ZDF will uplift Zongo infrastructure - Boniface

The Zongo Development Fund created by the Akufo-Addo government to uplift the economic conditions of residents in Zongos, predominantly Muslim settlements across the country, will deal with some thematic areas that are affecting the lives of ordinary people, Abu-bakar Saddique Boniface, Minister of Inner City and Zongo Development, has said.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), during the 2016 campaign, promised to create the fund to deal with poverty in Zongo communities in the country.

Accordingly, President Akufo-Addo has assured that the fund would be captured in his first budget statement for 2017.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen on Friday February 17, Alhaji Saddique said: “With the fund, we have four areas – infrastructural enhancement, economic empowerment, social development, and cultural promotion that it will tackle.

“Also, under education, we will give very brilliant but needy students within the Zongos scholarships and also collaborate with the Ministry of Health to build clinics.

“The fund has several objectives. For instance within the Zongos, most of the Islamic instructors will be given some allowance as a way of keeping them in the schools for long hours. By this, the students will be forced to stay in school for long. If the students know that the Mallam is in the school, they will rush to the school and stay there, but if the Mallam is not motivated to be there, the students will behave anyhow.”