Zongo Minister launches Mallam Na-Inno Scholarship program for Zongo Youth

The Minister for Inner City and Zongo Development, Sheikh Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid has launched a special scholarship program for young people in the Zongo communities.

The scholarship program which is targeted at people with interest in the applied sciences and the applied humanities was aimed at bridging the gap of inadequate Zongo professionals in certain critical professional disciplines like medicine and law.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Director of Finance and Administration at the Ministry, Mr. Latif Mohammed, the Minister noted that the government through the creation of Zongo Ministry has embarked on several developmental projects over the last three years adding that government could not solve all the development challenges of the Zongo people.

He emphasized the need for community-grown solutions to Zongo problems and applauded the initiators of the scholarship scheme.

The Minister assured the initiators of his unconditional support for the success of the scholarship program.

On her part, a Member of the National Commission for Civic Education, Madam Hajara Mohammed also emphasized that education is the single most important element needed for the development of our Zongo communities.

She added that if anything could make a difference in Zongo communities it was the education of the young people.

She expressed her pleasure at the fact that the scholarship program seeks to honour the pioneering role of the late Mallam Iddrisu Na-Inno for establishing the first Zongo/Muslim community in Accra in the mid-1800s, the Usher Town Zongo now called Zongo Lane.

Mallam Na-Inno was also the first Imam of Accra in the then Gold Coast.

The initiator of the Scholarship Scheme, Alhaji Salim Ango, the Zongo Youth Chief for Accra indicated that he was driven to establish such a scheme due to the many encounters he had with young people who had the desire but have no means to pursue these very competitive disciplines.