Broaden scope of initiatives - Chiefs urge government

Some chiefs in the Northern Region have commended the government for implementing innovative initiatives aimed at transforming the Ghanaian economy.

They noted that initiatives such as the Free Senior High School programme, the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), the Planting for Food and jobs, One village, One dam and the One district, One factory programmes were helping to transform the economy and improve the lives of the people.

Interaction

The chiefs made the commendation when the Minister of Business Development, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, interacted with them at separate fora on Wednesday and Thursday.

He was accompanied by the former Northern Regional Minister, Mr Prince Imoro Andani, and some officials of the Northern Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The chiefs the minister interacted with included; Ya Naa Abukari Mahama II, Mion lana Abdulai Mahamadu, Yoo Naa Abdulai Yakubu Andani, Diare lana Abdulai Abukari II and Kadinaa Yakubu Alhassan.

Dr Awal, who is on a week-long tour of the Northern Region, used the occasion to apprise the chiefs on government policies and programmes.

Broaden scope

The chiefs appealed to the government to broaden the scope of those initiatives to enable many more people to benefit.

On the free senior high school programme, the chiefs noted that the programme was a major policy intervention which would enable more people from Northern Ghana to have access to secondary education.

They, therefore, entreated the government not to relent on the implementation of the free senior high school programme.

They were confident that the teething problem of inadequate infrastructure would be resolved in due course.

Touching on entrepreneurship, the chiefs were happy that many more young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana had benefited under the Presidential Business Support Programme (PBSP) which had enabled them to establish businesses while others had expanded theirs.

They however appealed for more funding to enable many more young entrepreneurs in the area to establish their own businesses.
The chiefs expressed satisfaction with the country’s macro-economic indicators and expressed the need for government to move from stability to growth, adding that it would help create jobs for the youth.

Acknowledgement

Dr Awal commended the chiefs for their support in the implementation of key government initiatives and assured them of the government’s commitment to implement more initiatives to improve the lives of the people.

He said the government would not discriminate against any community in the implementation of policies and programmes.

For his part, Prince Imoro Andani thanked the chiefs for supporting government policies and urged them to continue to rally behind the government.