One of the
major highlights of the two-day visit by the Chief Executive Officer of the
Ghana Chamber of Mines, Sulemanu Koney, to the Northern Regional capital,
Tamale, is the presentation of a cheque of ten thousand Ghana cedis to the
Dakpema Education Fund.
The gesture by Mr. Koney is to support needy but
brilliant students who are under the care and support of Naa Dakpema Mohammed
Alhassan Dawuni.
“……As they say, education is the key. You can take
someone from the backstreets of the remotest and poorest village to become the
head of the country. And therefore, we felt that if indeed he started a good
initiative like this in Tamale then why don’t we come and support because once
we support we’re likely to be able through this fund to pull people who are
willing and serious about learning to greater heights.
“So it is our desire and expectation as well as prayer
through this widows mite of ours at the Chamber of Mines Secretariat we would
be able to motivate a lot more younger people to do well in school and even
when they do well in school, they shouldn’t forget where they are actually
coming from”, Mr. Koney said yesterday in Tamale at the Naa Dakpema’s Palace as
he presented the cheque to him.
This is however not the first time the Ghana Chamber
of Mines led its CEO has presented a cheque of such an amount to the Dakpema
Education Fund. The first cheque was presented in 2016 with a promise to
support the fund continuously for three years.
On his part, the Secretary to Naa Dakpema, Alhaji
Rashid, expressed his appreciation to Mr. Koney and his delegation for paying
courtesy call on Naa Dakpema and very importantly, honouring his promise to
continuously to support the Dakpema Education Fund.
According to him, since the introduction of the
government’s free senior high school education policy, the Dakpema Education
Fund has diverted its attention and support to tertiary students, many of whom
struggle to pay their admission fees.
“Government has now introduced the free SHS and we’re
very grateful. The burden on us to sponsor students to the SHS has now been
removed by the government. We’re now focusing on those who are going to the
tertiary.
“This part of the country is so impoverished that
parents find it difficult to even afford one thousand Ghana cedis let alone
students who are going to the tertiary institutions which are demanding three
thousand Ghana cedis and more. And so we’re very grateful that your donation
has come at the very right time”, Alhaji Rashid stated.
Earlier Mr. Koney and his team also paid a courtesy
call on the Northern Regional Minister Salifu Saeed to inform him of their
presence and mission in the region.
“We believe that we have a responsibility to go round
the country and brief the citizens on especially responsible and sustainable
mining, because the mineral resources belong to each and everyone of us, so
generally the people of Ghana should understand the mining industry and that’s
why we decided that we should move out of the mining areas and come to the
North”, he indicated.
The Minister informed Mr. Koney about the fact that
the youth in his region were very determined to work but there were no jobs and
so “I urge the Chamber to create job opportunities for the idle youth.
“If the Chamber of Mines has the intention to set up
an institution to train the youth, it will reduce rural-urban migration. My
office is ready to partner with the Chamber to explore the natural resources
that abound in the area”, Mr. Saeed noted.
Meanwhile the Chamber of Mines will today hold an
interaction with selected journalists in Tamale as well as students of the University
for Development Studies.
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