The construction of the University of Western Equatoria has resumed after nearly a year of halt following violence in the area.
The construction of the University was initiated by the State Governor on 22 December 2020, but work was halted after the eruption of armed violence in Tambura County. The university will have public health, agriculture and education facilities.
Speaking during a visit to the site on Monday, Governor Alfred Futuyo Karaba instructed the company working on the institution to resume work, saying the security situation returned to normalcy.
“When I came as Governor, I came so that I do something that people can see and point; we started with Freedom Square and University,” Governor Futuyo said.
Futuyo’s government contributed a sum of ten million South Sudanese Pounds to support the construction work of the university building.
He appealed to well-wishers and partners in the country to offer a helping hand to complete the work.
“We agreed as the state’s government that this time we will start with ten million South Sudanese Pounds, which we will give to the constructors, to begin with. Also, we brought partners to help us, if anyone with cement or iron sheet and any construction materials which is leftover bring for us to finish this work, if the work finished, we will expand it to be as Boarding,” Futuyo said.
Meanwhile, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Samson, said he was on the ground to see the building. He also disclosed that the first intake of the university is expected to take place in 2023.
“We came here because the curriculum of this University is already completed, and we are due to have admission which is going to be in 2023, so my mission here is to see how far we have gone with the building because this is our pride, as you know education is paramount. And in Western Equatoria, we are struggling to get this university established because the citizens of this state send their children out to Uganda and Kenya for education where they spent dollars,” Prof. Samson.
Christopher Murange, the Head of Field Office for UNMISS in the state, appreciated the state government for the initiative and pledged to support the construction of the university.
“I think we will look forward to receiving a concept from the Vice Counsellor and the governor’s office, and then we look at our various mandates within the UN family and the development partners and see which area we can come in to provide support,” Murange said.