When Promise Okoro walked out of his final degree exams earlier this month, he fully expected the usual end-of-term celebrations.
His cheering friends were already outside blasting music and snapping and filming this much-loved Nigerian “signing-out” ritual.
Their white shirts filled up with messages scribbled by classmates and well-wishers – a colourful record of a shared journey through education.
But then, through the crowd, came Promise’s mother, Chinyere, pulling a goat.
It turned an already joyful afternoon into a moment Promise and his friends would not soon forget.
The 23-year-old pharmaceutical technology student initially thought the screams meant someone was about to propose marriage.
Instead, he found his friends gathered around his mother, who was making her way towards him, gently coaxing the farm animal behind her.
“I was so happy,” he told BBC Pidgin. “I felt so emotional.”He says he was not embarrassed at all. Instead, his classmates cheered.
The moment was captured on video and quickly spread online, drawing thousands of warm reactions.
For some people outside south-east Nigeria, a goat might seem like an unusual gift to mark the end of university. But among the Igbo people, the animals can carry deep cultural meaning.
They are valuable gifts, often given to show respect, appreciation and goodwill and are associated with important occasions such as traditional weddings, family celebrations and ceremonies honouring elders or special guests.
Promise has not yet hit on a fitting name for his prized possession.
Some have questioned what the graduand now plans to do with the animal – but he tells the BBC it is very much his companion so he would never eat it.
