January 12, 2017 By Joseph S. Margai
Deputy Vice Chancellor and Principal of Fourah Bay College (FBC), Prof. Sahr Gbamanja, has stated that because of the structures and facilities that the University of Sierra Leone (USL) authorities have been putting in place, the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture will soon become the best in the sub region.
He made the above conclusion last Thursday during the official handing over of engineering laboratory equipment to USL by a non-profit making organisation based in the United Kingdom -Engineers for Change.
Prof. Gbamanja said the Faculty of Engineering was the ‘right foot’ of the University of Sierra Leone and that it has always created space for innovations.
“The donated equipment will help to bolster the teaching and learning of our students. We have recently got computers and heavy duty machines. We want our students to have the practical experience as well as the theoretical one when they get to the field of work,” he said.
He disclosed that the faculty has recently secured a fund of 40,000 British pounds to construct a new building for the School of Architecture, adding that with the help of UNIDO, they have been able to set up a Hydro Electrical Department at the faculty.
Vice Chancellor and Principal of USL, Prof. Ekundayo Thompson, said the donated laboratory equipment came at the right time when lectures were about to be resumed, noting that the items were in support of his “Deep Change Agenda” for the University of Sierra Leone, which sought to promote the mandate of the university.
“Sierra Leoneans who are criticising the good work of USL must emulate from the Engineers for Change. Instead of always telling the problems of the university, is also their responsibility to provide solution to them,” he said.
He disclosed that they were currently rehabilitating the entire FBC campus with a 36.5 million BADEA project, adding that they have renovated and constructed the Ajayi Crowther Amphitheatre with over three billion Leones which was internally generated.
“We have gotten a borehole that should supply water to the entire Fourah Bay College campus,” he said.
Prof. Thompson said they were constructing a seven-storey multipurpose building and a six-storey administrative building at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM). He added that they have also acquired a 70-acre of land at the Freetown Peninsula for the constructing of IPAM building.
He said there was also a massive infrastructural development taking place at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS), noting that of the development ,were part of his “Deep Change Agenda” for the University of Sierra Leone, which comprises three constituent colleges of FBC, IPAM and COMAHS.
Representing Engineers for Change, Abubakarr Bah, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said they were group of engineers that offering free lectures and supporting the work of engineering in the world.
“For 40 years now, some of them graduated at FBC and some of the laboratory equipment that was at the college was not there when they came back in 2012. We soon mobilised fundraising events and generated some funds to support the faculty as well as help fight the Ebola,” he said.
He said they donated practical tools as well as text books so that the students will learn from what they used during their period in the engineering school. He noted that the roads, water and electricity require engineering and that students must do well to help develop the country.
Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Engineer Badamasie Savage, said they have secured some funds to construct a new building for the School of Architecture. He noted that most of the graduates have been accused of doing practical in the field of work; hence they have received a lot of tools for the laboratory to teach current students.