Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo, the Western Regional Minister, has expressed worry about the high rate of teenage pregnancy in the Shama District in the Western Region.
He, therefore, appealed to traditional authorities, religious leaders, assembly members, teachers and all well-meaning Ghanaians to join
the campaign to clamp down on the increasing teenage pregnancy in the district.
Mr. Evans Aidoo made the appeal in a speech read on his behalf at the annual celebration of Nye-Eyi/Pra festival of the chiefs and people of Shama at the weekend.
The theme for the festival was:"Dialogue, an effective tool for unity, peace, stability and development".
Mr Aidoo said last year 572 teenage pregnancies were recorded in the district and described the situation as embarrassing.
"If this continues this way how many of our children can further their education to become the professionals that we expect to be employed by the oil companies?"
He also expressed concern about appalling performance of candidates in the district in this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), recording 70 percent failure and placed 16th out of 17 districts in the region.
Mr. Aidoo said the government had approved the extension of the School Feeding Programme to other deprived schools and urged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives to ensure that schools are selected according to the required criteria.
The Paramount Chief of Shama Traditional Area, Nana Kwaku Binnah III, appealed to the government to consider payment of royalties due the chiefs in the area from the Volta River Authority and Takoradi International Company to enable them undertake development projects in the district.
He also appealed for establishment of a technical school in the district to train the youth in employable skills.
Nana Kwaku Binnah said with the oil discovery in the West Cape Three Points, the government must institute measures to safeguard
and compensate the communities that fall within the oil zone since most of the fisher folks had lost their fishing zones due to the oil rigs and operations of the oil companies.