Akufo-Addo commends University of Energy and Natural Resources for achievements

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has commended the staff and students of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UE&NR) for their achievements in the field of science, seven years after the establishment of the university in Sunyani in the Bono Region.

He described the success story of the university as “endearing and inspiring” because they were able to achieve those feats with limited resources.

The university, in collaboration with the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA, recently launched a satellite into space which detected fires in West Africa.

The President made the commendation when members of the Governing Council of the university paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House in Accra last Tuesday.

Courses

President Akufo-Addo observed that the courses offered by the UE&NR centred on the critical sectors of energy and natural resources, which he said were the focus of Ghana’s development.

He said the UE&NR had an enormous role to play in the development of the nation, particularly in the oil and gas sectors.

He noted that Ghana required the human resource to help maximise value from the oil and gas industry to contribute immensely to the accelerated development of the country.

President Akufo-Addo said the government, therefore, had no option but to invest more resources in education.

“We are doing so advisedly because all of us know that countries are developed by human beings and not by raw materials or natural resources.

So the sooner we equip our population with the necessary skills, the better for the nation,” he added.

He said the government was considering a request made by the UE&NR Council for a GH¢50 million seed money and an annual budgetary support of GH¢10 million, as well as the development of a campus at Nsoatre.

Achievements

The Vice-Chancellor of the UE&NR, Professor Harrison Dapaah, said the university was awarded a contract under the National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme to provide skills training for the youth.

Already, he said, 5,000 beneficiaries were undergoing the training programme, adding that the university was also partnering the German Government and the British Council to train 500 artisans to enable them to set up their own businesses.

According to him, the university’s satellite programme with the Kennedy Space Centre would also enable the institution to establish one of the best weather determining equipment in Ghana.

Also, the Earth Observation and Innovation Centre, which hosts the satellite, was the only one of its kind in Africa, he said.

He said the university had also partnered the Chinese Government to provide some tertiary and second-cycle institutions and communities in the country with solar power systems.

Prof. Dapaah appealed to the government for support to venture into other areas which could facilitate the development of the country.

The university, which started with 150 students, now has a population of about 6,000.