Explore international markets for commodities from north

Wa, Jan 4, GNA - Dr. Seidu Al-hassan, a lecturer at the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, on Thursday said the only way the government could bridge the yawning development gap between the north and the south was through the exploration of international markets for commodities originating from northern Ghana.

He named some of the commodities and produce as sheanuts, groundnuts, beans and cotton, cloth weaving and Basketry, rearing of small ruminants and guinea fowls.

Dr. Al-hassan said this during a day's seminar on World Bank/International Monetary Fund and Development in Northern Ghana, organized by Network for Environment and Development- Africa (NEDA) at Wa. He appealed to individuals, groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to develop special interest in the monitoring of development projects as their contributions towards the avoidance of waste. "The bridging of that development gap between the north and south would never be achieved if the government continues to share the national cake equally, rather, the north needs a special development concession to catch up with the south."

Speaking on "The lending programmes of international financial institutions- prospects for Northern Ghana", Mr. Abudulai Dramani, an official of Third World Network-Africa, suggested to prominent northerners to strengthen their bargaining capacity and to negotiate with the government for a development concession that would help accelerate development in northern Ghana.

He said government should also consider the development of northern Ghana as a priority and a national issue devoid of ethnicity and sectional affiliations.

Mr. Dramani said although northern Ghana had all the prospects to develop, lack of political will and enthusiasm from northerners remained a stumbling block.

Mr. Fauster Agbenyo, lecturer at the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies, appealed to the government to consider developing cloth weaving and basketry industries and to develop bee-keeping, guinea fowls and small ruminant farming to engage people from the north throughout the year, since they depended so much on rain-fed agriculture.