By Joseph S. Margai in Freetown, Sierra Leone
Deputy Vice Chancellor of Fourah Bay College (FBC), which is a constituent college of the University of Sierra Leone (USL), Prof. Sahr Gbamanja, has stated that he would support anything that promotes English speaking. He made the comment after three students of FBC won a debate competition organized by the Sierra Leone Debating Council.
Prof. Gbamanja spoke yesterday in his office on FBC campus during the official presentation of laurels won by the students to him. He said he was very happy that students from FBC took the first position and also won best debater/speaker in the competition.
“This was not the first that students from this university have brought laurels back after competing with other universities. It gives me joy to see our students doing extremely well in such completion always. To speak fluent English is very important. I felt very bad at times when I heard university students speaking krio or other local languages on campus. That’s why I will support anything that promotes English speaking here,” he said.
Prof. Gbamanja has a science foundation that has also been organizing debates for pupils in secondary schools in Kono and other parts of the country. He expressed optimism that FBC would always continue to grow in the positive light.
He said his science foundation has also been awarding lap tops and scholarships to the best debaters in order to encourage them to step up their English speaking techniques and develop interest in the sciences.
“I have personally traveled with a student to Nigeria and we brought back a plaque. Teddy Foday-Musa also took some students to compete in Ghana and they won laurels. We have also been invited to participate in the West African Debate Council in Ghana on 16th January 2018,” he said.
He congratulated the students who participated and won the competition and encouraged them to continue to bring more laurels to FBC.
President, Sierra Leone Debating Council’s FBC chapter, Augustine Tamba Bona, said four colleges including FBC, the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET), and the Institute of Advanced Management and Technology (IAMTECH), participated in the competition,
“With the theme “National Social Security, good governance and democracy”, we were able to articulate the issues very well in a way that we convinced our audience and the judges,” he said. He added that they have been getting support from various people but chief among them was Prof. Gbamanja.
Bona, a final year student at the Department of Economics, expressed thanks and appreciation to people especially Prof. Gbamanja for allowing them to achieve their dreams.
Teddy Foday-Musa, the coach of the students who won the debate competition, said it is good to be involving in such competition.
He thanked Prof. S.P.T Gbamanja for his relentless support to the debaters of FBC.
