The Oti Regional Minister, Deputy Superintendent of Prisons Daniel Machator (rtd), has outlined a short term development plan for the region to ensure that development activities would thrive without any hindrance.
Mr Machator said his vision for the region was to ensure total peace in the area, as prerequisite for development and asked stakeholders in the region to cooperate and support him to ensure that residents carry out their economic activities smoothly.
Speaking in an interview at the capital Dambai, the Regional Minister said since he took over the administration of the region, he identified pockets of disputes in the region, which he was much committed to resolving them.
According to him, there were chieftaincy disputes at Pai-Katanga and Burae-Ahenfie, which must be addressed, and called on the feuding parties to resolve all their differences through the Oti Regional House of Chiefs (ORHC), and if necessary use the law courts to settle such disputes.
Touching on the communal conflict at Nkwanta, Mr Machator stressed that the parties involved in the conflict lived together for over 100 years, and could use dialogue to settle misunderstandings that led to the conflict for them to live peacefully as one people with a common destiny.
Mr Machator said the government’s Social Cohesion (SOCO) project was also helping to promote peace at Nkwanta by providing social amenities to prevent the infiltration of radical groups which would deepen the conflict in the area.
He said the Oti Region remained relatively peaceful, and expressed the hope that few areas where conflict existed would soon recognise the need to smoke the peace-pipe, saying all parties in any form of conflict should lay down their arms and embrace peace efforts, and contribute meaningfully to the development of the region.
The Minister said the Oti Region was an agriculture area with fertile land for farming and aquaculture as another viable economic activity that could be taken advantage of to create jobs for the people, particularly the youth to enable them to improve on their standard of living.
Mr Machator, therefore, appealed to both local and foreign investors to take advantage of the conducive environment and opportunities in the region to explore possible areas of investment in agriculture and aquaculture to create employment for the youth as well as to encourage them to take up farming as a business.
He explained that the government had put in place measures to provide farm implements to the youth to enable them to embrace farming, adding that there were available markets for the produce and asked the people to take interest in available opportunities to improve on their living conditions
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, DAMBAI