He again said that a Sanitation Fund would also be set up to fast-track the provision of one million toilets being targeted by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Administration.

Speaking at the launch of about US$650,000.00 Jekora Ventures Limited Fortifier Compost Plant at Borteyman in the Greater Accra Region last Friday, Mr. Adda said that it was about time Ghanaians got their act together and waged war against indiscriminate dumping of liquid and solid waste in the drains and other areas which culminated in the outbreak of diseases which affected national development.

The theme was, “Waste to Food: Innovating Sanitation to Feed the Nation”.

The project which is a Public-Private-Partnership model between the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) and Jekora Ventures Limited, a waste management company, would treat 12,500 cubic metres of faecal sludge (waste contained in the septic tanks of households and public toilets) into a safe and nutrient-rich fertiliser called “Fortifer,” to be sold out to farmers.

The minister said that the waste and sanitation sector could create jobs for the unemployed youth if managed properly, and assured Ghanaians that the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources would look for funds and partner the private sector to install such compost plants in all the country’s 216 districts.

“This compost plant is central to the operations of the ministry as it is geared towards making profitable use of the huge waste we generate daily in our communities,” he stated.

The Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mrs. Patricia Appiagyei who chaired the function said that innovative ways should be adopted to keep the environment clean, since sanitation had been and continued to be a bigger challenge to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.

“It is worrying to note that 90 per cent of the waste generated daily finds its way in the gutters,” she said.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr. Ishmael Ashitey whose speech was read on his behalf, stressed the need for the people in the region to be discipline and eschew the habit of littering the streets.

He appealed to all and sundry to wholeheartedly support President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s dream of changing the present state of Accra, the national capital which is engulfed in filth, to an enviable and one of the neatest town in Africa.

Mr. I.B. Nartey-Tokoli, Managing Director of Jekora Ventures was optimistic that the product would go a long way to help boost the agriculture sector.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto whose addressed was delivered on his behalf said that research was an essential element in agriculture to increase food production so as to ensure food security and income diversification in the country.

By Castro Zangina-Tong