Finatrade Foundation to construct 50 Community ICT centres in Ghana

Wankyi (Ash), June 15, GNA - The Finatrade Group of Companies through its Foundation, is to construct 50 community computer/library centres around the country.

Mr Kwame Pianim, Board Member of the Finatrade Foundation, announced this at the inauguration of the first of such facilities at Wankyi in the Asante-Akim South District on Thursday. The Centre, which is provided with computers and library books, was constructed at the cost of 600 million cedis. It was provided by the Foundation through the instrumentality of Mr Kwame Ofosuhene Apenteng, a citizen of the town. Mr Pianim said in this era of globalisation, it was not only a country's natural resources that could promote development but also the ability of the people to use their skills and productivity to transform the resources to their benefit.

He said the Foundation had launched a number of initiatives to complement the efforts of the government to improve upon the nation's human resource base.

These included the provision of scholarships to needy students in public universities, support to the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre for ICT Excellence to sharpen ICT skills of the youth in secondary schools, youth skills training programme and a collaboration with the Graphic Communication Group to propagate relevant information on democracy, education, health, water and sanitation as well as relevant socio-economic issues.

Mr Pianim appealed to the people in the community to take full advantage of the project and ensure that it yielded the necessary results in the community.

Mr Osei Assibey-Antwi, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, said education brought development not only to the individual but the society as a whole. He said the project's objective was in line with the government's aim of developing the human resource base of the nation and urged parents in the community to encourage their children to take full advantage of the project to study hard to achieve higher academic laurels. He cautioned the pupils against the use of the computers for pornographic and other negative activities and said such behaviour would negate the objective of the project.

Mr Assibey-Antwi thanked the Foundation for the project and urged the community to take good care of the project.

Nana Oko-Agyeman Ankomah 11, Wankyi Krontihene, said the community had launched an educational endowment fund to assist teachers and needy pupils in the community.

He said the computer centre/library complex was a further step to promote education in the community and urged the pupils to study hard to justify the investment made in them.