STUDENTS IN TAMALE EDUCATED ON OIL AND GAS (PAGE 18, DEC 4, 2010)

AN educational campaign has commenced in Tamale, the Northern Regional Capital, to raise awareness among students on Ghana’s discovery of oil and exploration activities.
The campaign also seeks to enlighten the students on the oil and gas bills that are before parliament and seek their views on how to make these bills effective.
It is spearheaded by the Accountability and Good Governance Network (AGNet) in collaboration with the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) and Dalun Simli Centre, and sponsored by the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme (G-RAP).
The schools earmarked for the campaign include the Tamale Polytechnic, Tamale Training College, Nurses Training College and Business Senior High School.
The Tamale Girls Senior High School had its turn at the weekend, during which presentations were made on the Local Content and Local Participation Bill and the Oil and Gas Revenue Management Bill.
The Secretary of AGNet, Mr Mohammed Mumuni, said the two bills were aimed at streamlining activities in the oil and gas sectors to ensure that the country’s interest was safeguarded at all times.
He said while the Revenue Management Bill sought to spell out how revenue accrued to the sector must be applied, that of the Local Participation Bill was designed to ensure the maximum use of Ghanaian expertise, labour, goods and services.
Mr Mumuni expressed worry over the country’s lack of capacity to operate in the midstream and downstream sectors which involve the refining and distribution and of oil and gas products.
He said this lack of capacity had arisen because Ghana was constrained in the area of finance, human resource training and technology.
He, therefore, entreated the students to study hard and take up positions in the oil and gas sector in the near future to enable the country meet its objectives as spelt out in the Local Content Bill.
The students expressed enthusiasm about the oil discovery and urged the government to guard against corruption and misuse of oil revenue.
They also called for some of the revenue to be committed to the educational sector by providing accommodation for teachers, increase boarding facilities, provide pipe-borne water to schools and provide facilities for the study of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Aside from the educational campaigns, the AGNet and its partners are organising community durbars in Tamale, Tolon/Kumbungu and Savelugu/Nanton to sensitise the people on the oil and gas bills.
They will also hold a regional forum to brief the youth on activities in the oil and gas sector and also enlighten them on how they could take advantage of the programmes of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA).