Veep inaugurates new facility for Legon Economics Department
Vice-president Kwesi Amissah-Arthur yesterday inaugurated a modern facility to house the Economics Department of the University of Ghana, Legon.
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The facility has a main auditorium with a seating capacity of 1,000, eight seminar rooms, a secretariat for facility management and offices, two computer laboratories and a multi-purpose foyer with a sitting capacity of 600.
The sod for the Bank of Ghana (BoG)-funded project was cut in July 2011 when Mr Amissah-Arthur was the Governor of the bank, although the idea was conceived under Dr Paul Acquah, a former Governor of the BoG.
Inauguration
Inaugurating the first phase of the project, Mr Amissah-Arthur recalled that while a student of the Economics Department of the university, he enjoyed a BoG scholarship, evidence that the bank had supported students of the university with funds.
He expressed his happiness to be associated with the inauguration five years after he had cut the sod for the construction of the structure.
He stated that it was part of the BoG’s corporate social responsibility, adding that the bank decided not to benefit from income received from banks and other financial institutions that funded the project, a gesture he described as a great sacrifice.
He asked the university authorities to endeavour to maintain the structure to continue to serve generations of students.
Listen to the Vice President here {mp3}veep_opens_ug_bog_office{/mp3}
Governors commended
The Governor of the BoG, Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku, paid tribute to Dr Acquah, under whose leadership at the bank the project idea was conceived.
He commended successive governors, as well as the BoG board members who served at different times during the conception of the project.
The newly inaugurated facility for the Economics Department of the University of Ghana, Legon.
He said the facility was expected to provide quality education and relevant courses that empowered students to adopt new initiatives for national development.
Dr Issahaku said understanding how the world of finance worked was key to developing a sustainable society and education in Economics played a big part in that, adding that Ghana wanted to educate some of the best economists in the world, since they were the future of the country’s economic management framework.
Vice chancellor
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, expressed appreciation to the BoG for the project.
Touching on the relationship between the university and the BoG and other institutions, he said there was a history of support from institutions to students of the university.
He stated, for instance, that the BoG, the Ministry of Finance and the Ghana Cocoa Board supported students of the university to conduct research.
He thanked the vice-president for what he described as the leadership and boldness he took for the project and stressed that projects often initiated never got completed when leadership changed and cited the construction of the University Sports Stadium that had stalled for many years as an example.
“I am happy the new governor did not give up on this project, as all three governors continued to show interest in it,” he said, adding that the new facility would enhance the image of the university.
Earlier in his remarks, the Head of the Economics Department of the University of Ghana, Prof Peter Quartey, said the facility, which has one of the biggest auditoriums to hold congregations, could also host international conferences, as well as train students on data management in ICT.