A total of 10,055 medium and small-scale businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Volta Region have received financial support from the Government to scale up activities.

The COVID-19 relief funds were disbursed to the beneficiaries by the National Board for Small Scale Industries, under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support Scheme.

Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, announced this at the Fifth Edition of the Nation Building Updates in Accra.

It was on the theme: "Rebuilding of the Ghanaian Economy".

The event provided a platform for government ministries, departments and agencies as well as other government officials to render an account of their stewardship to the public.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on May 19, 2020, launched the Scheme with one-billion Ghana cedis to support Ghanaian businesses impacted negatively by the pandemic.

Dr Letsa, making a presentation on economic programmes undertaken by the government in the Region, said the Region was never left out in efforts to improve the standard of living of Ghanaians.

The Minister mentioned some ongoing and completed projects there, which include water and sanitation, road infrastructure, classroom blocks, water systems and health facilities.

He said the government had erected many telecommunication masts in various parts of the Region to improve mobile telephony service, hooked communities to the national electricity grid, constructed institutional toilet facilities, Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds and maternity homes, all aimed at improving the livelihoods of the people.

Under Planting for Food and Jobs, Dr Letsa said 157,095 people had benefited from the programme while 160,000 cashew seedlings had been distributed to cashew farmers under government's Planting for Export and Rural Development.

With the Free Senior High School Policy, 95,000 students had benefited in the Region since 2017 to enhance access to secondary education and lessen the financial burden on parents and guardians.

"Volta Region is in the heart of the President and it is a special bride, which the President wants to marry and so in a few weeks to come he wants to see signs of how his manoeuvring is working," the Minister said.

On security concerns, Dr Letsa said “everything” was under control and appealed to investors, both home and abroad, to invest in the Region.