Sierra Leone News Today

Sierra Leone’s Isha Johansen becomes FIFA Council member

The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) President, Madam Isha Johansen has been elected a member of the FIFA Council. Johansen defeated Burundian Lydia Nsekera, who had held the position since 2013, by 28 votes to four during the Caf General Assembly held in Rabat on Friday. She became the first West African woman elected into the council and the first Sierra Leonean to join the 37-person team.

Bank of Sierra Leone launches USD 10 million Agricultural Credit Facility

The Bank Governor of Sierra Leone, Kaifala Kallon, on Thursday, March 11, 2021, launched a USD 100 million Agricultural Credit Facility. The new project is to necessitate farmers to help increase their production capacity as agriculture is the greatest drive to the economy. The Agricultural Credit Facility through Commercial Banks will provide farmers with cash to help secure seedlings and also give loans to farmers at a 5 percent interest rate.

The government of Sierra Leone approves the new retirement age and condition of service for teachers

The Ministry of Basic, Senior Secondary Education, the Teaching Service Commission, and the Parliament of Sierra Leone have approved the delay of the retirement of all teachers who have attained the age of 60 years and are to formally retire or be removed from the payroll. This came after the government endorsed the new regulation on general retirement dates for all teachers as well as additional conditions for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), Agriculture, Arabic, and French teachers in the country. The new retirement age for STEM teachers is now 65 years, while for non STEM teachers upon attaining 60 years they are required to retire and their names should be automatically deleted from the government payroll. 

500 students to benefit from the Government loan scheme

The Secretariat of the Sierra Leone Students Loan Scheme Committee in the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education has confirmed that a total of 500 postgraduate Masters and Ph.D. students are to benefit from the government’s pilot student loan scheme for the 2021/2022 academic year. This effort is to ensure that quality education is accessible to every Sierra Leonean irrespective of their financial status.