The Minister for Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Daniel Botwe has emphasised that the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project is important to creating jobs in rural areas, as it will help to alleviate poverty and improve livelihoods.
The minister highlighted that the SOCO project will promote social cohesion in rural communities. By empowering residents and promoting their active participation in the development process, he said the project aims to strengthen community bonds and create a sense of ownership and pride.
“It is my hope that the delivery of the SOCO project will lead to increased productivity and job creation; improved access to basic services and economic opportunities; climate resilience and improved cross-border trade; and information sharing within the Gulf of Guinea Region.”
The minister said this in a speech read on his behalf by the North East regional minister, Yidana Zakaria at a training on procurement processes and management for key municipal and district assembly officials in the Upper East and North East regions.
The SOCO project is a US$ 450 million multi-country project, to be implemented in Benin, Côte D’ Ivoire, Togo, and Ghana with support from the World Bank. The government of Ghana’s allocation is a total of US$ 150 million Credit Facility.
48 Municipal and District Assemblies (MDAs) in 6 regions; Upper East, Northern, North East, Upper West, Savannah, and Oti regions will benefit from the project.
Mr. Botwe mentioned that the project aims to “provide support to the northern parts of these Gulf of Guinea countries that are hardest hit by fragilities due to food insecurity and climate change, conflicts, and violence (FCV) and more importantly exposure to the spillover from the Sahel region.”
He called on all stakeholders to support and collaborate in the successful implementation of the project.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu reiterated the region’s commitment to ensuring that all sub-projects are well implemented to inure to the benefit of all.
“I entreat my MDCEs to work closely with their management staff to ensure that all procurement processes are duly followed. The RCC with the mandate to co-ordinate and monitor the performance of MDAs, would strictly monitor the implementation process to ensure that the objectives of the project are achieved”, the Chief Director of Regional Coordinating Council, Alhaji Inusah Abubakari, read a speech on the minister’s behalf.
Mr. Yakubu who entreated the participants to take a keen interest in the 3-day training on the public procurement process said the training was important because the sector “constitutes about 40 percent of all public corruption therefore the need to build the capacity of MMDAs staff on the procurement processes and arrangements regarding the SOCO project”
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga|Ghana
