‘Don’t marginalise North in oil allocation’

The Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, has called all Members of Parliament (MPs) representing the people of the three regions in the north to ultimately prioritise the needs of their constituents over that of their party interests.

He strongly believes that posterity would indeed judge the MPs and ministers from the north if they fail to stand for the interest and development of their people.

“I think that our northern politicians are not doing much because they have been overshadowed by the party whips and I think they should see themselves as representing the people and need to work in our interest before they consider their party interest. Unfortunately, this is not what they are doing,” he mentioned.

Dr Amin disclosed that it is indeed sad that the three regions in the north put together cannot get up to 10 percent of the oil revenue, yet MPs have been sitting, listening and approving the finance minister’s budget for the past three years.

The Executive Director of ACEP was speaking at a public forum in Bolgatanga to sensitise civil society organisations, the media and other development stakeholders on the allocation of Ghana’s oil revenue across the regions and development sectors.

The forum was part of a campaign dubbed: ‘Oil for Agric Campaign’, which is aimed at ensuring that the current government and successive ones increase the allocation and spending of the oil money on agricultural development, especially in the three northern regions.

The three regions have large stretches of lands suitable for agriculture, unfortunately, though government keeps trumpeting that agriculture is a key pillar in the country’s economy, very little investment has been made in this area.

“Government needs to be serious and make reasonable investment in agriculture so that the sector can produce more for domestic consumption and export. Countries that have developed very fast did not concentrate on only big, big industries, they developed small scale industries, and the same should apply to small scale farming.

Unfortunately, this sector has been ignored while we are sitting and dreaming about bigger investments.”