President John Dramani Mahama has received honorary doctorate degrees from two Russian institutions, the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) and the Russian University of Transport (RUT MIIT), capping a day of academic honours that he dedicated to the people of Ghana.
The separate ceremonies were held yesterday.
A sense of nostalgia
The RUDN ceremony was attended by the Rector, Professor Oleg A. Yastrebov; members of the Board and Academic Council, the Minister of Defence, Kenneth Agyei; members of the President’s delegation, the diplomatic corps, faculty and students.
Accepting the honour, President Mahama said he felt “a sense of nostalgia, having stepped on this campus again this morning after almost 40 years, when I studied in Russia as a postgraduate student”.
“Honestly, an individual receives an honour such as this seldom by their own work alone. I therefore receive this honorary doctorate with appreciation to the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia and with deep gratitude to the people of Ghana, whose confidence in me has given meaning to my decades of public service,” he said.
“For Ghanaians, his name is closely aligned with our first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, whose conviction was that African freedom must extend beyond raising national flags to true freedom and independence,” he said.
He said the responsibility of present-day African leaders was to give practical expression to the aspirations of their forebears, adding that “this should be seen in the quality of our schools, in the strength of our institutions, and in the opportunities that we create for our young people”.
President Mahama also called for efforts to confront historical injustices meted out to people of African descent through colonial domination and the transatlantic slave trade, and to pursue justice through informed dialogue and international cooperation.
Earlier, Rector Yastrebov, announced that the university was establishing a scholarship named after Patrice Lumumba, under which seven students would be supported each year.
He said RUDN had always been and remained “a friend of Africa, a leading expert centre” on issues related to the continent, describing it as a place “where cultures meet, ideas are shared and bridges are built between countries and peoples”.
Transport as a catalyst for development
At RUT MIIT later in the day, the conferment ceremony was held at the university’s grand auditorium and attended by members of the academic senate, Ghanaian officials, students and the diplomatic corps.
Delivering his acceptance speech, the President expressed profound gratitude to the university and dedicated the honour to the people of Ghana.
He highlighted the critical role of transport infrastructure in national development, saying that few fields connected academic knowledge so directly to people’s daily lives.
“Farmers’ harvests gain value because they can be moved from the farm to the market.
A young person’s prospects improve when reliable transport connects his home to school or work.
Businesses can grow and expand when goods move efficiently between production centres, ports and consumers,” the President said.
President Mahama outlined Ghana’s infrastructure agenda, including the construction of a new port in Tema, the reconstruction of major road networks, the expansion of airports and the ongoing development of the railway network.
“Even as I speak, we are working on rebuilding our cherished national airline.
It is my hope that before I leave office, we will have it back in the air,” he declared, drawing applause from the audience.
The President called for strengthened collaboration between Ghanaian institutions and the Russian University of Transport.
“I am happy to hear that the Russian University of Transport has links with Ghanaian science and technology institutions and technical universities.
There is scope for collaboration in transport engineering, railway development, logistics, road safety, and the application of technology to transport and traffic management,” he noted.
Reflecting on his own experience, President Mahama said: “Generations of Ghanaians have benefited from studying in Russia, including myself.
While in Russia, we acquired professional skills while building friendships that have endured beyond our years at university.”
Before the ceremony, the President held an open dialogue session with students, answering questions on industrialisation, energy security and Ghana–Russia cooperation.
The President’s visit to the two universities forms part of broader efforts to deepen relations between Ghana and the Russian Federation, which share a long history of cooperation in education, with thousands of Ghanaian professionals trained in Soviet and Russian institutions over the decades
