NYARUGENGE - Fifty students from the National University of Rwanda (NUR) yesterday graduated with Post Graduate Diplomas in Irrigation and Drainage.

The Diploma, a result of a very successful partnership between the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and the NUR Faculty of Agriculture, was undertaken by students from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the graduation ceremony that took place at Serena Hotel, the Minister of Education, Daphrose Gahakwa, said that the initiative is very important because it brings together students from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"This achievement is not only for Rwanda but in partnering with the NBI, other countries like Burundi and DR Congo are benefiting making the faculty of Agriculture play a great and important role in the region,” she said.

She added that compared to the past years, NUR has matured and is now growing.

"Today, this is work well done. In the past 30 years before the 1994 genocide, only 2000 students had graduated from the National University of Rwanda, but today things have changed and a good number of professionals are produced every year,” she said.

Kayitera Canisius from Rwanda was among the five best performing students recognised.

During the same ceremony, the Regional Project Manager of the applied training project (NBI) Kanagire Canisius said that since its launch in January 2005, the Applied Training Project was challenged to strengthen the Nile Basin countries’ Human resources capacity in water resource management.

"During these past four years, we have made a lot of effort to impart knowledge and skills to water specialists and we have trained future trainers at post graduate level. Today we are celebrating the success of 50 post graduate diploma students,” Kanagire said.

He added that there cat be no sustainable socio-economic development without adequate knowledge, information and skills.

"We need to build strong capacities in various areas, especially in water resource planning, development and management. This will generate new knowledge and information which will respond to the challenges facing the Nile Basin country members,” Kanagire added.

He congratulated the graduates and rewarded those who attained outstanding results.

"I wish to specially congratulate the five who scored the highest. I am glad to award a laptop to the first and personal computers to the other four and I believe these computers will be utilized for efficient delivery of services and for continued capacity development,” he said.

Of the 50 students who graduated in the post graduate diploma in Irrigation and Drainage, 10 come from Burundi, 10 from DR Congo and 30 from Rwanda.

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