Sunyani, April 14, GNA – Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister, has asked technical universities to strategise to take the lead in the nation’s energy transition agenda.
As a signatory to the Paris Agreement and other international protocols, which required the nation to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2050, the Ministry of Energy is developing a national energy transition plan to be able to meet that international obligation.
The plan, among other objectives, will subsequently guide the country as it transitions to using cleaner energy.
Interacting with the Management of the Sunyani Technical University (STU) during a visit, Madam Owusu-Banahene said the technical universities ought to deepen their existing collaborations with other local and international universities to build industry linkages.
She said extensive exchange programmes and vigorous research would well empower and position the universities to help the nation to design and implement realistic strategies that would push the national energy transition agenda.
The Regional Minister emphasised that government had prioritised Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and asked the University to concentrate on its mandate and expand the scope of academic programmes on TVET.
Mad Owusu-Banahene said she was unhappy that the Bono Region did not have any public technical institute and called for an effective collaboration between the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) and the University for the establishment of a public technical institute in the region to feed the University.
Professor Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the STU, said electrical and electronic engineering remained the University’s niche area, which had set up a centre of excellence for the manufacturing of electrical vehicles.
It was the mandate of the STU to facilitate the development of the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions, he said, and gave the assurance that the institution would do everything possible to achieve that mandate.
The VC, however, expressed disgust about the level of encroachment on the University’s land and appealed to the RCC to intervene, saying one third of the 155 acre university land had been taken by encroachers.
Prof Adinkrah-Appiah said the encroachment was making it difficult to implement the University’s new Strategic and Master plans.
He appealed to the RCC to facilitate the reshaping and tarring of the access roads to the school and help construct a pedestrian footbridge to control pedestrian knockdowns.
Prof Adinkrah-Appiah explained that many students stayed outside the campus and had been victims of knockdowns because some of drivers disregarded the traffic post erected at the frontage of the University on the Sunyani-Kumasi Highway.
He expressed appreciation to the Minister for her visit and hoped that the existing relations between the school and the RCC would be strengthened to enhance development.
GNA