THE President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, yesterday began a three-day visit to the Northern Region with the assurance that the government would provide the needed resources for quality education for all.
Declaring that education was the bedrock for development, President Mills said it was in view of the commitment of the government to education that the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) was redirecting funds into the provision and improvement of infrastructure at the basic, secondary, teacher training and vocational school levels.
As part of the visit, the President inaugurated the GH¢7 million central administration block of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale.
He is scheduled to hold a meeting with metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) in the three northern regions in Tamale to discuss development issues, among others.
Inaugurating the project, President Mills said even though the UDS was on course in achieving its mandate of meeting the needs and aspirations of the people of northern Ghana and the country as a whole, it still needed the support of the government and other stakeholders to ensure academic excellence.
“The UDS has a special place in our hearts and we shall ensure that the government provides the necessary support for the university to enable it to rub shoulders with other established universities in the country,” he stated.
He expressed concern over the quality of work executed by the contractors on the administration block project and stated that “we will ensure that we get value for money; we cannot accept any sub-standard performance”.
On the accelerated development of northern Ghana, President Mills indicated that “we as a government have vowed to turn the Savannah Zone into a viable productive area”.
He said it was for that reason that the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was established.
The Administrator of the GETFund, Mr Sam Garbah, said that in pursuance of the government’s commitment to improve infrastructure and ensure academic excellence in educational institutions, the fund had this year released GH¢2.3 million to the UDS administration and an additional GH¢1.5 million to its School of Medical Sciences.
“We are working towards getting extra funding to support the other under-developed faculties of the university,” he said.
He, however, entreated the administrators of the university to ensure the judicious use of all funds extended to the institution.
The acting Vice-Chancellor of the UDS, Professor Kaku Sagary Nokoe, commended the President for accepting the invitation to inaugurate the block.
He said the President’s visit was the first by a sitting President in the last nine years.
He said currently the university had faculties in Tamale, Nyankpala, Wa and Navrongo and that another campus at Kintampo would soon be established.
“From its humble beginnings with 39 students in one faculty in 1993 to 15,013 in eight faculties, the UDS has the largest Faculty of Agriculture in Ghana, and with 1,200 students in the Faculty of Mathematics, it has the highest number of students pursuing Mathematics in any university in Ghana,” he indicated.
Prof Nokoe expressed the university’s preparedness to partner the government to ensure the successful implementation of the SADA.
The Chairman of the UDS Council, Dr Abdulai Salifu, said the university was blessed with a dedicated and hardworking staff.
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