The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications laid the foundation stone in Yaounde on April 14, 2016.

The National Advanced School of Posts and Telecommunications (NASPT) will in the next six months boast a 700 seat lecture hall. The foundation stone for the ultra-modern facility was laid at the institution’s Yaounde campus on April 14, 2016, by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Minette Libom Li Likeng, in the company of her peers of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo and Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary.

The FCFA 400 million structure on a surface area of 804 metres square is expected to be completed in six months after which equipping and fencing will commence. It is financed by the Special Fund for Telecommunications and will feature four offices on the ground floor, three others on the first floor and four-block toilet under ground. When construction ends in six months, equipping ct will commence after which the fencing will close the project, the Engineer, Eric Mefire, disclosed.

Respecting the project timeframe as well as contracting terms is primordial, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications told the contracting company, insisting that the project must be ready in six months. The National Advanced School of Posts and Telecommunications some time ago went through turbulence in terms of infrastructure shortfall. The period was critical, with most equipment obsolete. It was a gust to the management and student body of the institution, with the latter being unable to find placements for internship and jobs at the end of studies.

The lack of improved infrastructure and equipment made some of the students almost non-competitive; a situation Posts and Telecommunications Minister recalled prompted government to reform the institution. The first of such measures was to place it under the tutellage of the Ministry of Higher Education. Since then, NASPT regained fame, with Minette Libom Li Likeng describing it as a “temple of knowldege.”

The ultra-modern facility, when complete, will ease learning and improve student performance, said the Director of NASPT, Jean Marie Ndongo. The modernisation of pedagogic insfrastructure is government’s commitment to have the sector contribute to the country’s development drive, he stated. The infrastructure will among other things serve to develop training in optic fibre (the African Development Bank already offered government FCFA 2.2 billion for the creation of two training centres on optic fibre in NASPT Yaounde and Buea.)

The institution is seeking for expansion its infrastructure. Other projects in the pipeline are the putting in place of an incubator for enterprise, computerised library and the African Centre for Postal Training.