All hail the wonder kid... Ozzy Bosco

SEVEN year old Oziomachukwu Favour Mojekwu, popularly known as Ozzy Bosco, a wonder kid, who rose to limelight at the age of four after he won Best Entertainer trophy for Kids Got Talent (KGT), has since taken his act to the next level, having done over 100 professional stage performances.
Recently, he bagged LAWMA Ambassadorship and has commenced a Keep Lagos clean campaign within the 57 local councils and development areas with the theme, Children lead, Adults follow.
The hip-pop artiste has also recorded a gospel single titled, God you reign, featuring the Midnight Crew and T-mark. Prior to that, he has featured artistes MI, Olamide, Terry G, and Lambogini in his songs.
Born January 7, 2007, in Nnewi, Anambra State, Ozzy Bosco was raised in Lagos and London.
According to his mother, Elizabeth Nonye Mojekwu, “Ozzy Bosco’s talent could be notice at a tender age of three months, what we could not tell is he would become an entertainer and to what magnitude. If he hears the sound of an aeroplane, he dances; same with anything that sounds musical.”
Speaking on how it all started, she said, “after the KGT show, we went to the studio to see if we could make the song he performed, a real one; because I just taught him a song on the morning of the competition, and so we felt we should perfect it, now that it earned him the winner of the competition. The studio director looked at some of the pictures we took at the talent show and said, ‘you are a swaglicious boy, get up and dance for me’ and then Ozzy stood up while dancing he started singing, ‘I know I can be a super star’ and immediately the director motioned on someone to write down what he was singing. At the end of the day, we went home with a CD of the song, which wasn’t the original idea for going to the studio. Later on, since we needed to brush him up, we got Lambogini who helped put in verses and that was how we recorded his first single.”
On the challenges faced, she said, “in everything you do in life, there are challenges; the acceptability of a child star in this part of the world is a primary challenge. Also, there is financial challenge; the family has been shouldering his bills, he is not earning money yet and so we are telling well-meaning Nigerians that if you lift Ozzy Bosco, you will be lifting other children and preventing them from being armed robbers and kidnappers when they grow up.”
Continuing, she said, “it would interest you to know that Ozzy Bosco is one of the top students in his class, he was the class captain last year and this year he is the arts master; 2012/2013 he won the best art pupil in the class and few weeks back, he came home with the same certificate and these are different classes and teachers, so, that tells you how creative he is even as his academic performance has never fallen below 80 per cent.

“I am interested in the future of the African child and what we are doing with Ozzy Bosco is not just championing him as the young Michael Jackson, but the African child; repositioning them to be seen and heard. Every African child has got talent that should be explored, which can benefit that child and the nation at large, it can be dress making, football or entertainment and that is what we want to enhance. Every family should look inwards because I believe they have an Ozzy Bosco in their homes, it just takes efforts and commitment to help that child develop what he/she has got inside.
“First of all, Ozzy is being raised as an ordinary child and that is very important. We let a child be a child without taking his childhood away from him because if we do so, it frightens him; he has cried twice today before going to school because his siblings beat him and so we allow this child to be.
“This has always been the problem of those artists that derailed. The family background is also very important; they cannot go to school without coming to my room to pray, which is what most parents should ensure they do for the success of their children. Also, as Africans, we must teach our children our values; I do not see Bosco derailing like the others because his family is solidly behind him,” she noted.
Having bagged so many awards, Ozzy Bosco’s mum regards the Nigerian Music Video Awards (NMVA) as the most cherished. “There has never been any category for kids, and when they finally accepted, six kid acts put in for the awards, surprisingly, we got votes from Romania, a country I have never been to, and heard little about, then I knew truly that Ozzy has affected the lives of other children far and wide.
Although, he hopes to work with Tiwa Savage soonest, Ozzy Bosco has no particular person in the music industry he sees as his inspiration. According to his mum, “As a kid, he loves everybody in the industry.”
Ozzy Bosco who’s philanthropic nature led him to taking 14 orphans on an all expense paid trip to Tinapa, Calabar has been taught by his mother to extend a hand of love to the less privileged having been a fortune kid, “We are actually making him realise that there are kids who are not as fortunate as he is and so he must touch their lives.”