Abubakarr Turay assumed the position of director of the Public Education and Outreach Department in April 2025, following his promotion from the position of deputy director. Mr. Turay joined the Commission in May 2013 as communications officer attached to the Outreach Unit of the Department. In September 2017, he was appointed to head the Unit until January 2021 when he was promoted to the position of Deputy Director.
Before his employment at the Commission, Mr. Turay was a practising journalist, having worked with For Di People Newspaper and later Cotton Tree News, a news media project established by Fondation Hirondelle in Switzerland, in collaboration with the University of Sierra Leone.
Mr. Turay resigned as deputy editor of Cotton Tree News to pursue a master’s in Public Administration in London in 2011, having been awarded the prestigious Commonwealth scholarship. He returned to Sierra Leone in October 2012 on completion of the programme.
His tertiary education journey started at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, where he earned a diploma in Library Studies and a BA (Hon.) in Mass Communication. He also holds an MPA from the Institute of Public Administration and Management from the same university.
The desire to further develop his career motivated Mr. Turay to pursue an LLB at the University of London and later attained a Barrister at Law from the Council of Legal Education also known as the Sierra Leone Law School, both of which qualify him to practice as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone.
Mr Turay is a recipient of the 2010 'Overall prize for Development Journalism' orgnised by the Independent Media Commission (Sierra Leone) National Awards, a category of the awards that was supported by the European Union and the BBC Media Action (formerly BBC World Service Trust).
He is a native of Babara Wallah, Lokomasama chiefdom, Port Loko district, where he began his primary school education (Classes 1and 2) and later proceeded to the Methodist City Mission Primary School, Bathurst Street, in Freetown where he sat to the National Primary School Examination in 1993. He had his entire secondary school education at the Prince of Wales School in Freetown.
Mr. Turay is a journalist, PR expert, lawyer, public administrator and part-time lecturer in the Faculty of Communication, Media and Information Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.
He is a Commonwealth scholar (‘Diamond Jubilee Alumni Member’ – so named in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne), a member of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, the Sierra Leone Bar Association, and the Sierra Leone Association of Communications and Public Relations Professionals. Mr Turay is married to Sia Komeh and they have two children together.
