MP PROVIDES CHUCHULIGA WITH ICT CENTRE (PAGE 32)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Chuchuliga

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa North, Mrs Agnes Asangalisa Chigabatia, has provided a multi-purpose Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre and a vocational institute for Chuchuliga in the Builsa District of the Upper East Region.
The two projects were executed with financial support from her non-governmental organisation (NGO), Lack Sueg Foundation.
The centre, known as the St Agnes Vocational Training and the ICT Institute, are part of a programme by the MP to ensure that people, especially the youth, are trained to enable them establish their own businesses.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Alhassan Samari, who inaugurated the centre, expressed gratitude to Mrs Chigabatia, who is also the Deputy Regional Minister, for her contribution to the development of the constituency in particular and the district as a whole.
Mr Samari said for the past seven years, the government had put in place a number of policies and programmes such the Micro Finance and Small Loan Scheme to improve the lives of the people.
He appealed to the trainees to form co-operative societies upon graduation to enable them to apply for loans from such outlets and establish their own businesses.
In a welcoming address, Mrs Chigabatia said she used part of her share of the District Assemblies Common Fund to establish the centre in a bid to stem the migration of young girls in the area to the southern part of Ghana in search of menial jobs.
She said “a drive around the commercial centres of Accra and Kumasi in the early hours of the day portrays a despicable scene as one can see young boys and girls from the northern part of the country sleeping on verandas of stores and shops, and added that some of the girls were exposed to all forms of abuse, including rape.
“It is time we took proactive steps to curb this menace instead of engaging in talk shops, which do not get us anywhere,” she emphasised.
Mrs Chigabatia announced that similar centres would be established in other communities in the constituency including Sandema, Wiaga, Kadema and Siniensi to train more youth in the area.
She stated that apart from vocational and ICT training, her foundation would also focus on agriculture, prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, promotion of reproductive health as well as agriculture.
The deputy regional minister appealed to all Ghanaians, corporate bodies and the government to assist the foundation with more computers, as well as teaching and learning materials to help expand the centre.
The MP later donated three wheel chairs, footballs and sets of jerseys and track suits to some individuals, communities and the District Directorate of Education.
  The District Chief Executive, Mr Thomas Alonsi, urged the beneficiaries of the centre to attach importance to computer training to enhance their chances of employment after their education.