The Oti Regional Minister-designate, Daniel Machator, has reached out to the Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Osei Assibey Antwi, to establish a collaborative effort to deploy teachers and agricultural personnel to the region.

The Minister’s visit was motivated by a pressing need for more teachers in his region to enhance the quality of teaching and learning.

Speaking during the meeting, Mr. Daniel Machator highlighted the critical role education plays in his priorities for the region,  and urged the NSS to deploy teachers to support this cause.

He called on the NSS management to ensure that the region has a fair and equitable distribution of the Service’s postings of personnel this year.

This, he believes, would help the region meet its target in service delivery,  as well as help enhance capacities, reinforce structures, and enable the NSS to mobilize and deploy a growing number of graduates in the region as an area of priority.

“I humbly request that your outfit deploys some teachers to my region to aid in efforts to enhance effective teaching and learning. Education is one of my priorities, and posting NSS teachers to my end will do us a lot of good,” he stated.

He reaffirmed his commitment to agriculture, and expressed interest in partnering with the NSS to advance farming activities in the region.

Mr. Machator proposed deploying National Service personnel  with agriculture backgrounds to assist in achieving food security and promoting commercial farming.

“Agriculture is another venture I would like to undertake in my region. Given your experience in agriculture and Scheme’s success, I intend to have collaboration so that we can acquire land in the Oti Region for farming activities with the help of some chiefs,” he stated.

He commended the visionary and dynamic leadership injected into the NSS by its Executive Director, aimed at reducing the rate of graduate unemployment in the country.

For his part, the Executive Director of the NSS, Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, acknowledged the importance of these initiatives, and pledged full support from the NSS.  He reiterated the vital role education and agriculture play in the country’s development agenda.

“Every year, the Scheme deploys a significant number of personnel to the teaching and agricultural fields. We take these young teachers through systematic pedagogy training, and ensure they are well-equipped for the task. Personnel posted to farming areas have backgrounds in agriculture, and contribute greatly to our economic growth,” he said.

Mr. Assibey Antwi cautioned the Regional Minister about the importance of ensuring all legalities are in place for land acquisition to avoid potential disputes.

“Land disputes continue to be an issue for the country. I believe the onus lies on you as the Regional Minister to do all the paperwork to ensure that when farming activities begin, we won’t experience any form of litigation,” he advised.

He noted that the collaboration signifies a promising effort towards addressing critical needs in education and agriculture within the Oti Region. He reiterated that the NSS remains committed to its mandate of deploying skilled personnel to sectors crucial for national development.

He assured that “the Scheme wouldn’t relent on its oars to ensure the development in the areas of agriculture, teaching, health, among others”.