He said the area was endowed with abundant natural resources, including fertile lands for mechanised farming, which was suitable for making sound investments.

He expressed the authority's readiness to partner investors as well as provide them with the needed support to invest in the various sectors of the economy to help open up the area and create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth.

Stakeholders forum

Mr Abdul-Rahman made the call at a stakeholders, engagement organised by the NDA in Tamale last Friday to solicit ideas on how to partner private sector players to explore investment opportunities in the area.

The meeting, which brought together representatives of civil society organisations, investors and traditional authorities, also created a platform for the authority to gather suggestions, experiences and opinions of key investors to feed into its medium-term development plan (MTDP).

Addressing the participants, Mr Abdul-Rahman indicated that the authority was engaging various investors across the globe to invest their resources in Northern Ghana to help develop the area.

"A lot is being done. In fact, by the end of this month, two ambassadors will be coming with us to tour Northern Ghana and explore the investment opportunities. It is not like they will just come, have the media coverage and go back; they will make commitments," he stated.

As part of efforts to create an enabling environment for the sustainability and growth of businesses in the Northern Savanna Ecological Zone, he indicated that the NDA was developing a MTDP to serve as a guide for its activities.

The final document of the MTDP, Mr Abdul-Rahman said, was expected to be launched in August this year, not only to streamline the activities of the NDA but to also serve as a pushing factor to help it achieve its visions and missions.

Transforming lives

For his part, the Board Chairman of the NDA, Dr Sulemana Abdulai, lauded the authority for initiating programmes that were aimed at transforming the lives of the people.

He noted that the fundamental dream of the NDA was to create an enabling environment for the development of the Northern Savanna Ecological Zone and support the establishment, growth and development of businesses in the area, and urged the private sector to partner the authority so it would achieve such targets.

Making a presentation on the topic "Situation of Private Sector in Northern Ghana: Opportunities and Challenges", the Northern Regional Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, Abdul Mumuni Zakaria, encouraged businesses to take advantage of the government's interventions to grow their businesses.