Poni: The national coordinator of the Presidential Initiative for Quality Education (IPEQ), Dr. Raymond Ouoba, made an unannounced visit to the construction site of an amphitheater at the Gaoua University Center. He noted a worrying delay in the execution of the work and demanded immediate redress, including tripling the staff and regularly transmitting execution schedules.

According to Burkina Information Agency, on the morning of August 2, 2025, Dr. Raymond Ouoba inspected the progress of the construction site of a university complex in Gaoua, during an unannounced inspection. The project, part of the IPEQ, includes a 500-seat amphitheater and a two-story educational building, expandable to three stories, housing classrooms, tutorial rooms, administrative offices, and laboratories.

At the end of his visit, Dr. Ouoba expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the work: "The current state of the site is far from our expectations." Faced with this observation, he ordered the transmission of an overall schedule from Monday, as well as a weekly schedule to be submitted every Friday, in order to allow rigorous and continuous monitoring by the various structures involved.

"An operational monitoring and evaluation system is in place around three axes: a permanent monitoring mission on the site, supervision missions composed of experts from major projects, the General Directorate of Urban Planning, beneficiaries, as well as unannounced visits like today's," he specified. He also demanded that the company increase its workforce to make up for the delays observed.

The construction manager, Mr. Dieudonn© Obulbiga, representing the SOPEC company in charge of execution, spoke of the difficulties encountered: "The climate and the nature of the soil caused us to lose time. But we are aware of the delay and we started the work at night. However, this is no longer sufficient," he explained. He promised a significant increase in staff to meet the delivery deadline of September 30, 2025.

The construction site is at 18% completion, a relatively early stage: "We have completed the basement, we are now at the elevation and backfilling," he explained. Aware of the delay, Mr. Obulbiga is committed to delivering the works within the given timeframe, taking "all necessary measures."

As a reminder, the IPEQ action plan provides for the construction of 40 lecture halls for universities and university centers in Burkina Faso over the next five years. Twelve lecture halls are planned for 2025.