Salaga (NR), April 4, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama has advised people of the north to learn to forgive one another especially during the Easter festivities, and should resort to dialogue in solving differences to enhance development.

He said there was the need for Northerners to repackage the north in a positive way and make it more attractive to investors to enhance the pace of development and to give jobs to the unemployed youth.

Vice President Mahama gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf in Salaga on Saturday at the 34th Annual Gonjaland Youth Association Congress on the theme: "Building Strength From Our Diversity: The Challenges and Imperatives for Development in a Modern Multi-Ethnic Society."

He said there was no substitute for peace and patience, and there was therefore the need for northerners to exhibit the spirit of love and unity for one another, because they share common problems of poverty, hunger, disease and underdevelopment.

He commended people of Gonjaland for fostering unity and cohesion among themselves and ensured a peaceful enskinment of the Yagbon Wura and expressed the hope that kingmakers in other parts of the country would always enskin/enstool the right people to avoid confusion.

Vice President Mahama urged the people of Gonjaland to use the congress to peacefully settle any form of disagreement, since development only progressed in a peaceful society.

He advised the youth to avoid excessive alcohol intake, drug abuse and teenage pregnancies, and to take their education and other careers seriously to build for them a better future.

Vice President Mahama said, challenges facing the North and that of the Gonja traditional area were health, education and infrastructure development, and that plans were far advanced to ensure that such problems were addressed.

Mr. Bakari Nyari, National President of the Gonjaland Youth Association (GLYA) said the executive of GLYA played a lead role in assisting Buipewura and some divisional chiefs to solve some chieftaincy problems. Mr. Nyari appealed to people of the North to show special interest in the impending National Population and Housing Census, which starts in October this year, so that the statistics could be used for the splitting of the Northern Region to enhance development.

Mr. Issa Nasamu Asabigi, Deputy Northern Regional Minister commended people of Gonjaland for ensuring peace over the years and called on them to use the association to organize peace forums to educate other communities on the need for peace.

He said the NDC government was determined to share the national cake equitably and advised the youth to make judicious use of the educational infrastructure in their localities to improve themselves for a better future.

He also advised the youth to take advantage of the vast land in Gonjaland to embark on dry season farming to improve their living conditions rather leaving the land to remain fallow.

He said the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) programme would take off very soon in the north and other places, and would give much support to farmers to improve productivity to address poverty.