The Ministry of Inner-City and Zongo Development is undertaking nationwide needs assessment of the various Zongo communities to determine what their priority development needs are for government’s appropriate action.

The Sector Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, said so far 479 such communities in five regions - Brong-Ahafo, Eastern, Central Upper West and Upper East, had been visited.

Answering questions related to the Ministry in Parliament, on Wednesday, Alhaji Boniface mentioned the Nangodi Zongo Community as one of the communities in the Upper East Region which had been visited.

Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane, MP for Nabdam Constituency in the Upper East where Nangodi Zongo is located, had asked the Minister what project he intended to implement in the Nabdam District for the year, 2018.

Alhaji Boniface said it emerged from discussions held with opinion leaders there that they had three felt-development needs - boreholes, oil extraction machine and English and Arabic Basic School.

The Ministry had been working with the Nangodi Zongo community to determine which of the projects was going to have the highest impact and therefore should be implemented in the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

“In the second stage of this exercise, the Ministry will continue with the Zongo community assessment needs in the remaining five regions - Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, Volta and Northern Region,” the Minister said.

He added that the Chief Executive of the Zongo Development Fund and his two Deputies had already been appointed.

“Last week specifically on the 11th June, 2018, the President inaugurated an 11-member Governing Board of the Zongo Development Fund.

With this, work is expected to proceed in earnest in providing the solutions to the myriad challenges facing the Zongo communities.”

In line with priority areas of the Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies (2017-2014), the mandate of the Ministry is to formulate and oversee implementation of policies, programmes and projects to alleviate poverty and ensure that Inner –Cities and Zongo communities do not become areas of despair, difficulty and social conflict, but rather inclusively developed and prosperous.