President Akufo-Addo presenting an award to the overall best graduating student
THE PRESIDENT, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said he supports the decision of the Governing Council of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) to rename the institution after the late Prime Minister, Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia.
He said the decision to rename the university was taken by the Governing Council of the university on 3rd August 2018, in accordance with the statutes of the institution. He said subject to parliamentary approval, he was all for it and when that was finally done; the university would be called “K.A. Busia University of Energy and Natural Resources.”
“The decision was an excellent one which would receive the blessing of the President of the republic,” he said at the 4th Congregation of the university on Saturday in Sunyani in the Bono Region, where a total of 1,113 graduates comprising 885 males and 228 females were conferred with degrees and diplomas.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that Prof. Busia, born on July 11, 1913 at Wenchi in the region, was an illustrious son of the land, a renowned scholar and a noble Ghanaian.
“He was a devoted patriot and one who distinguished himself during his time as the Prime Minister of the country from 1st October 1969 to 13th January 1972 when the Second Republic was overthrown,” the President noted.
According to him, Prof. Busia believed individual freedom was not just about the space and ability to speak free and to vote freely but the cognitive capacity towards creativity and innovation of the people for the development of the country.
Touching on infrastructural challenges of the institution, President Akufo-Addo announced that a pledge made to construct five kilometres access road to the university was being fulfilled.
He reiterated government’s decision to expand tertiary education in the country because that is the means of equipping citizens with tools for national development.
Council Statement
Announcing the new decision, a statement issued by UENR and signed by its Registrar and Secretary to the Council, Benjamin Appiah-Kubi, said: “The approval of the proposal was premised on the achievements of Prof. Busia. He was the first African to attain the position of a professor in Ghana and remains an inspiration and an icon in academia.”
“He mentored many people by way of teaching and highlighted Ghana and Africa on the academic map of the world through his professional engagements in universities across the globe. As a distinguished academic, Prof. Busia set up the Department of Sociology at the University of Ghana,” the statement added.
The council has, therefore, urged the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, to consider the decision of the council to rename UENR as Busia University to honour the late Prime Minister of the Second Republic whose contributions to the development of Ghana cannot be underrated.”
The Akyeamehene of the Wenchi Traditional Area, Nana Damoah Koasane Adese-Poku Kofabaye IV, a representative of the council, expressed gratitude to the council for the decision and thanked the President for agreeing with the council, saying “today is a joyful day for the people of Wenchi, because this is what we have been waiting for all this while.”
FROM Daniel Dayee, Fiapre