Stephen Yakubu
Government has reiterated its commitment to sustain gains made in the area of peace and security as it intends to inject GH¢311,229,134.00 in the Upper East Region in the next five years.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, who announced this during his turn at the Ministry of Information’s ‘Meet the Press’ series a couple of days ago in Accra, said the amount when injected will among other things also help improve regional collaboration.
He said, “We intend to sustain the gains we have made in the area of peace and security and further improve regional collaboration and socio-economic resilience of our border and conflict communities with the roll out of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project where a colossal sum of GH¢311,229,134.00 would be injected into the region over the next five years.”
The minister further stated that rigorous sensitisation campaign on “See Something, Say Something”, the establishment of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in border communities with Burkina Faso and Togo were some of the security mechanisms put in place by government to curb extremist attacks from the Sahel Region.
Mr. Yakubu also added that government, through the Ministries of Defence, Interior and the National Security, has equipped security agencies in the region with relevant logistics required to maintain peace and order, as part of efforts to protect the territorial integrity of the country.
He, therefore, used the opportunity to allay the fears of local and foreign investors to see the region as one of the viable regions to do business.
In the area of agriculture, the minister stated that the region since 2018 to 2021, has received 222 motorbikes and 19 pick-ups under the Modernisation of Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) programme.
That, according to him, has created the enabling environment for agricultural activities to flourish in the region and beyond under government flagship programme Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ).
“Beneficiaries under the PFJ increased from 30,009 in 2017 to 185,012 in 2020, representing percentage of 162. This resulted in an increased crop production by 65 per cent over the period. Six warehouses with 1,000 metric tonnes capacity each have been constructed in six districts of the region namely; Talensi, Bongo, Builsa South, Kassena Nankana West, Garu and Nandam,” the minister added.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah