Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, Minister for Inner-City and Zongo Development at the weekend said the Zongo Development Fund would establish Arabic Colleges of Education and Senior High Schools to promote the teaching and learning of the language.

Alhaji Sadique said the move would foster the teaching and learning of the Arabic subject to enable the human resource produced in the country met the international labour needs.

He explained that due to the inability of Ghanaians to speak and read the Arabic language, most of them could not communicate in the Arabic speaking countries thereby denying them access to many opportunities.

The Minister said this when he met stakeholders in Bawku at a consultative forum to collect their views as to how a policy could be made for a law to be passed in parliament regarding how the fund could be accessed by beneficiaries.

He said the GH¢219.5million which had been set aside to develop the Zongo communities would address social, economic and infrastructural deficits and promote socio-economic development of the Zongo communities.

He noted that the current state of the zongos reflected major development challenges, manifesting in poverty, illiteracy, poor environment, sanitation, poor housing conditions, high levels of social and economic vulnerability and limited prosperity.

Alhaji Sadique mentioned that amidst these challenges, the Zongo communities had been ensuring the promotion of the peace being enjoyed in the country and contributing to the mobilisation of the development resources as well.

He pointed out that the fund was not meant to satisfy private parochial interests such as paying individual hospital bills, footing bills for naming or marriage ceremonies among others, but would rather require the support and partnership of all including the traditional authorities, the private sector and the international agencies and missions to regulate its disbursement.

The Minister called on all to support the fund to be successful because it would improve on the quality of livelihoods of people living in the Zongo communities.

The Chief Imam for Bawku, Malam Mutala Mohammed commended government for its commitment in projecting the welfare of the people living in the Zongo communities and said they would continue to support the good policies of government.

He said the Zongo Community members most of whom were Muslims would use the month of Ramadan to seek God’s guidance to support the President and officials in government to enable them to continue to formulate polices that would bring development to the people.

The Chief Imam called on the beneficiaries of the fund to use it judiciously in order to manifest its purpose.