Tamale, Feb. 22, GNA - Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, has appealed to Unilever Ghana to source adequate funding to help provide water to second cycle institutions in Tamale to help address the water problems in the Metropolis.

He said schools in the Metropolis were feeling the brunt of the water problem, which needed the attention of stakeholders, including NGOs in the water sector, to address.

Alhaji Idris made the appeal in Tamale on Thursday when he commissioned a small water system project for the Tamale Secondary School (TAMASCO) to ease the perennial water problem facing the school.

Unilever Ghana and WaterAid jointly funded the project, which is part of a 300 million-cedi projects Unilever had provided as a "Jubilee Gift" to communities in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. Tamaara and Kuuchileyili communities in the Upper West are benefiting from hand-dug wells while Bawkuza, Narongo-Nyagyin and Tenogo in the Upper East Regions are also beneficiaries of three hand-dug wells.

Alhaji Idris said the government was doing a lot to address the Tamale water problem and appealed to individuals and corporate bodies "to lend a helping hand in this direction".

Alhaji Idris has stressed the need for the Ghana Water Company Limited (GCWL) to identify all old boreholes in the Metropolis and mechanise them to enhance water supply to the residents.

The Regional Minister noted with concern the spread of guinea worm disease in the Metropolis and urged the District Assemblies and other stakeholders to collaborate in the fight to eliminate the disease from the region.

Mr. Mohammed Amin Adam, Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive, (MCE) commended Unilever Ghana for the assistance and appealed to other corporate bodies to emulate Unilever.

Mr. Andrew Quayson, Chairman of Trustees of Unilever Ghana Foundation for Education and Development (UFED), said Unilever had been looking for practical and meaningful ways to contribute their quota to improving the health needs of rural communities.

He announced that Unilever would spend about two billion cedis to provide potable water to rural communities across the country and urged the beneficiary communities to provide communal labour towards such water projects.

Ms Isha Toure, Country Director of WaterAid, gave the assurance that her outfit would help fund any water related project particularly, in guinea worm endemic areas, to mitigate the plight of the people.