Finally North Eastern to get university

By ALLY JAMAH

Wajir, Kenya: North Eastern Province may soon get its first university.

Leaders from the region are keen on establishing an institution of higher learning to be called Peace University.

Wajir West MP Abdikadir Ore Ahmed (pictured) said the university will be established to actualise the dreams of the late renowed peace activist Deka Ibrahim.

North Eastern is one of the remotest and most marginalised parts of the country.  Ahmed said access to higher education would especially unlock the socio-economic fortunes of his constituency that is among the poorest in the country.

He said the area has only a tertiary institution,  Giriftu Pastoralist Training College, which offers courses on farming that have not attracted any interest from residents.

“We will transform the institution into a fully-fledged college with a wide variety of courses that are marketable. I have also stepped up efforts to invite top universities in the country to set up campuses here. The demand for higher education is high here,” he says.

According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, at least 80 per cent  of the population in Wajir West haven’t had formal education.

The figures also indicate that only 21 per cent of the children in Wajir County are likely to enroll in school compared with 92 per cent for the country.

For those who are fortunate to go to school, they have to grapple poor infrastructure and inadequate  staff.  “The situation in Wajir West is so bad that pupils from different classes hold lesssons in the same room,” he said.