Aisha Salifu
A Deputy CEO of the newly inaugurated Zongo Development Fund, Aisha Salifu, has assured residents and indigenes of the Zongos that the Zongo Development Fund (ZDF) will bring positive changes to them.
Speaking on Marhaba FM (an Accra-Hausa station) yesterday, the lady said the fund would support artisans to enhance their businesses since the fund is aimed at helping such persons benefit from their trade.
Although monies would not be doled out to individuals for personal use, financial support would however be provided for verifiable businesses to trigger their growths. The rippling effects of this situation can impact positively on the families within the Zongos.
Tackling the issue of drug abuse especially Tramadol, she lamented the rate at which the anomaly was destroying lives which could have been put to valuable use in the Zongo communities. He promised that the ZDF, which seeks to alter the direction of wayward youth in the Zongos, would also be used to provide rehabilitation for those whose conditions demand such an intervention.
In order to stop those who have not yet engaged in drug abuse from doing so, she said that the Fund would roll out a mentorship programme to encourage Zongo youth across the country to improve themselves academically.
She asserted the Fund would put the seed money from government to good use and in a way that would attract alternative funding for the overall development of the Zongo communities strewn across the country.
She expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo for making good his pledge of rolling out a Zongo Ministry and a Zongo Development Fund which ‘would bring dignity to the Zongos’. She added that the Zongos constitute an important segment of the country and their influence has far-reaching effects.
She announced they would soon embark on a countrywide sensitization tour in a bid to introduce the objectives of the Fund and to stretch its hand to the public.
DAILY GUIDE has gathered that the Zongo Development Secretariat will soon be set up and as the deputy CEO said, ‘We will witness positive changes in the Zongos.’
By A.R. Gomda