in the movie Young Sheldon, and in fact, they almost exhibit similar behaviors within the classroom and toward the colleagues.

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Thanks so much for your time, do have a wonderful day and stay blessed.

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