The President  gave the assurance when the Upper East Regional Minister, Rockson Ayine Bukari, and the Vice President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Naba Baba Salifu Lemyaarum,  jointly made the  appeal to  him, during his two-day visit to the region, to thank the people for endorsing him as the President of Ghana.

The tour was also to interact with them to know their concerns and elicit their feedback on his policies and programmes.

The opinion leaders told the President that the two factories were the major assets of the region, and that revamping them would not only create jobs, but also help create wealth and reduce migration from the area to urban centres.

The President stated that, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, was working hard to revamp the two factories, while the Government was also working at rehabilitating the Vea Irrigation Dam to boost irrigated-farming,  and enhance the supply of potable water to the Bolgatanga Municipality and the Bongo District.

The President thanked the Regional House of Chiefs and the Regional Minister for appreciating the Free Senior High School Policy and other flagships programmes, saying; although there were some teething problems with the implementation, the Government was doing everything possible to rectify them.

He said he would ensure that all uncompleted school projects in the region were completed to absorb more Senior High School students as requested by the Regional House of Chiefs.

“The Free Senior High School has come to stay, those who thought it was a political gimmick have been proved wrong and we shall continue to roll out the policy to ensure that our children meet the current global standards in this 21st Century, particularly, in the area of ICT,” the President stated.

He said the Government had also intervened to save the National Health Insurance Scheme, which was on the verge of collapse as the Scheme owed 1.2 billion Ghana cedis; part of which had been settled.

On Agriculture, the President stated that in his short period in office, about 200,000 farmers had been supported with subsidised fertiliser and other farm inputs under the flagship programme of Planting for Food and Jobs.

“In addition, farmers are now having access to Agriculture Extension Officers to educate them on good farming practices to help ensure food security,” he stated.

“It is my hope that by the end of the tenure of my office, two and half million farmers in Ghana would have been supported to help feed the nation to stop the importation of food from other countries.”

He, however, called on the Chiefs and communities to support the Government to arrest those few selfish people who were trying to thwart the efforts, by smuggling the subsidised fertilisers to the neighbouring countries for sale.

He said plans were also far advanced to ensure that 660 communities in the Upper East Region benefited from the Rural Electrification Project and reiterated the Government‘s commitment to the redevelopment of the railway industry.

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Source: GNA

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According to him, the protection of the pipeline should be given the same priority as the maritime domain of the Gulf of Guinea because, the recent damage to the pipeline negatively affected countries that depended on it for gas, especially Ghana.

The West African Gas Pipeline in 2007 suffered a catastrophic loss of pressure as a result of damage by a ship’s anchor.

The incident occurred before the commissioning of the gas pipeline.

In August 2012 however, there was another damage to the pipeline by an unidentified ship.

Mr. Woyongo made the call at the West African Gas Pipeline Safety Workshop in Accra.

He noted that “this regional infrastructure when well managed and enhanced will play a major role in the economy of our country for many years to come.”

The Minister added that with ECOWAS aspiring to bridge the social and economic barriers within the sub-region, “this project is the most important catalyst that we should proudly protect and nurture.”

The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah on his part called for a review of existing protection efforts and a drastic change in the way things are done to ensure a coordinated approach in addressing threats to the pipeline.

He called for concrete ideas to safeguard the integrity of the pipeline.

Mr. Buah mentioned a number of risks and threats that the WAGPL is exposed to including; piracy, unlawful fishing practices such as the use of explosives and sea bottom trolley.

In a speech read on his behalf, the sector Minister urged ECOWAS countries to forge ahead to ensure the maritime security of the pipeline and other infrastructure are protected.

By: Afiba Anyanzua Anyanzu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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