Students from the Ghana Arms Forces Staff Training College, have appealed to the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council and the District Assemblies to get actively involved in tourism to rake in income for the Region.

According to the Students, the Upper East Region was endowed with  many tourist sites but had been left in individual hands.

They made this observation when they embarked on a tour of the region as part of their academic field practicals and professional observation to brief Government on the status of its programmes and policies on the ground.
   
They also asked that the farmers in the Region should be provided with agriculture technology, adding, there were a lot of broken down agricultural machinery which should be repaired to enhance farming.
   
On the Northern Star Tomato Factory, they suggested that it should be privatized to allow people including the farmers to have a share in it and said it should also be diversified for other crops including pepper to be processed there.
   
The Students of the Staff Training School stated that the region had gold deposits and suggested that the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) should liaise with the Mineral Commission to legalize the operation of the gold mines to generate income for the people.

The Students of the Staff College also raised concern about the rice farm at the Fumbisi Valley in the Builsa South which was ready for harvesting but has no combine harvester for the job and appealed to Government to help the farmers to harvest the crop.
   
They also mentioned the inadequacy of health personnel in the Region and asked the RCC and the Regional Health Directorate to address the issue.
   
The Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs. Lucy Awuni, thanked visitors and said their findings would be critically looked into and indicated that the Regional RCC was already addressing some the issues raised.
   
She stated that in the area of health, the RCC and the District Assemblies would contribute to the training of students pursuing health programmes and would entrust it to the Regional Directorate of Health Service to implement the scheme to ensure that beneficiaries returned to serve in the Region.
   
The Leader of the Group, Naval Captain James O. Kontoh, who is also a Lecturer at the College, said the exercise was to empower the students to practice what they had learnt from the classrooms and to also give feedback to the Government on its policies and programmes to improve upon it.
  
He noted that another batch of Students was touring the Ashanti, Eastern, Central Regions among others.
  
The Students who were eight in number were from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Rwanda and Gambia are expected to complete their courses within one year.
  
The four Lecturers who accompanied them were Naval Captain James O Kontoh, Lieutenant Colonel Jerome Aryeetey, Lieutenant Colonel John Obibah Kuseh and Lieutenant Colonel Emeka Ogboma.

GNA.
AA