Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Minuru, Northern Regional Minister has appealed to the chiefs and people to safeguard the prevailing peace to facilitate development.

He said government is appreciative of the role some chiefs played in ensuring peace and tranquility in the region.

Alhaji Mohammed-Minuru made the appeal in Damongo during the 2015 special Damba festival of the chiefs and people of the Yagbon (Gonja) Traditional Area, where some personalities were awarded for their exemplary leadership and contributions to national development.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru said festivals all over the country are no longer simple occasions for merry making, celebration of culture and tradition but they provide an opportunity for stock taking and developing strategies to improve the lot of the people.

He said the Damba festival epitomises the culture and heritage that bears the past, present and the future and expressed the importance of unity, togetherness and continued peace in the region for development.

He said education is key to development and in line with government’s efforts to improve accelerated access to education, it is pursuing vigorous programme to ensure that the right environment is created to enhance teaching and learning.

He mentioned the construction and expansion of school blocks at all levels of the educational ladder in the region and advised the youth especially Gonjas to take the future of the Gonja Traditional Area into their hands and push for the needed development.

He said the construction of the Eastern Corridor road would facilitate the movement of goods and people while other roads in the region including those in Debre areas as well as Mankarigu would be worked on.

The Yagbonwura Tuntumba Boresa Sulemana Jakpa I, King of the Gonja Kingdom said it is important for chiefs to adopt innovative approaches to complement government and other development partners to advance the developmental projects.

He said Gonjaland is torn apart with rivers and perennial floods and appealed to government to consider constructing bridges over some of the rivers.

“We need a bridge between Binjai and Kusawgu to shorten the distance between Kpembe, Kusawgu and Tulewe,” he said.