The Volta Regional Minister, Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, has lauded the Daily Graphic for its Regional Spotlight initiative and given his full backing to the concept as the region takes its turn to be highlighted in the newspaper.
He also gave his full assurance to inaugurate a committee for effective collaboration with the Graphic team in order to develop a work plan to package the best information for the success of the initiative.
Dr Letsa gave the commendation following an interaction between the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), led by the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah, and the Director, Sales and Marketing of the GCGL, Mr Franklin Sowa, and stakeholders in the Volta Region last Friday.
The interaction was in relation to the project, which is geared towards highlighting the uniqueness of the region through outstanding publications, with the focus of drawing in investors and the business community.
The GCGL team, accompanied by the Eastern/Volta Zonal Business Manager, Mrs Catherine Ablorh, also visited some security agencies, including the Volta Regional Police Command and the Volta Regional Headquarters of the Ghana Prisons Service, the Ho Technical University and the Regional Office of the GCB Bank.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Professor John Gyapong, lauded the initiative and called for more focal stories from the institution, which he said was faced with a myriad of accessibility challenges, for which reason their reportage needed to be prioritised in the Daily Graphic.
The Volta Regional Police Commander, DCOP Edward Oduro Kwarteng, also commended the Graphic initiative and assured the team of maximum collaboration and security for the regional launch, which is tentatively fixed for March 14, 2020, to be preceded by a health walk.
The upcoming Volta Regional Spotlight, a pullout in the Daily Graphic that puts emphasis on the socio-economic potential of the region, promises to be exceptional following the resounding reception from key stakeholders to celebrate the potential of the region.
Great initiative
Dr Letsa also commended the GCGL for standing tall among its competitors, with an idea to give equal opportunities to other regions to showcase their potential.
He also applauded the Graphic team in the region for working closely with the Regional Coordinating Council and projecting the region through its fair coverage in all spheres.
He said a lot of activities were going on in the region to improve on the living conditions of the people, evidenced by the drastic transformation of its districts which were previously ranked last in the country but now boasted sterling performances since he took over in 2017.
He said the region had been at its busiest period, citing 2019, for instance, when it embarked on a lot of activities, including a Trade, Investment and Cultural Fair, which is currently being used as the blueprint for similar programmes in other regions; the National Farmers Day and playing host to the first regional town hall meeting, among others.
He expressed the belief that the opportunity presented by Graphic would offer the region a platform to tell its success stories due to its great potential which must be seriously tapped.
“We have information for you on every assembly and whatever is going on in the region in every sector….we have the investment potential of every assembly and you journalists can put it better to make it more attractive to everybody and also make it global because Graphic is a global paper,” he said.
5th Edition
The Volta Region will be the fifth to feature in the Regional Spotlight aimed at publishing captivating development stories from the regions.
Mr Asmah informed Dr Letsa that the initiative was to move away from the overly concentrated Accra stories and move towards bridging the gap of ineffective coverage in the rest of the regions.
He said the Volta Regional Spotlight, which will be the first for the year, also coincided with Graphic’s 70th anniversary.
He said the visit was to enable the team to begin exploratory plans of coverage and also elicit partnership for the project to become a sustainable venture.
“I believe the outcome of this meeting will be fruitful, so that once we launch the Volta Regional Spotlight, it will inure greatly to the accelerated development of this region,” Mr Asmah said.
Readership
Mr Sowa said the project was also designed to improve readership and create business opportunities between the company and stakeholders.
He said the spotlight would be a 16-page publication of stories from the Volta Region and called on businesses in the region to take advantage of the initiative to advertise their products and services.
“This is going to be like a booklet, and when you pick it, you will have all the relevant information you need about the Volta Region which could be kept for easy referencing,” he said.
