The United Nations Children agency, UNICEF has shut down its office in Eastern Equatoria’s Capital, Torit due to a shortfall in funding.

In his remarks at the closing ceremony over the weekend, the UNICEF Head of the Torit Field Office said, the inadequate funding has forced the agency to scale down its operations in Torit.

Benard Mikelele has attributed the move to the prevailing global crisis and natural disasters.

“One of the reasons why we are closing I think in 2019, 2020, 2021, the entire globe experienced one of the most unprecedented outbreaks, Covid-19,” said Mikelele.

“You know this Covid-19 affected the countries that use to provide support, the donor countries,

“The second issue that is related to funding is also the crisis in the world and today we are seeing one of the most devastating crises in the world in Ukraine,

“There are also natural disasters like some of us, we are experiencing floods and all these, so a lot of funds have gone to such areas.”

On the need to make good use of the donations, Mikelele said the agency will only be operating from Juba to reduce the cost of catering for its staff in Torit.

However, he added that the main office in Juba will continue to provide the much-needed service to vulnerable people in the State.

For her part, Eastern Equatoria State’s Deputy Governor, Mary Alphonse Lodira says she was excited with UNICEF’s promise to continue rendering services despite scaling down its operations.

However, she says, it is high time the government shoulder its responsibility and provide services to the citizens.