Takoradi, March 29, GNA - Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Convention People's Party (CPP) presidential candidate in Election 2008, has called for the establishment of a petrochemical industry in the Western Region to boost industrialisation in the area.

He was addressing students of Business and Applied Sciences of the Takoradi Polytechnic to mark the launch of their week celebration in Takoradi.

His topic was on the 93Oil discovery, the task and opportunities available for the polytechnic graduate".

Dr Nduom expressed concern about oil companies such as Tullow, Kosmos and others locating their head offices in Accra instead of the Western Region and said this was misplaced. He said other natural resources were discovered in the region such as gold, bauxite, diamond and manganese but the region had been left worse off financially and environmentally degraded. "The Western Region has so far been a loser in the development struggle, we must work harder to make sure this is not repeated with the oil discovery", Dr Nduom said.

He said communities in which these resources had been mined over the years had not been transformed into modern, healthy and prosperous ones even though they had produced huge amounts of wealth. Dr Nduom said the oil industry should provide opportunities for all and called on the government to provide a stable, selfless direction and efficient public service. He said Ghanaians should be careful not to let the oil industry to become a commodity for politicians to offer as a prize to foreign and domestic supporters who fund their campaigns. Dr Nduom appealed to polytechnic graduates to study hard to be advocates for change to ensure better living conditions for all.