The Coordinator of the Inner City Development Secretariat and Zongo Development Fund, (ZoDF), Ben Abdallah Banda has ended a two-day tour of the Western Region to update them about intervention by the government for the Zongo communities across the country.

Top among them are entrepreneurship and skills training, youth and women empowerment, education and health.

As part of the tour, The ZDF Coordinator held separate meetings with various Muslim groups in the region where he enjoined them to take advantage of the programmes under the leadership of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice, Dr Mahumudu Bawumia meant to bring about transformational development in their communities.

The trip which forms part of his nationwide tour since assuming office, enabled him to meet with all the 17 district coordinators of the Arabic Instructors Programme in the region and winding up his visit with separate meetings with some selected Zongo women and youth groups in the region.

“I highlighted the development on the 16 Model Islamic Senior High School the NPP government promised in our 2020 manifesto and the progress so far on the Phase II of the Arabic Instructors programme.

I seized the opportunity to acquaint myself with the problems, challenges and opportunities that the Zongos in the Western Region present and the way forward”, he told the Ghanaian Times in an interview in Accra yesterday.

Similarly, Mr Banda paid a courtesy call on the Western regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah at the Western Regional Coordinating Council as well as a courtesy call on the Western Regional Zongo Chief and Chief Imam at their respective residences.

The ZoDF Coordinator also held series of meetings and stakeholder engagements; first with the Western regional Zongo Chiefs, followed by separate meetings with the Western Regional Zongo Imams and Ahlusunnah Imams.  “I showcased the achievements of the Zongo and Inner-City Development Secretariat and Zongo Development Fund in the Western Region and our commitment to do more”, he stated.

Mr Banda also explained the new policy direction and the vision of the President to support students from Zongo and Inner-City communities who will gain admission to read STEM and Law programmes at the university.

He concluded his visit with an advice for them to be united in the maintenance and promotion of peace for the development of the Zongo and Inner-City communities and to abstain from hooliganism and gangsterism. He thanked them all for their continuous support for the NPP government led by Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.