Government Spokesman: So far, 27 contraband traffickers have been arrested, and no one will be exempt from accountability
The Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication and Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesman, El Houcine Ould Medou, said that those arrested in the case of trading in hallucinogenic pills, counterfeit medicine, and expired substances will be referred to the judiciary, and no one will be exempt from accountability, nor will there be a cover-up for anyone.
In response to a question on the subject, he stressed during his comment on the results of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Wednesday evening, at the pronouncement hall of the headquarters of the Mauritanian News Agency, in Nouakchott, accompanied by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, that investigations are continuing in the matter, and have so far resulted in the arrest of 27 people, stressing that the operation carries indications that must be stopped, the most important of which is the vigilance of the security authorities on the one hand, and the growing of this danger, which has become part of the work of organized networks in the country.
He explained that the government had kept pace with this phenomenon before it occurred on several levels, such as working to immunize young people at the national level from falling victim to this type of crime, expressing his thanks to the security and administrative authorities for their vigilance and professionalism during the process.
In response to a question about Mauritania’s candidate for the African Development Bank, the government spokesman said that Mauritania attaches great importance to this file, through the use of its diplomatic relations, noting that His Excellency the President of the Republic, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, chaired yesterday a committee on the subject, in addition to the media committee formed for the candidate.
He stressed that indications suggest that Mauritania’s candidate can be bet on, despite the intense competition for the position, as he is a strong, serious and highly qualified candidate, and the state has invested its diplomatic relations to make it a success.
Commenting on the draft decree on the establishment of the University of Nouadhibou, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Yacoub Ould Meine said that this university will receive 800 students distributed over three faculties (Faculty of Law and Economics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Faculty of Humanities), in addition to a higher institute of technology, in addition to the pre-existing Institute of Languages and Interpretation, which will receive 397 of the aforementioned number.
He added that the university decided to establish it at the headquarters of the former Institute of the Sea, which began to be prepared, and it is expected that the tender for the project will begin in the coming days after the completion of the study, provided that it will be ready next September to receive students for the academic year 2025-2026.
The Minister highlighted that the training tracks at the university are linked to the specificity of Nouadhibou, as the study proved that they are the most suitable for the city, such as marine sciences, energy engineering, maritime activities law, mining law, hydrocarbons, risk management, sociology of migration, population movement, as well as tracks for physics, chemistry and informatics.
In response to a question about local scholarships, he confirmed that they have doubled this year by more than 100%, compared to last year, as this year reached more than 17,500 students out of 43,091 students, or 41%, instead of about 5,000 last year out of 35,000, or 28%.
He explained that the ministry adopted this year four fair criteria approved by the Council of Ministers, and took into account the criterion of poverty (His Excellency the President of the Republic recommended taking care of the poor), and studying in higher education institutions at home, in addition to academic excellence, whether in the baccalaureate certificate 2024, or in higher education institutions during the past academic year. Regarding the first criterion, the Minister confirmed that this criterion benefited 3,789 students this year, as each student registered with him or one of his parents was granted in the social register at Taazour, and obtained a baccalaureate certificate in 2024, while the second criterion (those registered at home) benefited 1,236 students, while about two thousand students benefited from the criterion of excellence.
He stressed that the slogan of social assistance and the universalization of the grant, which are raised by some, is subjective and meaningless after the assistance was canceled since 2014 and the grant was circulated to all the poor registered in the social register at Taazour (updated by the delegation every three months), and that the criterion of the scholarship globally is based on the criteria of excellence and poverty, as no country in the world circulates the scholarship to its students, renewing the openness of his sector to the right opinions.