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Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the Minister for Inner-City and Zongo Development on Tuesday said the ministry’s major task is to improve the livelihood of the people in inner-cities and Zongo communities.

This he said was to be achieved through education, health, local economic development and social interventions.

Dr Abdul-Hamid revealed this at the Ministry’s second edition of the ‘Meet the Press’ series hosted by the Ministry of Information in Accra.

He outlined some of the Ministry’s achievements in the various sectors and the social interventions undertaken since its inception.

Touching on education, Dr Abdul-Hamid said his outfit was renovating schools in the inner-cities, had recruited 3,000 Arabic instructors and was collaborating with World Reader, a non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which had donated Mobile Library and reading books to Sabon Zongo, as well as upgrade their educational infrastructure for a serene environment to enhance teaching and learning.

He said all these were geared towards developing the human resource of the people in inner-cities and Zongo communities.

The Ministry was also collaborating with the Dream Oval Foundation to train female school children dubbed: “Female in Technology Initiative (FTI),” the Minister said.

He said the FTI was to support the government programme of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to develop and upgrade citizens’ innovations in the STEM sector.

On Health, the Minister said the Ministry was collaborating with the Iran Clinics in Accra and AMF, an NGO to organize health screening exercises at Madina, Maamobi, Gbawee, Weija, Afenya and Tuba to improve on their health and educate them on healthy living.

He said Water and Sanitation was among the Ministry’s priorities for which it was collaborating with the Qatar Charity to improve Water connection and sanitation.

Dr Abdul-Hamid said his outfit would benefit from a GH¢25 million out of a GH¢100 million World Bank sponsored funds meant for the construction of 50 household toilets and five public bathhouses in the Gamashei area of the Greater Accra Region.

He mentioned the on-going construction of Astro Turf parks for sports purposes and Green parks for recreational purposes and the partnership with the National Board for Small Scale Industries to implement a Zongo Cuisine Promotion Project aimed at producing baseline research, food safety, product standardizing, packaging, business registration and documentation, zongo food album and entrepreneurship and financial literacy training.