A $250-million five-year Economic Development Plan for the Volta Region to upgrade educational facilities, as well as create job opportunities in the region has been launched in Accra. The project which was initiated by the traditional authorities in the region, is to mobilise the chiefs and people for a collective assault on poverty and deprivation. Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice- President, Mr John Dramani Mahama said sustained economic development was a potent weapon against poverty. He said the government and traditional leaders had a shared responsibility for the great strides the country was making and commended the chiefs of the Volta Region for fashioning out the first regional plan for poverty alleviation. Mr Mahama announced that the government had secured a $300 million Economic Governance and Poverty Reduction Credit facility for immediate disbursement to kick-start the economy. The World Bank which granted the concessionary credit facility was also supporting the budget with an additional $1.5 million, he added. He assured the chiefs and people of the Volta Region that the government believed in the principles of social justice and equity in the distribution of the fruits of economic growth. Mr Mahama said the five-year development plan was bound to stem the tide of migration of the youth from the region to elsewhere in search of greener pastures. The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli Traditional Area, Togbe Afede XIV, who initiated the programme, said in his address that the plan was inspired by the belief that the development of the nation was a shared responsibility in which chiefs, who were closest to the people, had an important role to play. He said the aim of the chiefs and the people of the region was to contribute to the enhancement of the region's socia-economic infrastructure and facilitate the country's attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The occasion also witnessed the launch of the fifth anniversary of Togbe Afede's reign as the Agbogbomefia of Asogli. Source: Daily Graphic