Meet Kpakpando Akaeze, a 15 year-old high
school student from Lagos, Nigeria. You
may have heard of her when news spread
around the world about a group of girls
from Nigeria who designed a urine powered
generator. Kpakpando’s hobbies include
traveling and conducting experiments. In
January 2015, she was selected to speak
about education and innovation at the
World Economic Forum in Davos, where
she told world leaders that they need to step
up their game when it comes to investment
in education.
She was asked a few questions and this is
how she replied:
1. You and your friends made global
headlines recently with your work on the
using waste to create energy. What are some
of the most important things you learnt
during that process?
We learnt that nothing is ever a waste so
we must not just look at it at the face value.
Hence, waste should not just be disposed of –
especially the waste that is non-
biodegradable. It can be used alternatively
to do different things; for example, from our
findings, we discovered that banana peels
have the ability to absorb heavy metals
found in waste oil. Our team spirit was
really built up, and we learnt to trust one
another’s abilities. We also learnt that
success can never be achieved at once, we
learnt to identify success in the midst of
failure as we failed repeatedly in our
experiment but we never gave up.
2. Why do you believe that education is so
important?
Education is important especially for
children because it opens them to new ideas
on how to make the world a better place
both economically and developmentally. It
lays the foundation for refinement of
creative thinking and abilities. It empowers
human beings, especially the women,
preventing them from being relegated.
3. What are some of the education
challenges facing children in Nigeria?
The value attached to education is not as
important as it should be, especially for the
female child in the northern part of the
country. Some people still believe that
investment in a girl’s education is wasteful
as they will eventually end up in the
kitchen.
Violence and terrorism are also challenges
facing children in Nigeria especially in the
northern part of the country. When there is
fear among the children, their minds are
not entirely opened to learning. And the
teachers, some stop coming to school to
teach the children because of the fear of
losing their lives.
Boko Haram is against Western education
and they had been involved in the killing of
many – especially students, children and
mothers – and kidnapping and destruction
of schools and government property. The
kidnapping of over 200 Chibok girls is still
fresh on our minds. It is nearly a year now
and the girls are yet to be found.
4. We’ve heard you say before that if girls
are given the opportunity to study science
they will realize how good they are at it.
Why do you think that all around the world
we still have a situation where fewer girls
than boys pursue maths, science or
engineering related fields? How do we
change that?
Most men in the world today especially in
the developing economies believe women
are the weaker vessels so it is preferable for
them to study what they perceived as less
demanding courses and careers like fashion
and music, and to leave core science
subjects and careers like medical sciences
and engineering to men, who they believe
have more guts.
It has taken few bold women to take on
those subjects and compete with men…but
those women didn’t just do that without
education. Many schools are encouraging
girls to actively compete with the boys! My
school, Doregos Private Academy, has really
believed in the potential of the girls, and we
are given the same rights and privileges as
the boys. If every girl child is given a good
education, they can level up with men and
even be better. Behind every great man is a
greater woman, so who says we are the
weaker vessels?
5. What do world leaders – in government
and business – need to do to make quality
education a reality for all children?
Free and compulsory education must be
provided for all children. Every child has a
dream and ambition, all they need is moral
and financial support. More should be made
available in country budgets for education.
If world leaders can provide that, then the
whole world will be moving to a greater
level of development….It is time we make
sure that we leave a positive mark on every
child; that they will remember for the rest
of time. The future doesn’t begin tomorrow,
it starts now.


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