The state government of Eastern Equatoria has called on partners and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to focus on development instead of emergency.

Governor Louis Lobong Lojore said the state was enjoying relative peace due to the progress in implementation of the 2018 revitalised peace agreement.

He said there was no need for an emergency in Eastern Equatoria State.

“My message to our development partners or the NGOs is that the time for an emergency is over. We are at peace and we are implementing the peace agreement,” Lobong said.

 “I want [those] coming to Eastern Equatoria to come up with a tangible project that improves the lives of the people, which is development, not an emergency. We must embark on development. We must bring peace through development, ” he stressed.

Lobong made the statement last week, nearly a month after the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Arafat Jamal, said UN agencies would consider shifting funding for the developmental projects in South Sudan.

Jamal said this after visiting the flood-hit Jonglei State, where thousands of people have been affected by the disaster.

”Through the distribution of food assistance and shelter items, lives have been saved, but it’s not enough. The UN humanitarian response is just 64 per cent funded.

“We are looking at what we can do better, including reorienting our assistance to development initiatives such as investment in dykes, canals, extraction pumps, and intensive dialogues with communities to ensure peaceful coexistence,” Jamal said.

Governor Lobong, who declared Eastern Equatoria safe and secure for the developmental project, invited both national and foreign investors to the state.

“I am also appealing to investors that Eastern Equatoria is peaceful and there are a lot of investment opportunities.” They are also welcome to come and invest in Eastern Equatoria, ” he said.

Investors invited

He further called on the young people who recently protested against alleged unfair employment opportunities within NGOs to embark on innovative activities, adding that NGOs’ jobs would not accommodate everyone in the state.

He said with peace in the state, the youth should embark on agriculture to spur national development.

“For the youth, I am encouraging them to be hard-working and innovative. I want people to be hard-working and let us embark on private sectors. NGOs alone cannot employ all of us; even the government cannot employ all of us.”

“We must go into the private sector. We must embark on agriculture so that we create jobs for ourselves, ” Lobong stated.