Tamale, Dec. 31, GNA - Mr. Stephen Sumani Nayina, Northern Regional Minister, has called on the Committee of Eminent Chiefs and the Northern Regional House of Chiefs to work hard in finding lasting solution to chieftaincy disputes in the region.

He said 2010 should witness the end of the Dagbon and Nanumba chieftaincy diputes. Mr. Nayina said although the region was plagued with other challenges such as land disputes, the age-old Abudu-Andani impasse of Dagbon and the Nanumba chieftaincy problem had been a great threat to the peace and stability of the region.

Mr. Nayina made the call in a New Year message to the chiefs and peoples of the region in Tamale on Thursday.

The Regional Minister commended the chiefs and people for co-operating with the Regional Co-ordinating Council in the year, which he said had witnessed some relative peace and urged them to continue to display maturity and a sense of tolerance to help nurture the country's young democracy. He praised the Regional Security Council, the security services and the media for the role they played in fostering tolerance and peaceful co-existence among the people and urged them to continue in that direction. Mr. Nayina said the relative peace in the region had enabled it to host the 2009 Silver Jubilee Awards ceremony of the Best Farmers Day. "As the year 2010 catches up with us, it is my expectation that we shall all welcome and start the New Year with new ideas, initiatives and plans, which would symbolise and strengthen our collective resolve to build a more dynamic democratic and prosperous Northern Region", he said. 31 Dec. 09