The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development has handed over five Toyota Hilux Pickup vehicles to the Tamale Zonal Secretariat of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) project and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council.

Other logistics distributed included 24 computer laptops and 59 tablet devices to help facilitate data collection across all the 48 clusters of the project in the 8 beneficial Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies.  

 The items were presented to the Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Shani Alhassan Shaibu, last Friday, October 13, by Mr. Haruna Seidu Tapsoba on behalf of the Local Government Minister, Mr. Daniel Kwaku Botwe.

The Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu upon receiving the machines also handed them over to the SOCO zonal office to further distribute to the beneficial MMDAs.

In his remarks, the Regional Minister said the items received will go a long way to facilitate the implementation of the SOCO Project operations in the beneficiary districts in the northern region.

“I am pleased to receive these vehicles, 24 laptops and other 59 tablets on behalf of the Regional Coordinating Council and in tend hand them over to the SOCO Project Tamale office for their daily operations” he added.

The Tamale Zonal Coordinator of the SOCO Project, Mr. Samuel K. Forson, for his part indicated the laptops would be used at the community level to collect data by the community facilitators while the district offices will also the computers for their daily SOCO operations.

“The vehicles as indicated will facilitate the work that we’re going to do across the eight districts. So, we’re very grateful for this support” he added.   

Mr. Forson seized the opportunity to urge the MMDAs to ensure the logistics deployed to their areas are properly maintained for a successful implementation of the program.

“We beg you [MMDAs], please take good care of the motorcycles that were distributed to you about two months ago,. The computers should be used only for SOCO activities and the community facilitators should make sure they take good care of the tablets” he begged.

Meanwhile the beneficiary assemblies in the northern region include the Tamale Metro, Sagnarigu Municipal, Gushegu Municipal, Karaga District, Tatale District, Nanumba North Municipal, Saboba District and Yendi Municipal.