Western Bahr el-Ghazal State Government and the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Diocese of Wau over the weekend commissioned a multipurpose youth center and a police station at the Ujuku Payam of Raja County.
The initiative was supported by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan Quick Impact Project.
The youth center is set to train the youth and endorse social cohesion and their engagements in peace building, while the police station will help maintain security, the rule of law, reduce crime and other issues affecting the community.
State Youth and Sports Minister Mohamed Ali Goni appreciated the effort and commitment of the youth to achieve the facility.
“I am so thankful that I come to attend the inauguration of this youth center because we have been meeting the youth in their local building, but thanks to their commitment, they managed to achieve a modern center,” said Goni.
The minister urged the entire community to maintain the center and encourage the UN agencies to offer their support.
“Let us maintain the center so that it can encourage other NGOs to offer other missing items and I hope there should be a computer center within this facility so that our people can learn computer skills,” he added.
The minister urged the youth to construct a fence around the center using local materials.
He called on the youth to use the center as a symbol of unity.
“Let this center be a symbol of unity, let us not fight over it, let it be like the youth center in the state,” the minister added.
Raja County Commissioner Addison Arkangelo Musa urged the youth not to use the center for political activity.
“I know that there are different political formations here. There are members of the SPLM-IG, IO, and SSOA and there are some people who are neutral. Please, leave behind your political inclinations whenever you come to the center,” said Musa.
The youth representative who also doubles as the State Youth Union Chairperson, David Lawrence, urged NGOs operating in the state to consider training the Ujuku Payam youth.
The Ujuku youth called on the state authorities to embark on renaming the residential areas to reflect the current need to fight tribalism in the payam.