Bring investors to Upper East Region - Chiana Paramount Chief entreats regional minister

The President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Pe Ditundini Adiali Ayagitam III, has entreated the Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Yakubu, to work assiduously to attract investors to tap into the rich natural resources in the region to accelerate its development.

Pe Ayagitam III, who is also the Paramount Chief of the Chiana Traditional Area, explained that the region was endowed with lots of natural resources that had the potential to turn the fortunes of the people around but they were yet to be fully tapped.

The paramount chief made the appeal when the regional minister paid a courtesy call on him at his palace at Chiana in the Kassena-Nankana West District last Wednesday.

He explained that the region was still one of the underdeveloped regions in the country and that the people, especially those in the rural areas, still experienced extreme poverty. Stakeholders must, therefore, be encouraged to work together to address such challenges, he said.

Potential

Pe Ayagitam III stated that apart from some tree crops such as shea among others that could be tapped, many parts of the region had gold deposits and other mineral resources that could be tapped for development and help create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.

The paramount chief further indicated that the potential of the agriculture sector in the region was enormous, however farmers were faced with lots of challenges ranging from production equipment to access to ready markets for their farm produce.

He also said tomato farming and cattle rearing were common among many farmers in the region and needed to be supported.

He, therefore, called on Mr Yakubu to work strenuously to attract investors to revive the meat factory at Zuarungu and the tomato factory at Pwalugu to process the raw materials into finished products to add value to them for export.

He said if the factories were revamped, they would not only help prevent perishable goods from going bad, but they would also help create jobs for the youth and significantly curb rural-urban migration.

Pe Ayagitam III expressed the readiness of the Regional House of Chiefs to support the minister to succeed and urged him to desist from partisan politics and work for the total development of the region.

Minister’s response

Mr Yakubu, for his part, explained that it was time the people of the region, irrespective of their political affiliation, supported the development agenda of the region.

He appealed to the traditional authorities to help mobilise their subjects to embrace the government’s policies being implemented to improve their livelihoods.

The regional minister pledged to work with all stakeholders and stated that politics was all about “development, we do politics to develop ourselves and so if the type of politics we are doing is not helping us but retarding our growth and development, we have to desist from it, we have to put it aside”.

Mr Yakubu further outlined his vision for the region, which he noted included improving the health sector, ensuring that good roads were constructed and creating more job opportunities for the unemployed youth.

He stated that without the support of the traditional authorities, he would not be able to achieve his vision, stressing; “you the traditional authorities are key because I cannot achieve this alone".