Graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Lagos, Saheed Azeez, discusses with BIODUN BUSARI how he made a first class and was inspired to develop YarnGPT, a text-to-speech artificial intelligence platform that speaks Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, among other issuesWhat were the highlights of your childhood?I grew up in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos State. I’m from a family of three children. I was good academically without having to do much as a child. I can’t remember reading my books when I was in nursery and primary school, but I performed very well. I was always among the top three. I could come first, second, or third. I could say I was the smartest in my class.However, I didn’t come from a rich family. My parents were neither rich nor poor. I think we were closer to being poor than rich, but we didn’t lack the basic things of life. My dad prioritised our education. He would make sure he bought our books and paid our school fees, even if he couldn’t afford to do other things.Did you maintain your brilliance in secondary school?Secondary school was a different ball game. In my junior secondary school, I was one of the most brilliant boys in my class. In terms of class interactions, I was brilliant. But throughout my junior secondary school years, I never won a prize. It was as if I wasn’t popular. Although the school I attended was quite large, it was a low-cost privately owned school.I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. What were the highlights of your childhood?I grew up in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos State. I’m from a family of three children. I was good academically without having to do much as a child. I can’t remember reading my books when I was in nursery and primary school, but I performed very well. I was always among the top three. I could come first, second, or third. I could say I was the smartest in my class.However, I didn’t come from a rich family. My parents were neither rich nor poor. I think we were closer to being poor than rich, but we didn’t lack the basic things of life. My dad prioritised our education. He would make sure he bought our books and paid our school fees, even if he couldn’t afford to do other things.Did you maintain your brilliance in secondary school?Secondary school was a different ball game. In my junior secondary school, I was one of the most brilliant boys in my class. In terms of class interactions, I was brilliant. But throughout my junior secondary school years, I never won a prize. It was as if I wasn’t popular. Although the school I attended was quite large, it was a low-cost privately owned school.I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I grew up in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos State. I’m from a family of three children. I was good academically without having to do much as a child. I can’t remember reading my books when I was in nursery and primary school, but I performed very well. I was always among the top three. I could come first, second, or third. I could say I was the smartest in my class.However, I didn’t come from a rich family. My parents were neither rich nor poor. I think we were closer to being poor than rich, but we didn’t lack the basic things of life. My dad prioritised our education. He would make sure he bought our books and paid our school fees, even if he couldn’t afford to do other things.Did you maintain your brilliance in secondary school?Secondary school was a different ball game. In my junior secondary school, I was one of the most brilliant boys in my class. In terms of class interactions, I was brilliant. But throughout my junior secondary school years, I never won a prize. It was as if I wasn’t popular. Although the school I attended was quite large, it was a low-cost privately owned school.I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. However, I didn’t come from a rich family. My parents were neither rich nor poor. I think we were closer to being poor than rich, but we didn’t lack the basic things of life. My dad prioritised our education. He would make sure he bought our books and paid our school fees, even if he couldn’t afford to do other things.Did you maintain your brilliance in secondary school?Secondary school was a different ball game. In my junior secondary school, I was one of the most brilliant boys in my class. In terms of class interactions, I was brilliant. But throughout my junior secondary school years, I never won a prize. It was as if I wasn’t popular. Although the school I attended was quite large, it was a low-cost privately owned school.I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Did you maintain your brilliance in secondary school?Secondary school was a different ball game. In my junior secondary school, I was one of the most brilliant boys in my class. In terms of class interactions, I was brilliant. But throughout my junior secondary school years, I never won a prize. It was as if I wasn’t popular. Although the school I attended was quite large, it was a low-cost privately owned school.I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Secondary school was a different ball game. In my junior secondary school, I was one of the most brilliant boys in my class. In terms of class interactions, I was brilliant. But throughout my junior secondary school years, I never won a prize. It was as if I wasn’t popular. Although the school I attended was quite large, it was a low-cost privately owned school.I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I think when I graduated, I wasn’t paying more than N14,000 in my final year of senior secondary school. It was a crowded school, so I couldn’t win a prize. But the story changed when I got to SSS. For some reason, I started winning prizes in secondary school. In fact, in SS1, I won all the prizes meant for my class.I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I was a science student. I was also the Head Boy and always among the best students. In fact, there was a time I participated in the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge. I think it was in 2017 or 2018. I was one of the top students in Lagos State. I got to the semi-final stage, which was the practical stage. They selected over 20 people, and then we had to conduct an experiment. That was where I dropped out.What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. What was the factor behind your better academic performance in senior classes?I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I think what changed was that I took deliberate action to start reading. I developed myself to the extent that I started studying on my own. I didn’t wait for examinations before I began reading.Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Did that motivate you to study mechanical engineering in university?In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. In my junior secondary school days, I had a friend. From our conversations, we both had an interest in robotics. We wanted to do things related to robotics. That was where the interest started. Then, I used to research how to build robots. When it got to the stage where I had to choose a course, I started thinking of one closely related to robotics.The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. The options were computer engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. From my thinking then, I believed mechanical engineering was the closest to robotics, and that was why I picked it.How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. How would you describe your experience studying the course?It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. It was a very good experience. It was challenging in the sense that there were no shortcuts to success. One had to study thoroughly to get good grades. Also, you had to understand what the lecturers were teaching. From my perspective, it was challenging because I was new to the system. I had my worst CGPA in the first semester. I think it was 4.21 or thereabouts. It was because I didn’t fully understand the system at the time.At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. At that point, I didn’t know I had to read widely to earn good grades, which I later discovered. I eventually understood that there were some courses you had to study extensively for, while there were others that required a different approach. One had to be tactical in reading some courses.How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. How did studying mechanical engineering affect you?It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. It gave me the confidence that any problem in life, whether engineering-related or not, can be solved. This was because my experience in school was largely about solving problems. A new course would come, and I would have no prior understanding of it.I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I had to find a way to solve it. I’m confident that in any field I choose to enter in the future, it will only take time to adapt. I’m sure I can survive in any field and environment.Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Did you plan to graduate with a first class before gaining admission?Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Yes, I actually planned it. It started from secondary school. I scored 323 in the UTME. I was one of the best students in my area. So, I believed that when I got to university, I was going there to excel. In fact, my dream was not a first class. My dream was a 5.0 CGPA. That was what I wanted, and I was willing to give it my all. But I didn’t perform well enough in my first semester.What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. What was your best year at the university?My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. My third year was my best year. I think what made it so was that we did many courses that I liked and had an interest in. We studied a lot of thermodynamics that year, and it was a subject I enjoyed. Also, by that stage, I had become closer to many of my coursemates. So, even if there was a course I was struggling with, I knew the right people to reach out to.Related NewsWigwe varsity, ex-workers clash over arbitrary sacking, abuse claimsMany Nigerian curricula are outdated — UK-based scholarNATA begins university tour with UNILAG screeningI had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I had also matured enough within the university system to understand how it worked. I understood how to read and how to learn. Having said that, the year I put in the most effort was my first year. Still, my third year was the best.Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Do you have strategies for your academic success?My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. My major strategy was trying to understand what the lecturers wanted. Whenever a lecturer taught a class, I paid attention to their methods and what they emphasised. I took note of important points and created a mental picture of what they expected.I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I also studied how some lecturers wanted answers to be presented. The next most important thing was knowing which courses required more effort. I achieved that by understanding the lecturers’ perspectives.How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. How did you read?I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I didn’t have a particular formula, but I tried to start reading very early. Also, I don’t read at night. I’m terrible at reading at night. Once it was around 8 pm, I tried to sleep, except in very extreme situations. Overall, I tried to study early during the semester. As the semester progressed, the intensity of my reading increased.For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. For anything the lecturer taught in class, I would go to the library, review it, read the textbook, and study the lecturer’s notes. That was my routine. Also, I didn’t read anything during holidays. That was why I had to start early during the semester.What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. What were your feelings when your first-class feat was announced?I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I heaved a sigh of relief. It was a triumphant moment that crowned my efforts. I wasn’t shocked because I had been tracking my results all along. It was a moment of releasing the pressure that came with striving for a first class.Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Did you encounter rivalry in your class?In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. In our set, we didn’t have that kind of challenge. It was more of a like-minded environment. The reason was that we understood it was better to work together than to do things alone. There were many courses you might not understand, but when you discussed them with others, someone would explain.There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. There might have been some rivalry, but it wasn’t the dominant spirit. The dominant spirit was helping one another achieve good grades. So, whenever there was a difficult topic, you would meet someone for help. There were people with lower CGPAs who understood some concepts better and were willing to assist.In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. In fact, I had a friend whom I stayed with from Year One to Year Four, and he also graduated with a first class. Having people like that around me who were willing to help contributed to my success. I also had other friends who graduated with first-class degrees, and there was no disharmony among us.Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. Away from all this, how did you come up with your invention, YarnGPT?In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. In my second year in school, I started moving. I needed the idea then. I needed to gain extra skills to give me an edge in the workplace when I finished school. One of the skills that made sense for me to have was programming.So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. So, when it got to my final semester, I wanted to do machine learning models. But I wanted to start solving AI problems for Nigeria. I saw somebody somewhere do the text-to-speech model for European English, and I thought we could make something for the Nigerian languages.That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. That was what prompted me to go into that. What helped me was that our lectures in the final year, first semester, were virtual. So, I had enough time to do the project. Hostels were under renovation, so I had enough time in my hands to be at home. I didn’t have the school stress.How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. How did you feel achieving this?I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I felt good because I worked on it for two months. It was fulfilling because I wasn’t doing much academic reading during that period. After releasing it, I made the first version open source. I’m a strong advocate of open-source development. The idea is that when you create something, you make it available for others to build on and contribute their ideas.How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. How did your family react to all of these feats?My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. My family was excited and proud of me. My father posted about me on social media and wrote, “My first-class engineer.” Everyone was happy for me because they knew how hard I had worked. But for me, I’m not overly moved by it because it’s just the beginning of my life. There are still many things for me to build and many opportunities to explore.What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. What do you think schools should do more to help the future of engineering students in Nigeria?I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories. I think our universities and government should focus more on practical work. They should allow students to engage more in practical experiments. More funding should be channelled into engineering education through partnerships with engineering and technology companies. More engineering equipment should also be provided in our laboratories.