AHANTAMAN ASSOCIATION TO PROMOTE UNITY (PAGE 18)

THE chiefs and people of Ahanta in the Western Region have inaugurated the Ayindamane (Ahantaman) Development Association to promote economic activities and protect the heritage, tradition, customs, as well as the culture of the people.
The formation of the association has become necessary with the prospect of oil coming from or around the Ahanta land.
The association also seeks to promote the unity, peace and social cohesion, as well as the integrity of Ahantaman to ensure that the environment is properly managed and fairly utilised for the benefit of the people of Ahanta, the Western Region and the country as a whole.
Speaking at the launch on the theme, “Development through the promotion of education, industry and environment”, the Nigerian High Commissioner in Accra Mr Musiliu O. Obanikoro, said looking and reflecting on his country’s experiences after the oil exploration and that of Ghana, there was the need for both countries to share experiences on what Nigeria had gone through in so many years.
“You have the capacity to avoid the pitfall we have found ourselves in,” he stressed, adding that “unfortunately, we seek solutions to our problems when we reach the crisis point”.
Mr Obanikoro pointed out that his country had been described as an oil giant in Africa but there had been mismanagement of trillions of dollars since the 1960’s, saying “this you must try to avoid”.
He said in Nigeria, oil communities had not enjoyed the benefits from the oil for the past 40 years and that through persistent internal conflicts many oil communities had been torn apart.
In an address read on his behalf, the Western Regional Minister, Mr A. E. Amoah, said an initiative such as that of the Ahanta people needed the support of everybody.
As custodians, he said, the chiefs had important role to play and therefore urged them to put their heads together to put policies in place to ensure that the people benefit from the ventures that would be established as a result of the oil find.
Nana Nketsia, Omanhene of the Essikado Traditional Area who is the chairman of a 20-member Board of Trustees of the Association, emphasised that the launch of the association was not for the Ahanta people alone, but for the people in the region and humanity.