Ikpeazu fulfils scholarship promise to 15-year-old scavenger

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has fulfilled his promise to Chibuike Ibekwe, the 15-year-old scavenger at Ariaria market whose video went viral.

He made the promise at his country-home in Umuobikwa, where he said he would fund his secondary education.

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The governor, represented by the Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Enyinnaya Appolos, handed over his school fees to the Chairman of Ariaria International Market, Elder Emeka Igara and Mr. Chibuike Okebugwu in the company of his mother, Mrs. Chika Ibekwe, and others, to register him at Living Word Academy, Aba.

Recall that the Chibuike, dropped out of school and resorted to scavenging at Ariaria International Market, Aba, to assist his poor mother, Mrs Chika Ibekwe.

Luck smiled on him when one Mrs Goodness Uzoukwu, a trader in Ariaria, who deals in shoes and other wears, gave him a bag containing brand new shoes to dispose of, thinking it was trash.

When Chibuike got to where he disposed waste and discovered that the contents of the bag given to him by Mrs Uzoukwu was not waste but brand new shoes, he brought them back to her, refusing to listen to those who wanted to buy them from him.

Getting to Mrs Uzoukwu’a shop, she was happy and rewarded him. She then made a video of the honest Chibuike as she thanked him for returning her goods, which she posted on her Facebook page and it, in turn, went viral.

When the attention of Governor Ikpeazu was brought to the video, he sent for Chibuike for a meeting with him saying that such honesty as displayed by the boy is what society needs.

Mr. Chibuike Okebugwu, a trader in Ariaria and one of the leaders at the market, was contacted and he went in search of Chibuike Ibekwe, the young scavenger, found him and brought him to the governor.