After our last flight test this morning, our drone shattered. The students have gathered a lot of data and are working on fixing it and getting it ready for another flight test. They have now seen the danger of mere theory in our education system. A lot of experiments may be required for something to work in real life, even when all calculations seem accurate. This is one of the most important parts of the learning.

What I am hearing about WAEC Nigeria is deeply troubling. This year recorded the highest performance in the history of WAEC and they are not happy about it. There is something many Nigerians do not understand about WAEC grading. The score required for A1, B2, B3, C4 etc. may not simply be a permanently fixed number every year. From the information available to me, WAEC applies statistical standardisation/normalisation based partly on the overall performance of candidates. In simple English: If a paper is unusually difficult and candidates generally perform poorly, the threshold required for a particular grade can effectively be lower. If candidates perform extraordinarily well, the threshold can become much higher. So hypothetically, what qualifies as an A in one examination could be around 60, while the statistical threshold in another circumstance could be 80, 90 or even higher. Your final grade therefore may not tell the complete story of your raw score. This year involved candidates sitting examinations under different modes, including computer-based/hybrid arrangements and the traditional paper-based system. And there are serious allegations that questions circulated ahead of time in some paper-based centres. If that happened on a significant scale, it could artificially inflate the overall performance of that population. Then comes the critical question: When WAEC carried out its standardisation, were candidates from fundamentally different examination conditions treated as one population? Because if leaked questions artificially pushed one group’s scores upwards, and those abnormal scores subsequently influenced grade thresholds, an innocent student who genuinely scored very highly could suddenly appear statistically ordinary. Imagine scoring what would ordinarily be excellent marks, only to receive a surprisingly poor grade because you were being compared against an abnormal national distribution. That is the heart of what needs to be investigated. And it wouldn’t affect only computer-based candidates. Honest children who wrote paper-based examinations without cheating could also have been punished by the abnormal performance of people who had access to questions. The innocent students potentially become the victims of the malpractice they never participated in. This is why WAEC cannot simply tell Nigerians that these children failed. Show us the data. What were the raw scores? What were the score distributions? What thresholds produced A1, B2, B3, C4, C5 and C6 in each major subject? Were those thresholds changed after marking? Were computer-based and paper-based candidates standardised separately? How were centres showing statistically abnormal performance treated? And have results changed after candidates requested reviews? Because I am also receiving disturbing reports that some people who aggressively challenged questionable results got their cases reconsidered, while millions of ordinary parents may not even know they can request a review. If that is true, it is unacceptable. A child whose parents have connections cannot have greater access to justice than a child sitting somewhere in a village. And there is another dimension that must not be ignored: I am receiving serious allegations of internal management problems within WAEC Nigeria, including concerns about how staff who question certain decisions are treated. Those allegations also deserve an independent investigation. This is not an attack on WAEC. It is a demand for accountability. The Federal Ministry of Education and National Assembly should urgently invite the leadership of WAEC Nigeria. Because behind every A1, C6 or F9 is not just a statistic. There is a child. There is a family. There is a university admission. There is a scholarship. There is a future. We cannot gamble with the destinies of an entire generation of Nigerian children.

A time will come in Nigeria when the whole nation will be at a standstill because we are about to launch our first real rocket into space. We are currently investing in the talent that will make that happen. Our real wealth and potential lie in the millions of young talents we are building. The future will be exciting and inspiring.

One thing that deeply worries me about Nigeria is this: Some dreams are almost impossible to achieve if you're born, raised, and educated here. Want to become an astronaut? There is virtually no pathway. Want to become a world-class professional footballer? For most talented children, the route is far harder than it should be because the development ecosystem is weak. And there are many other careers where your biggest obstacle isn't your talent, it's your geography. This is why some Nigerians have to leave the country, not because they hate Nigeria, but because that's the only way to fully pursue their dreams. That should concern all of us. A child's future should be determined by their ability and hard work, not by the accident of where they were born. Nigeria has no shortage of talent. What we're missing is a system that allows talent to become greatness.

Investing in these children was worth it. They came to Rome and conquered. We will double down on investing in educating our children.

The wait is over. We have 2 golds: Chimdiebube Onwubiko and Don Anele Munachimso. We are the best in the world! Egejurum Onyedikachi’s name was omitted. He should have a gold.

More good news. Don Anele Munachimso also won gold in Science. He is the best in world science. Remember, he is the best in IGCSE Chemistry in Nigeria. The investment is worth it.