Nkwanta (V/R), July 20, GNA - Mr Joseph Kwaku Nayan, Deputy Volta Regional Minister has said that the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was the luckiest of all governments since independence. He said within its term, government successfully subscribed to and completed the Highly Indebted, Poor Country initiative, resulting in the cancellation of the country's major debts.

Mr Nayan, also the Member of Parliament for Nkwanta North, told the Ghana News Agency that under the NPP government a concrete discovery of commercial oil was made and the cedi successfully re-denominated. He enumerated other government interventions, such as capitation grant, School Feeding Programme, the National Youth Employment Programme and the Presidential Special Initiatives, saying they had yielded enormous results to boost socio-economic development. Using Nkwanta district as a case study, he said several development projects in the Education; Health, Water and Sanitation sectors were ample evidence to attest to a positive change in the lives of the people.

The Deputy Minister said the ongoing water project to tap and refine the Oti River at Damanko for distribution in the district noted for Guinea worm prevalence has brought in its wake an extension of electric power from the Volta River Authority's Northern Grid for adjoining towns and villages.

Mr Nayan entreated the youth and the unemployed in the area to access a micro-finance scheme being rolled out in the district to make themselves economically self-sustaining to eliminate poverty, hunger and disease.

He called on stakeholders in the district to harness the potentials and opportunities available in the area and reminded them to live in peace, as it was a pre-requisite for accelerated development.