Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Foundation has constructed 123 different projects in the Ashanti Region, from the country’s oil proceeds, says Dr Dominic Kwasi Eduah, Chief Executive Director of the foundation.
The projects included mechanised boreholes, sanitary facilities/public toilets, school blocks, football pitches (astroturfs). Out of the number, 43 of them are educational infrastructure.
According to the Executive Director, the company was determined to impact the lives of five million Ghanaians across the country, through various interventions as part of its corporate social responsibility.
“The goal is to make Ghanaians feel the direct benefits of the country’s oil resources across the 16 regions,” he indicated.
He was speaking to the media during the inauguration of four of the 123 projects in some parts of the Ashanti Region at the weekend.
The projects were a three-unit classroom block with an office and a store at Dasubimadwen, six-unit classroom block with an office and store at Asokwa, both in the Adansi Asokwa District, another six-unit classroom block with furniture at Kumasi Senior High School (KUHIS), and a 12-seater water closet lavatory at New Atonsu, in Kumasi.
He mentioned that the foundation provided its interventions under three main pillars-education and training, economic empowerment and social amenities and under education and training component, 7,800 students had benefited from various scholarships since 2018.
He added that out of the number, 1,500 had benefited this year alone and 380 students had also been sponsored to study abroad with 200 currently being trained as medical doctors in Cuba “and the expectation is that they will soon return to work in their respective localities.”
The beneficiary communities and stakeholders were full of praise for the projects.
Nana Tawiah Mensah, Gyasehene of Dasusbimadwene, appealed to the foundation to provide sanitary facilities and a pitch for the school to boost education in the area.
The Adansi Asokwa District Coordinating Director, Mr Ebenezer Ntow Ayisi, said the new classroom block for the junior high school at Dasubimadwen would definitely enhance education in the community.
He tasked the school authorities to make sure it reflected in the performance of the students, and also charged them to ensure proper maintenance of the facility.
The Headmaster of KUHIS, Mr Benjamin Tawiah Twum, praised the foundation for the modern classroom that would enhance academic work in the school and that the furniture would reduce the deficit in the school.
FROM KINGSLEY E.HOPE, ADANSI
