The council said its elevation had strengthened their position as chiefs to discharge their customary and traditional rites as an autonomous council without hindrance and that would go a long way to help them develop their area.

During a courtesy call on the President at the Jubilee House yesterday, the council led by the Paramount Chief, Togbui Dorglo Anumah VI, as well as some chiefs and elders, also expressed appreciation to the President for honouring their invitation to him during the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the creation and separation of Akatsi from Ketu.

Appreciation

Togbui Anumah and his entourage also expressed appreciation to the President for the various government policies and programmes which had benefited the people of the area.

As a sign of their appreciation and gratitude, they offered President Akufo-Addo a piece of land for him to build a house in the area.

They also presented the President with a citation enumerating his good works and pledged to support him to win his second term.

Interventions

Togbui Anumah explained that the free SHS policy had helped parents in the area to make savings for other family projects, while the Planting for Food and Jobs programme had put Akatsi in the lead as far as rice production was concerned, adding: “Government support to our farmers in terms of agricultural inputs has helped substantially to boost production.”

The chiefs also called for oil production in the area to further accelerate development, as initial exploration had shown the presence of oil that could be produced in commercial quantities.

Avenor Municipal Assembly

President Akufo-Addo expressed his delight and gratefulness for the honour done him and gave an assurance that his government, through the ministers of Local Government and Rural Development and Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, would soon bring the processes to fruition and that would offer the opportunity to create the Avenor Municipal Assembly.

He lauded the idea of promoting the Tutuloza Festival to give it a boost and pledged that the government would offer the needed support in that direction.

Oil and gas

President Akufo-Addo also indicated that the seismic tests that the GNPC was conducting in the entire area had some good prospects and said as it was with all oil explorations, there were a lot of other tests that must be conducted before it could be concluded and confirmed that there was oil in commercial quantities.

He expressed the hope that if the tests proved positive, then as much as possible the government would make sure that that onshore type of production would be reserved for Ghanaians for their development.

He further explained that onshore oil was much cheaper to bring up than offshore, indicating that offshore oil was much expensive business and that was why it required big companies to be able to put the rigs into the sea bed and pump out the oil.

“When it comes to onshore, the capital involved is not so expensive and so we are hoping that if the studies confirm that there is, indeed, oil there, we can get as many Ghanaians as possible, people from the area and elsewhere to be involved in bringing it up and using it for our development,” he said.

Land

President Akufo-Addo also advised that the process of title to land must all be worked out carefully before they moved in, so that when the oil production commenced, there would be no difficulties and problems.

He advised the chiefs to be very careful and diligent in mapping out land title and land development in the area now to forestall any litigation when the development of the oil industry in the area starts.