Mion Lana
Chiefs in the Northern Region have lauded the government for implementing innovative initiatives aimed at transforming the Ghanaian economy.
They noted that initiatives such as the Free SHS 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.
The chiefs made the commendation when the Minister for 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, Board Chairman of the Ghana Integrated Iron & Steel Development Corporation (GIISDC) and some Northern Regional New Patriotic Party (NPP) officials.
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 appraise the chiefs on government policies and programmes.
The chiefs appealed to the government to broaden the scope of these initiatives to enable more people to benefit.
On the Free SHS, 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 and therefore entreated the government not to relent on the implementation of the free SHS 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 young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana had benefitted under the Presidential Business Support Programme (PBSP) which had enabled them to establish businesses whiles others had expanded theirs.
They however appealed for more funding to enable 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 this will help create jobs for the youth.
Dr. Awal commended the chiefs for their support in the implementation of key government initiatives and assured them of 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.
On his part, Prince Imoro Andani thanked the Chiefs for supporting government policies and urged them to continue to rally behind the government.