HIGHLIGHT POSITIVE ASPECTS OF EASTERN REGION (PAGE 21)

THE Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo has called on media practitioners in the region to highlight the positive aspects of the region to enhance its development.
According to him, there were a lot of natural resources such as minerals and tourist attractions that had not been exploited or developed due to lack of information on them, especially their locations and that it would be ideal for the media to bring them to the limelight.
That, he said, would attract both local and foreign investors to develop or tap them for the benefit of the region.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo made the call when he organised a press soiree for the Eastern Regional Press Corps at his residence at Koforidua at the weekend.
The meeting afforded the regional minister the opportunity to acquaint himself with the problems facing the media practitioners help find solutions to them.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said over the years, most of the natural or economic potentials in the region could not be tapped due to inadequate information on them and that it was the obligation of the media to let people, especially entrepreneurs to know where the natural resources were and the benefits of their exploitation.
He said the exploitation of those resources would bring in many investments with the positive corresponding result of employment opportunities that would enable the unemployed to secure jobs to earn a living to reduce poverty.
“The region abounds in natural resources; we have beautiful waterfalls and other tourist attractions, but they are not being developed and this is the time that the press must assist in that direction so that the region would be developed”, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo stated.
With regard to the problems facing journalists in the region, the regional minister gave the assurance that he would do his best to help them to carry out their duties effectively.
Earlier, the head of the news team of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation in the region, Mr Emmanuel Sarfo, advised young reporters in the area to “drink from the fountain of wisdom” of those who had been in the journalistic field for years so that they would succeed.
The acting Eastern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Edmund Quarnor, on behalf of the association, assured the regional minister of the co-operation of the media to move the region forward.
He also advised media practitioners who had just entered the journalistic field not to do anything that would tarnish the reputation of the profession.