It was a moment of joy and show of emotions for friends and family members of 12-year old Imurana Salisu, a pupil of Army Children Primary School, Abule-Egba, Lagos who became the latest youngest million in Nigeria as he carted away the huge sum of #1 Million at the just concluded grand finale of the Imagine and Achieve Creative Arts and Essay Writing competition organised by Omo.

The young lad whose drawing of a solider won him the ultimate prize of #1 Million revealed that he drew a soldier because he wants to be a soldier in future.


Speaking on why he chose to be a soldier, Salisu who is presently in primary 6, noted, “I want to defend and protect my people and I want to serve my father’s land, Nigeria.” On how he felt being the overall winner of the competition, he said, “I am very happy and even my father is so proud of me right now.” 


The boy’s father, Mr. Imurana, who was in tears and sobbing uncontrollably, found it very hard to express his feeling at the occasion. All he could utter was, “Alhamdulillahi! Alhamdulillahi!! Alhamdulillahi!!!  Literally meaning, “All praise be unto God”,


Mrs. Abiola Bentley, Assistant Head Teacher of Army Children Primary School, Abul- Egba, and Salisu’s Art teacher, who accompanied him to the grand finale of the competition, said, “I knew that we were going to win because we won the Lagos State arm of the competition.”


Speaking further she said, “ Just yesterday, I had to stay back in school to help him add more features to his drawing. In his initial drawing the “Soldier” didn’t have a gun and so I had to teach him how to insert a gun into the soldier’s hand and how he was going to decorate it. So I am so happy that our efforts were not in vain.”


Describing Salusi as a very nice boy, she noted, “All I can say is that Salusi is a boy that has hope for his family. When we were about to start training for the competition, he told me he didn’t have a mother and that he forced his father not to marry another woman again because he was scared another woman might come and maltreat him and his siblings and prevent his father from sending him to school.  And he said also that when he becomes great in future, he would be able to take care of his father who is presently struggling to see that he was in school despite the fact the father never went to school himself. So I had to call the father to tell him that we were going to win the #1 million and that he should prepare his heart. So I feel so great and proud that we eventually won.”


She was quick to make an appeal to the authority in the military, saying, “I want the military to assist us in our school because they have neglected us for so long just because they built a barracks at Ikorodu, so they left us there alone and it is only the state that absolve us presently.  We are doing great, so they should come back to our rescue and start helping us, because we cannot just be using the name, “Army”, and then making great impact in the society and yet they don’t impact on us in any way. We are an Army school and so the Army should have a lot to do with us to see that we keep the light shinning and make them proud.”  And now we have a patriotic student who has made the name of the school proud and ironically, he wants to be a soldier too. “


Omo, which is widely known as the fastest stain removing detergent in the market, wrapped up its creative initiative, which commenced in February in grand style. The colourful and well-attended event featured the winners from the various State finals along with their winning entries and was graced by parents, teachers and dignitaries from the education sector, government and Industry.
The Marketing Director, Unilever Nigeria, David Okeme said the competition had served as a platform for thousands of school children to express their talent.


“Omo is very proud that many more children, parents and schools are getting on board the Omo Imagine and Achieve Initiative even several years after its inception, the level of creativity shown by the entrants has continued to amaze. Selecting the absolute best also wasn’t an easy feat as there were tons of great work and you could see the effort the kids put in.”, he said.


Speaking further, he said,  “We are doing this as a brand because we are an iconic brand. Our success as a brand is intricately linked to the success of Nigeria as a nation. We are the oldest brand and we are the brand that continues to evolve to meet the needs of consumers even today. So we are a fantastic product that has given platform to young people to help them go through a phase of discovery and for them to get to know their purpose and it is exciting what we are seeing in this competition, I think the big theme that is emerging is that young people are again interested in public service. So what you see is that the three winning entries today - the third, an Engineer, who hopefully is going to help us set up infrastructures that we lack as a nation, the second prize is a Nurse who actually is inspired by the opportunity to care for people, so we are going to get lots of caring Nigerians and the first prize winner is a boy who wants to be a Soldier.”


Okeme who explained further that the significance of Salisu wanting to be a soldier is not lost on us as a people, adding, “We need security for even our dreams to come alive. So, that is for me the biggest significance of this winning entry. It is saying that, we thank our Soldiers for keeping us safe and it is only when we feel safe and we have peace that people can unleash their potentials. So that is for me the big significance of the winning entry.”


The highlight of the Finale was the announcement of the winners with 12-year old Imurana Salisu of Army Children School, Abule Egba, Lagos taking the grand prize of N1, 000,000 in bursaries in the Creative Arts category. First Runner-up, Clementina Emmanuel of De Brain Foundation School in Kaduna State smiled home with a bursary of N500, 000 while Sunday Daniel of Mafah Education Centre, Benin in Edo State rounded off the top three and was rewarded with a N200, 000 bursary.


Also receiving his prize was the Lagos State winner in the Essay Writing category, Adedeji Adesida of the Corona School in Gbagada. This year’s competition had been tagged “Unleash Your Potential” and its central theme was on the future careers of the school children.
Category Manager for Fabrics Cleaning, Unilever Nigeria, Ibironke Ugbaja declared the Initiative a resounding success and an affirmation that Unilever’s continued investment in empowering the Nigerian Child was already yielding brilliant results. “The growing popularity of the Omo Imagine and Achieve Initiative justifies all the energy the Brand puts into discovering and nurturing young talent in the country and from what I have seen and heard throughout the period of the competition, I feel confident that the nation’s future is burning brighter than ever”, she said.