President Mahama calls on BRRI to support construction industry

President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday advised the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research to partner stakeholders in construction to ensure quality roads and other development projects.

He said the BRRI, which was established years ago at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to facilitate the construction of quality roads and other projects, had the expertise to transform the construction industry and allay the fears of Ghanaians on poor road works.

President Mahama gave the advice when he addressed the graduation ceremony of the KNUST Graduate School in Kumasi.

In all 476 students made up of 425 in Masters of Philosophy in various disciplines and 51 in Doctorate of Philosophy graduated.

President Mahama said as a science and technology university, the KNUST needed to avail its expertise to other stakeholders to speed up growth and development especially in areas of agriculture, engineering and technology.

“The mark of a good university is not about the great performance on campuses, but its ability to transform people and institutions outside for meaningful development,” he said.

The President, therefore, called on the university to make its courses influential by demonstrating its capabilities to development partners.

He promised to re-tool all educational institutions in the country so as to perform professionally and realise their potentials in the various programmes they had developed for their students.

President Mahama said government had released GHC 37 million cedis to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to be paid to appropriate recipients as their books and research allowance as part of government’s resolve to facilitate teaching and learning at the tertiary institutions.

He commended KNUST for its initiative in establishing a Teaching Hospital as it would go a long way to increase enrollment for nursing and other paramedical students in the university and beyond.

President Mahama promised that the Government would offer the university all the necessary support that would enhance the completion of the project at the stipulated time.

Professor Samuel Ellis Otu, the Vice Chancellor of KNUST, promised to introduce more useful courses that would stimulate development in the country.

He called for support in the equipment of laboratories and workshops to enhance teaching and learning.

Source: GNA