The newly built auditorium
A one Thousand ultra-modern seater capacity auditorium has been commissioned for the Nkroful Agricultural Senior High School (NASS) at an impressive ceremony in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region.
The 1.2 million dollar State of the Art facility, was constructed by YINSON Production and ENI oil company through the instrumentality of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah.
In a keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Petroleum Commission, Mr. Egbert Faibille realized the need to acknowledge Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's contribution to Ghana's Independence through rapid development of his birthplace, Nkroful.
He observed that the absence of social infrastructure in oil and mining communities, was having a telling effect on the standard of living of the people and assured that the Petroleum Commission would make the desired impact in such areas.
Mr. Faibille said the Commission has developed social impact mitigation guidelines as a blueprint to ensure that the local content policy among other human rights issues were duly adhered to by the mining and oil companies.
He said government would continue to expand the infrastructural base at various Educational Institutions in the country which were training the required manpower to be employed to feed the oil and gas industry.
Mr. Faibille announced that government would roll out a capacity building training in 2018 to train 1,200 youth to be employed in the oil and gas sector.
He said priority would be given to indigenes within the oil and gas enclave in terms of employment opportunities.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, an old boy of the school, who cut the tape to commission the edifice, paid glowing tribute to YINSON Production, the ENI oil company and the GNPC for the swift response to his call to construct a magnificent edifice for the school.
He said the facility was an honour to first President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as it would attract more conferences with Nkroful as a historical site.
Mr. Buah noted that NASS was now a center of excellence and called on all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to respond to the growing demands of the school.
He was presented with a plaque with a citation which described him," as a royal son of the school due to his passion attached to the developmental needs of the school".
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ellembelle, Mr. Kwasi Bonzo an old boy of the school, said he and the MP have vowed to work together which was yielding dividends and lauded Mr. Buah for being instrumental in the execution of the project.
He said the District would have its fare share of the petrochemical industry so that it will not be a curse but a blessing on the people.
Mr. Bonzo appealed to the students to make use of the facilities in the school to maintain higher academic standards and allow the culture of maintenance be part of them to maintain the edifice.
The headmistress of NASS, Madam Esther Armah-Viddah said with the free Senior High School (SHS) policy implementation, the increasing population had outstretched facilities in the school.
She thanked the MP and YINSON Production for the gesture and appealed for more support for the school.
Madam Armah-Viddah appealed to the company and the District Assembly to construct access roads on campus and donate furniture to the school.
Other challenges facing the school were a-12-unit classroom block, a Home Economics block and a place of convenience for students.
She called on the old student Association to come to the aid of the school.
The Country Director of Yinson Production, Mr. Ari Lehtonen said host communities would benefit immensely from the company's activities and hoped to deepen the ties between the company and the communities.
He said the company had provided a number of infrastructure in the Western Region which would be sustained as part of their corporate social responsibility.
