The delegation was made up of Members of Parliament from the Eastern province, Paramount Chiefs, and members of the administration of Eastern Polytechnic. Key among national development issues discussed with the president was the upgrading of the polytechnic to university status to serve the region and the country as a whole.
Making a statement on behalf of the delegation, Paramount Chief Paul Gaba Saquee of Tankoro chiefdom, Kono district, informed President Koroma that schools, faculties and a library have been developed by the Eastern Polytechnic administration to satisfy the necessary requirements for university status.
He implored the president for the process to be expedited, as they are fully aware of steps needed to be taken to upgrade the institute to a university, pointing out that the administration has put all modalities in place to meet the basic requirements for such an institution. Chief Saquee also said that staff with the requisite qualifications and experiences have been recruited, library built, two-storey science laboratory for physics, chemistry, biology, medical laboratory science and a renewable energy department have been established, with state of the art equipment.
Chief Saquee explained that the polytechnic has established six faculties of education, basic and applied sciences, business and management studies, engineering and technology, adding that Eastern Polytechnic presently offers four degree programmes affiliated with Njala University and University of Sierra Leone.
It would be recalled that President Koroma, during one of his campaign pledges at Bunumbu Teachers College in Kailahun district in 2012, promised to actualize the upgrading of the Polytechnic to a university.
