Lieutenant General Joseph Henry Smith, Minister of Defence, on Thursday said a new garrison had been established at Bawku to control violence in the area.
He said each region would have a permanent garrison and an air strip to speed up response in times of crisis.
Lt. Gen. Smith was addressing Meet the Press series in Accra during which he discussed problems facing the military, its achievements and the way forward.
He said the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions (three Northern regions) had a lot of resources that could endear local and foreign investors but for the numerous conflicts.
Lt. Gen. Smith said for the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to be combat ready, government was actively securing funds to purchase new fleet of
armoured personnel carriers, troop carrying vehicles, engineering equipment, personal weapons and gear and naval boats for the Navy.
He said the Ghana Air Force was gearing up to go into counter sea operation, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance and search and
rescue.
"Our nation's ability to create safe and secure environment to facilitate the oil and gas exploration will depend on the ability of the Air
Force to establish air dominance over the area of operation," Lt-Gen Smith.
He said that the joint GAF and Police night patrol to control armed robbery had been fruitful and encouraging.
Lt. Gen. Smith said the armed robbers had a formidable intelligence network but the security forces would work hard and be ahead of them in
neutralising their antics.
He called on authorities of the security services to check the background of recruits and cited a case in which someone was disqualified
for recruitment into the military only to be enlisted into the Police Service.
Lt. Gen. Smith noted that the slums in the cities were under surveillance as they served as breeding grounds for brigands in the society.
He noted that to improve the health care of serving and retired military personnel, cabinet had approved review of National Health Insurance
Scheme (NHIS) Law to cover personnel of the security services.
For the acknowledgement of the contribution of veterans to Ghana's political emancipation and to world peace, Lt. Gen. Smith said that the
Ministry had initiated measures to enhance and sustain their welfare.
These included development of the Veterans Association of Ghana (VAG) lands and properties including the Legion near Opeibea House in Accra to generate revenue for the veterans.
Lt. Gen. Smith said that there was improvement in the widow's pension from 30 Ghana cedis to 50 per cent of the spouse's pension by rank adding that members of VAG were also benefiting from the NHIS.
He said Parliament had for the first time approved allocation of 500,000 Ghana cedis under the Ghana Education Trust Fund to purchase buses
for the military academy.
Lt. Gen. Smith observed that military-civilian relationship had improved through activities such as humanitarian assistance to the public during disasters.
He also cited open day activities where military installations were opened to the public, medical care at the 37 Military Hospital and other
medical receptions and donations to organisations.
On the way forward, Lt. Gen. Smith said government would re-equip the GAF Engineering corps to help in the infrastructure development of the country to create employment.
He said the Engineering corps had undertaken construction of roads and bridges and other civil engineering works within the army and the
communities adding "this would not compromise their traditional role of defending the country".