By Mustapha Sesay
Howard University has donated assorted laboratory equipment to the chemistry department at Fourah Bay College in Freetown.
Head of the department, Pascal Egbenda said the gesture was a result of a memorandum of understanding they had signed with the US University. He said plans were underway to enable students from the chemistry department to study at Howard.
Egbenda referred to the gesture as a show of generosity by Dr. Patrick Lukulay, a former student of the department, and assured him that the items, which included weighing machines, laptops and desktop computers, were badly needed.
Acting Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Prof. Ekundayo Thompson, said he was surprised at the number of female students in the department.
The conduit for the benefactors, Dr. Lukulay, said the items were worth US$100,000, adding that he was just a facilitator and that the money had not come from his pocket.
He said he was overwhelmed by the kind reception he got from the university authorities and assured the students that the university was preparing them to be “assets not liability” and called on them to see every challenge as an opportunity that could make a difference between mediocrity and development.
Meanwhile, when he first came Dr. Lukulay launched a book at the British Council entitled: “The Executive In You”, which mainly captured his early life as son of a chief with 25 siblings and his triumph over his immediate circumstances that led him to the corporate America.
(C) Politico 30/01/14
