A former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Aspirant, Alhaji Tanko Yakubu, an indigene of Kadjebi District in the Akan Constituency of the Oti region, has expressed his desire to present himself for the position of the District Chief Executive (DCE) position to contribute his quota to the development of the area.
Alhaji Yakubu is a Marine Superintendent by profession and also doubles as a Business Development Professional and a Chartered Logistician.
He is seeking to bring his numerous leadership skills, experience and grassroots politics to the forefront of development which the Kadjebi District has lacked for so many years.
Already, majority of Assembly members of the Kadjebi District and Polling Station Executives and the Akan Constituency Youth Forum in the Oti region have endorsed him as the next DCE.
In an interview with this network, Alhaji Tanko stated that the people are predominantly farmers and traders and since the communities are fast-growing now there is high rate of youth unemployment.
“I will be a DCE that will focus on massive and total development of the Kadjebi district and also ensure that the NPP hierarchy from the polling station executives, zonal coordinators, constituency executives, and the general party people are well taken care of. There is too much uneasiness within the party at the grassroots level,” he stated.
He reiterated that he will consult the chiefs, opinion leaders, Imams, assembly members, and the traditional authorities in pursuit of the holistic and total development of the Akan area.
He further stated that he is coming for the youth and people of Akan. He believes in the youth and will harness their human resource potential for the development of the area.
“If the youth have jobs they will be able to progress and develop into very astute and responsible people and Akan will, in the long run, be developed,” he said.
“The district has a wide range of multi-ethnic and tribal link with the Akans – landlords in minority less than 8% of the population, Tem-Kotokoli and its affiliate tribes about 40% and the Ewes about 42% of the total population,” Alhaji Tanko revealed.
He said he has the vision to ensure that his people have jobs that can sustain them and their families.
“We urgently need an Immigration Command Centre here in the Oti Region since it is a major border town with one main point of entry and there are several unapproved routes into Togo. We also lack a nursing and midwifery school; we need good roads to evacuate our Agric produce such as cocoa, ginger corn, banana, oranges, etc. I also want to ensure as the DCE that we benefit from the cocoa road fund since it is a cocoa growing area,” Alhaji Yakubu stated.
According to Alhaji Yakubu, he is coming as the DCE to give massive support to farmers and traders.
He also pointed out that the Kadjebi District lacks befitting senior high schools, hospitals, and healthcare facilities.
Currently, the Dodo Pepesu road is under construction by Sinohydro but the project only just passes through the main towns with the other feeder roads in poor state and unmotorable.
“We don’t have any potable water here; we have some boreholes but are not functioning and all of those need rehabilitation works. Our Ginger processing factory will be a good 1D1F project. I will ensure that my region gets an Agric Research University – to revamp the Agric research farms in Jasikan and Kadjebi Districts,” he promised.
The fast-growing towns or already established towns include Kadjebi, Asato, and Papase which are the three traditional authorities of the district.
Other underdeveloped or emerging communities in the Akan constituency are Poase-Cement, Dodi Mempeasem, Dodo-Amanfro, Dodo-Pepesu, and Dzindzinso.