On October 16, 2018, Dr. Turad Senesie, Deputy Minister of Higher and Technical Education, Sierra Leone, had a meeting with the IOU staff and students in his New England Vile office in Freetown.

The IOU Chairman board of directors, Alhaji Murtada Sesay, spoke on behalf of the Founder, Dr. Bilal Philips, pointing out that the IOU has changed the mindset of those who perceive Islam negatively. He went on to explain how does IOU work and programs are being offered.

Sh. Kallay drew the attention of the Minister to the fact that online education today is the only way to go as our universities are overcrowded, insufficient, short of lecturers and a huge financial burden on the government.

The Deputy Minister of Higher and Technical Education, Dr. Turad Senesie, in his response thanked the IOU team and welcomed the IOU style and method of education based on what he heard from Dr. Murtada Sesay, the Country Representative and what he heard from Dr. Bilal Philips himself when he was talking exclusively on the online education, during his interview on October 11, 2018, in Accra Ghana by Kwesi Sam of the AAU-TV Talks show.

Dr. Senesie said that the government are servants of the people and therefore must listen to them, “We are here to actualize the human factor of this nation especially in the area of education."

He then emphasized that if our youths are in our learning institutions they will be away from behaviors that will keep them away from doing things that will create insecurity for the country. He sadly constated that despite the number of graduates in Economics, Engineering, Law, etc. there is still a need to hire people from other countries to do our jobs. Hence,

Dr. Senesie admonished the IOU students to be good selfless Sierra Leoneans because according to him, over the years we have been graduating students in Economics, Engineering, Law, etc. but yet still we must hire other people from other countries to do our jobs. In conclusion, the Deputy Minister promised to see what can be done to secure the accreditation of the IOU.