President Akufo-Addo has announced that government will soon rename the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) after its founder, Nana Opoku Ampomah.
The President disclosed this at a special congregation to confer an honorary doctorate degree on the Founder, Nana Opoku Ampomah and CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad.
“As a sequel to the conferment of an honorary doctorate degree on the founder, I’m happy to announce also that the council of UPSA in accordance with the statutes of the university has taken the decision to rename the university after Nana Opoku Ampomah.”
Describing it as an “excellent decision,” Nana Akufo-Addo said he has approved the name, and that Parliament will also be encouraged to ratify it at the appropriate time.
“It is an excellent decision which has received approval of the President of the Republic, so that once a parliamentary process is completed, this university will be called from henceforth Opoku Ampomah University of Professional studies,” he added.
UPSA was initially called Institute of Professional Studies until it assumed a university status.
It received a Presidential Charter in September 2008, conferring on it the status of a fully-fledged public university.
About the Founder
Nana Opoku Ampomah, who’s currently the Paramount Chief of Amoafo-Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, started the school as a private individual, but it was taken from him and given to the state in 1978.
For years, he has been resisting what he considers an attempt by the University to erase his memory, after his statue in the school was pulled down.
In 2013, after he accused then Vice Chancellor Professor Joshua Alabi of working to erase his contribution to the school, Prof. Alabi issued a statement to deny his claims, saying the school considered him as pivotal to their success.
Prof. Alabi went ahead to promise that his statue would be reconstructed, but that never happened.
“It is our belief that the nation must continue to honour visionary people like Nana Ampomah, as well as others who have been founding fathers of prominent institutions, including Mr. J. H. Mensah who founded the Saint John Grammar School, and Mr. Quay Nungua, founder of the Nungua Secondary School. Therefore, we are reassuring our Founder, Nana Opoku Ampomah that his role and legacy is an indelible part of the history and success story of our fast expanding university” the school’s statement said.
Also in 2016, Professor Joshua Alabi together with the Founder, Nana Opoku Ampomah, were honoured at UPSA Alumni Association Dinner and Awards among 10 other personalities. The Association conferred on Prof. Alabi the ‘Platinum Man of the Year’ while Nana Ampomah received the “Founder’s Gold’ award.
UMaT renamed George Grant University of Mines and Technology
President Akufo-Addo in January 2018 officially renamed the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) to the George Grant University of Mines and Technology, after the first President of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC).
President Nana Addo, explained that: “It is only fitting that this great modest man who can lay a legitimate claim of being the father of modern Ghanaian nationalist should be properly honoured by a grateful posterity by us who are heirs of the freedom he so violently fought for especially by the citizens of this great Western Region.”
Wa Polytechnic to be named after Hilla Liman
The president also announced that the Wa Polytechnic will be named after Ghana’s former President, Dr. Hilla Liman.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin
