Nine-year-old Pupil Becomes Microsoft Certified Professional

A nine-year-old pupil of Role Model School,
Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, Jomiloju Tunde-Oladipo, has
emerged the youngest Nigerian Microsoft
certified professional. He came tops among 21
pupils who sat for the professional examination in
Lagos. He is now a Microsoft office specialist in
office word 2010. Jomiloju scored 769 out of
1,000
in the examination held in August.
In his examination score report, the slim-built boy
performed well in Sharing and Maintaining
Documents, Formatting Content, Applying Page
Layout, and Reusable Content, among other
subjects. By the feat, Jomiloju has joined the
league of young Microsoft certified professionals,
including Nigeria's 10-year-old Anjolaoluwa Seyi-
Ojo; an eight-year-old Indian, Lavishnashree, and
two Pakistanis, named Arfa and Thobani.
Microsoft Certified Professional is a certification
programme provided by Microsoft Corporation.
The certification is tailored towards building skills
on Microsoft business solutions, focusing on
client-end operating systems such as windows XP,
Vista, Windows7 among others.
Jomiloju, whose certificate was signed by the
Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation,
Steven Ballmer, says he did not achieve this feat
easily, but through persistence and hard work. He
says, "It was not all that easy, because I had
attempted the examination last year, I did not
make it then. But I remained focused and I put in
a lot of hard work.
"At home and in the school, I am always on the
computer. After school hours, if am not doing
anything, I will go to my Information
Communication Technology teacher, to learn
more." Jomiloju sat for the examination when he
was in primary Five.
Relating his experience, Jomiloju says, "In all, I
answered 20 questions, after answering a
question, the computer takes you to another one.
And at times, there will be an instruction to skip
the next question. But the programme still directs
one to come back to those questions one had
earlier skipped."
But was he really scared having failed once to
meet the cut off mark? He stresses that he was
really afraid due to his earlier experience but he
was optimistic of having success, because
according to him, he has prepared well. He also
gives kudos to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tunde-
Ladipo, for their support and imbuing in him the
'can do' spirit in achieving the success.
He says, "My mum and dad were very supportive.
They always tell me never to give up and
eventually it paid off. Moreover, they had bought
the latest Dell laptop. Again, I am always
fascinated about computer. The way it works and
the process, and the way it organises data."
Jomiloju who is a left-handed writer, according to
his parents, has been a gifted child. He has
always been in love with gadgets. His mum,
Toyin, says, "Jomiloju since he was baby had
loved playing with gadgets, he was never
interested in toys. He would pick up remote
controls for both TV and air-conditioner, and he
would correctly use them for their specific
functions."
His father adds, "It is not that we are
unnecessarily indulging him but he is such a
brilliant child. He's multi-talented. He plays the
saxophone, he's good on keyboard, he acts very
well and he's a good swimmer. "Each term, he
participates in school drama and quiz. He also
gets prizes in other subjects, apart from ICT."
Does Jomiloju want to pursue a career in software/
hardware project like Bill Gates and Steve Job?
Spotting an innocent smile, the youngster nods
his head in affirmative.
His school administrator, Mrs. Adesimbo Banjo,
who speaks glowingly about Jomiloju, says the
feat recorded by her pupil is a tonic for other
pupils. His ICT teacher, Mr. Mathew Alo, also
commends Jomiloju for the feat. He adds,
"Jomiloju was taught all the necessary things he
needed to know and he came out as the most
outstanding among 20 others from different
schools in Lagos.
His class teacher, Mrs. Elizabeth Ogunrinola, says
Jomiloju takes his studies seriously. She states,
"He is not only good in ICT, but in other subjects.
He is hard working and well behaved." For
Jomiloju, he's not resting on his oars yet, as he
says he is still going to seek more Microsoft
certifications. "I still want to sit for more
examinations. I will still do excel and power
points," he says.