Northern Regional Deputy Minister says it was deliberate to undeveloped the north

The Deputy Northern Regional Minister has said it was deliberate colonial policy to keep the people of the Northern Territories undeveloped by the colonial masters during the colonial era.

Alhaji Abdul-Basit Fuseini said there was a number of reasons which he said include stereotype, and religious which made the people of the north subservient to their counterparts in the southern sector.

He said the north was kept as a reservoir for cheap labour to work in plantations, mining and in cocoa farms.

According him, because of such deliberate colonial policies to undeveloped the Northern Territory, education was introduced over 200 years in the south before it was introduce in the north.

This he said has made the northern territory impoverish despite several interventions rolled out by government to improve the livelihoods of the people. 

The deputy ministers was speaking during a courtesy call on him at the Regional Coordinating Council by the Livelihood Support Network, a network of local NGOs operating in the Northern Region and a team of volunteers from TZEDEK, a UK Jewish Development Organization.

The Jewish community, through TZEDEK, provides direct support to sustainable self-help grassroots projects that can make a big difference.

The organization work across Africa and Asia, with a particular focus Northern Ghana, North east and Southern India.

It also focuses on areas where they can make an impact and over a number of years have developed criteria to allocate funds. TZEDEK which is a Jewish term literally mean justice collaborates with local organizations in the areas of Education and training, Agriculture, health and livelihood empowerment of the destitute.

The chairman of the Livelihood Support Network, Sule Mohammed, said the network has over 7 organizations working in the area of Child rights, education, health, Agriculture and women and youth empowerment.

Mr. Mohammed, who also doubles as the Director of Nfasimdi Development Association, said the network has chalked several successes which have contributed to the transformation of several communities in the northern region. He therefore called for the support of the northern regional cording council to enable them achieves better livelihood for northern region and the country in entirety.

Adam Sternberg, a leader of the  TZEDEK team of volunteer reiterated the fact that government should as a matter of urgency collaborate effectively with Non Governmental Organizations in the northern part of the country to help erase the issues of poverty, illiteracy, human rights violations and enhance food security.