By Njoku Jennifer
Tunde Onakoya, a renowned Nigerian chess player, founder of Chess in Slums, and coach, took to Twitter on April 1, 2025, to respond to a viral video of a woman scolding a cleaner who took her 11-year-old daughter to clean the streets of an estate in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Onakoya, who holds the Guinness World Record for the longest marathon chess game, shared his personal experience of growing up in a similar situation. He recounted how he used to assist his mother in cleaning gutters and houses in 2016, and the pain of not being able to financially support her.
Onakoya expressed his outrage at the humiliation of the mother and daughter, emphasizing the need for compassion and support. He announced his decision to take full responsibility for sponsoring the girl’s education through university.
“If no one has done this already, I would like to take full responsibility for the girl’s education through university. I hope this eases their burden in some way. ”
“These are incredibly hard times. Our privilege blinds us in ways we’ll never truly understand.”, he concluded.