Naaba Asobayire V
Paramount Chief of the Kologo Traditional Area in the Upper East Region, Naaba Clifford Asobayire V, has pledged to support any form of awareness creation in his traditional area to encourage young girls to stay in school and further to the highest levels.
According to him, he has made his stance against force and early marriage in the traditional area and the North in general and will not hesitate to support any law or legal action that bans these practices and punish perpetrators.
Speaking in an interview as Ghana marks International Women’s Day, Naaba Asobayire V called on other Paramount Chiefs in the Upper East Region to be strong in condemning and opposing the act and also commit themselves to call for support from the government, NGOs, and businesses for girls in school, so that they can overcome the challenges that hinder their progress in education.
Touching on the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality,” Naaba Clifford Asobayire V called on the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and all other relevant bodies to find out why many girls, especially rural girls, do not want to get involved in Science and Technology education. He wants them to come out with possible ways to address the challenges.
“…if they do that and they come out with possible ways to address the challenges that they will identify, I can assure you that many chiefs in this region will help in removing these obstacles because we will be happy to see many of our girls studying science and technology related courses.
Women suffer much in agriculture, childbirth, and in doing their home duties, and if more women get involved in technology, they will be well placed to understand the issues and to help ease the suffering of other women with technological innovations,” he said.
Meanwhile, Naaba Clifford Asobayire V was crowned the Most Outstanding Traditional Leader in Northern Ghana at the 2023 Northern Excellence Awards held in Tamale over the weekend.
The award was in recognition of his outstanding contributions towards the promotion of the rich cultural heritage of Northern Ghana. Naaba Clifford Asobayire V, according to the awards committee has been very consistent in his contribution towards peace advocacy and promoting the Northern culture, and empowering young women through the annual Face of Kologo pageant in his traditional area.
He has promised to continue to call for peaceful co-existence across his traditional area and other areas in the Upper East region and also protect and promote the rights of women and girls in his traditional area.
From: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga