Zabzugu (Northern Region), 25 Feb. '99 -

The Zabzugu-Tatale district assembly on Monday confirmed Alhaji Mahama Shamrock as the District Chief Executive. He polled 37 votes out of 41 in the 43 member assembly, representing 90.2 per cent of the votes. A nine-member committee each managed the Zabzugu- Tatale and Nanumba district assemblies. This was because they could not hold their district assembly elections due to the 1994 ethnic conflict. They, however, held their elections with the rest of the country in 1998. Alhaji Shamrock thanked the assembly members for the confidence reposed in him saying "this does not only demonstrate the confidence in the president but shows how united we are in the district". He said the near unanimous decision attests to the fact that "there are no more animosities among the people in the district, which is the most peaceful among the former conflict areas". Alhaji Shamrock said the district would uphold the government's good policies by ensuring that development is evenly spread and asked for the early completion of the Yendi-Zabzugu road, which is the only link between the district and the rest of the country. The Northern regional minister, Mr Joshua Alabi, asked district co-ordinating directors to ensure that structures required at the town and area councils as well as unit committees are put in place. They should also provide the necessary logistics for their smooth operations and directed district assemblies to come out with profiles of their districts spelling out their full potentials as a way of marketing the district and region to investors. Mr Alabi, acknowledged that the Zabzugu-Tatale district is one of the most deprived districts in the country and pledged that efforts will be made to improve infrastructure facilities there. He urged the assembly to explore other sources of revenue mobilisation to augment the common fund to undertake more development projects and expressed concern about the low school enrolment as well as the poor performance of senior secondary schools in their final year examinations. No student from the district qualified for admission into a tertiary institution, he said.