It costs the Northern Region Co-ordinating Council (NRCC) about ?1.5billion a month to maintain the peace in the region. On a daily basis, ?50million is spent on the security personnel in the area.

Alhaji Boniface Abubakari Saddique, the Regional Minister, announced this at the launch of an awareness raising campaign on small arms and light weapons at Tamale at the weekend.

He lamented that this colossal sum of money which could have gone into the provision of much needed amenities like school blocks, good roads and potable water was being expended on peacekeeping.

Alhaji Saddique noted that since 1979, the region had not known peace and wondered how it could achieve the needed development. "My home region has since 1979 regretfully been a battlefield where small arms and light weapons have been used with careless abandon, where human lives and property have been destroyed with heartless enmity," the Minister stated.

"This accounts for the high poverty level, disease and hunger in the country," he said. He therefore advised the people to stop piling arms and light weapon and assist in retrieving those already in possession. Of people not authorized to hold them. The amount of resources used by individuals in the region in acquiring weapons could be invested in their children's education and for the prosperity of their families and society, he stated, adding that but "we spend on weapons which can never bring anything good to the family but destruction."

The Minister advised the people in the region to stoop blaming government and others for the area's lack of development and rather blame themselves for failing to realize their mistakes.