Vice-President Dr.Alhaji Mahamadu Bawumia has indicated government’s readiness to build the Adoabo Free Port to provide more jobs to indigenes in and around Adoabo and the Western Region in general.
He said the Port was dear to the heart of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo in his quest to improve the living conditions of Ghanaians.Vice-President Dr.Bawumia gave the assurance when he joined the Chiefs and people of eastern Nzema Traditional Area to climax their week-long annual Kundum festival at Adoabo in the Ellembelle District.
The event which was attended by government functionaries including; the MP for Ellembelle, Mr. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, was on the theme "Improving Education Through Culture and Heritage’.
Dr,Bawumia said the project was awarded to Lonhro, but they disappointed the government bringing the project to a standstill."However, government would persist to ensure that the Adoabo Port becomes a reality to improve the lives of the people"
The Vice-President asked the Chiefs and people to enrich the festival and make the area a potential tourist destination in the coming years and government would make provision for educational inputs to train the human resource base to accelerate the socio-economic development of the county.
Dr.Bawumia said the one million, one dollar fund for each Constituency would be considered in the 2018 budget proposal and tasked development partners to commence preparations for the use of the fund before January 2019.
He urged oil and gas companies in the Nzema area to be mindful of their corporate social responsibilities and improve the quality of life of the people.The Vice-President said a fertilizer plant would be established in the District and assured that government would tackle the okada form of transportation to inure to the benefit of the people.
The Omanhene of Eastern Nzema Traditional Area and Vice-President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Amihere Kpanyinli III said the role of the citizenry to build the nation was paramount and entreated all Ghanaians to contribute to the growth and development of the country.
He appealed to government to build the Adoabo Free Port to reduce unemployment in the area and charged companies in the area to support infrastructure and speed up development of the District.
Awulae Amihere also appealed to government to relocate the Tullow office from Takoradi to the Ellembelle District.Mr Kofi Buah said the District performance in the BECE had dropped over the past two years and called for concerted efforts to prepare the children with requisite skills to arrest the situation to succeed in the future.
He tasked companies in the District to formalise their long term agreements with the communities and live up to their corporate social responsibility.Mr.Buah reminded the people that "it is only a united front that can propel development of the area but not partisan politics"
Mr Kwasi Bonzo, District Chief Executive for the area,on behalf of the Assembly donated GHC10,000 as seed fund to support the Omanhene Education Trust Fund and the District had trained 40 smart and intelligent graduates to go round and collect data about people in the District.
He said the District had awarded scholarships to many students to pursue higher education and tap their expertise to develop the area.