'The 2026 mission must be accomplished’

It could be recalled that the late Vice President set a three-to-five month down-the-line period to all the Ministries for the implementation of the recommendations made at a retreat sometime ago and then report to the executive.

In a recent interview with The Point, Prof. Gomez shed light on some of the steps his Ministry has undertaken towards the implementation of the said recommendations.

Prof Gomez hinted that starting from 2023 it was going to be a game-changer in his Ministry’s interventions, saying they are duty-bound and that one of the steps his Ministry had taken is to ensure that they fulfill the mission for the interest of Gambians as far as quality education. 

These set goals, he assured, would be achieved for the common interest of the nation as far as education is a priority.

“First, we are pushing to the extent that the University of The Gambia Faraba Banta Campus is one of them and we have now roughly completed the work, we are just finishing some few touches.  In September next semester, the School of Business and Public Administration, the School or Arts and Sciences, the School of Education and the School of the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) library will be operational at our Faraba Banta University Campus.”

He hinted that from September 2023, the University of the Gambia will not be renting classes anymore, adding that University students will be studying with brand new labs, faculties and so on.

Minister Gomez reminded that now that the process of purchasing lab equipment and the furniture is on, they’ve also secured additional funding to build the Chancery, the faculty of Law and the School of Agriculture and Environmental sciences, which in 18 months would be ready at Faraba Banta Campus.

For the University of Applied Science and Technology (USET), Minister Gomez added that the construction of the campus in Brikama behind the Chancery building is on course as the foundation block had been laid. 

“In 18 months it will be ready. Our strategy is to do everything possible for it to be ready before end of the 18 months so that it is operational.” he stated.