KKY CALLS FOR GREEN ENERGY REVOLUTION ACROSS UNIVERSITIES IN S/LEONE

EBKUST- Magburaka Campus  On Monday, June 29th 2026, Dr. Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella, Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security (PI-CREF), delivered a sweeping vision for energy transformation in Sierra Leone's higher education institutions during a public lecture at Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science and Technology (EBKUST), Magburaka Campus. Drawing on both national energy policy and the university's own solar ambitions, Dr. Yumkella challenged campuses to move beyond fossil-fuel dependency and position themselves as engines of Sierra Leone's clean energy future.

Themed Green Energy for Smart Campuses: A Pathway to Energy Security for Colleges and Universities in Sierra Leone, the lecture underscored the crippling cost of power outages on academic life. "Power outages across our campuses disrupt lectures, halt laboratory work, interrupt research, and sever the internet connectivity students now depend on for everything from coursework to job applications," Dr. Yumkella said. He argued that university administrations were accumulating unsustainable financial burdens simply to keep the lights on, funds that could instead go toward scholarships, digital infrastructure, and faculty research.

Dr. Yumkella articulated a vision of "smart campuses," institutions where solar photovoltaic arrays, battery storage, smart meters, energy-efficient buildings, and AI-driven energy management work in concert. He described this not merely as an infrastructure upgrade, but as a pedagogical opportunity. Engineering students could monitor real solar performance data; computer science students could build AI systems to optimize electricity use; business students could design bankable financing models for renewable projects. "Learning becomes sharper when the problem in front of students is the one humming on their own rooftop," he said.

Situating the campus initiative within President Julius Maada Bio's broader energy transition agenda, Dr. Yumkella highlighted a series of landmark milestones. He noted that Sierra Leone recently commissioned its first utility-scale solar projects in Lungi and Newton, and that the World Bank had just approved the US$60 million DARES Programme, expected to extend electricity access to approximately one million Sierra Leoneans. He projected that, when current investments are completed, Sierra Leone will more than double its installed electricity generation compared to all capacity built from independence to 2017, with renewable energy accounting for roughly 50 percent of national generation by 2030.

Vice Chancellor and Principal Professor Momoh welcomed Dr. Yumkella's address as a timely endorsement of the university's direction. "Your presence is an endorsement of our actions to overcome our challenges and an undertone to commend the President's agenda," he said. Professor Momoh described the university's solar transition as more than a practical energy solution, calling it a statement about what development should look like: "This facility will not only power our classrooms, but power ideas and research." The Deputy Minister of Technical and Higher Education, Sajor-Aziz Jalloh, also addressed the gathering, calling on other university campuses across the country to emulate EBKUST's initiative and pledging the Ministry's continued support for the institution.

The Deputy Minister specifically commended Dr. Yumkella for his efforts in securing the 2MW solar facility for Njala University and urged him to extend the same commitment to other university campuses nationwide.

Dr. Yumkella closed with an ambitious vision for 2035: every public university powered primarily by renewable energy, campuses generating surplus power, and Sierra Leone's institutions becoming exporters of knowledge and innovation to the rest of West Africa. "Let us build campuses where the lights never go out, where innovation never sleeps, and where clean energy powers the dreams of every student who walks through our gates," he said. Chancellor and other university stakeholders of Technical and Higher Education, the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and other university stakeholders, commissioned the newly planted solar PV in the campus.