By: Mohamed M. Sesay
Bashiru Koroma the Mattru Jong Boy as fondly called, has put Bonthe District and Sierra Leone on International Map as he emerged the first Sierra Leonean to serve as the President of the Students Representative Council at the prestigious African Leadership University School of Business in Kigali Rwanda.
An article authored by Thomas Armitt, lavishes extensive commendation on the exceptional academic performance of the Mattru Jong Boy Bashiru Koroma. Bashiru Koroma served as the ALUSB SRC President. Several Sierra Leoneans have graduated from the African Leadership University undergraduate programs over the years, but Bashiru Koroma and Alusine Kargbo are the only two to graduates from the ALUSB, MBA with Bashiru Koroma being the first Sierra Leonean to serve as the SRC President for the ALUSB.
Other members of the SRC included; Academic Affairs Head- Tinashe Nondo, Senior Licensed Pharmacist, from Johannesburg, South Africa and the ALU Alive Head; Chanda Mwale, Operations Manager, Wildlife Producers Association of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia. These SRC members were voted for by members of the Sisonke cohort.
The academic sojourn of Bashiru Koroma as narrated by Thomas Armitt and how he navigated to become the first Sierra Leonean to serve in that position amongst some of the best minds around the continent including Pan African Business Titans have been of public interest.
From the investigations done by Thomas Armitt, it revealed that Bashiru Koroma was born and raised in Mattru Jong, Bonthe District, Southern Sierra Leonean on the 15th August 1988 to the late Pa Brima Koroma and Mrs. Iye Jawara Koroma. Both parents never went to School and were not formally educated. Before he died on the 17th November, 2021, Pa Brima was a popular tailor and a community leader in Mattru Jong. Bashiru’s Mother, Iye Jawara was a petty trader who used to sell cassava bread, rice porridge (rice pap), soda soap in Mattru Jong etc. Bashiru was the last born from a family of 20 children twelve from his mother and nine from his late stepmother Mrs. Yeama Salay Fatorma Koroma. Bashiru was the first out of these 20 children to ever attend University and graduate with a University degree.
Thomas Armitt also revealed that Bashiru Koroma had always been referred to as the Mattru Jong boy who defied all odds and the academic hustler. His academic journey from Primary School, Secondary School and University appears to be a divine miracle. Bashiru started his primary education in various under-resourced local community primary schools in his hometown; Mattru Jong.
The Islamic Call Society primary school where he took the National Primary School Examination in the year 2000 was housed in a makeshift structure made up of old zincs normally called pan body in creole.
He started from the National Islamic primary School (NIS) that was also an unfinished structure with an unpaved floor, continued at the District Education primary School (DEC) and the Roman Catholic primary School boys (RC) all in Mattru Jong. After taking the National Primary School Examination, Bashiru was transferred to his nephew in Bo the second largest city in Sierra Leone to continue his Secondary education.
Thomas Armitt also unearthed that the relocation of Bashiru Koroma to Bo was as a result of his performance in year 2000 NPSE examination, in which Bashiru scored 307 which was one of the best results in Mattru Jong and the surrounding communities. While in Bo, Bashiru was admitted to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School Bo after spending one term at the Medthodist High School Bo. Bashiru took the West African Senior Secondary School Examination (WASCCE) in 2006 and was admitted to the Institute of Geography and Rural Development, School of Environmental Sciences, Njala University where he graduated among the best of his class with an Honors Degree in Environmental Sciences (Environment and Development option) distinction in field attachment.
Bashiru also holds a Post graduate diploma in strengthening Leadership for Conservation in Sierra Leone and Liberia through research and training on the western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) sponsored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS), advanced professional qualifications in Natural Resource Management and Conservation.
Bashiru graduated with a Master of Public Health in 2021, specializing in Environmental Health and Sanitation/ Safety (Waste Management and Urban Planning) from Njala University. Bashiru Koroma is a Fellow of the United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS) MENTOR PROGRAM; Mentoring for the Protection of Apes and Conservation of Ecosystems (MENTOR-PACE).
