March 11, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
A total of one thousand two hundred Fourah Bay College (FBC) University of Sierra Leone students will benefit from the facilities of the newly refurbished hostel.
A-Z Newspaper has learnt that out of the number only twenty rooms will be allotted to students with special needs.
Communication Specialist attached to the college, Dr. Tonia Musa has revealed that the six hundred rooms will accommodate two students per room, noting that overcrowding would not be tolerated.
He said issues of the past such water have been laid to rest pointing out that the ten water tanks erected can make water available. This is based on the prospect of the elimination of ” Goree” syndrome of coopting nonresident student, he hinted.
He warned that the term ‘Goree’ is no longer tolerated at the hostels. He underscored that students had been using this system to settle themselves amongst paid up colleagues thereby leading to over-crowding at the hostels.
On the issue of fees, he disclosed that each student is to pay the sum of one million five hundred thousand Leones (LE 1 500,000) for the whole year with prepaid meters for the occupants to top up.
The Sierra Estate Management Company (SEMCO) is in charge of running the hostels and according to the Manager, Usif Baraka, there will be strict supervision and fines levied against defaulting occupants. A Warden of Students will continue to help instill discipline and maintain the facility.
A good number of students especially those from the Provinces see this development as a blessing in disguise considering the accommodation and transportation constraints many faced.