The MP for Tamale Central, Prof. Alidu Mahama Seidu, has said the only way northern Ghana can close the poverty gap with the south is by preparing students to compete on equal terms with their counterparts in the south.

Speaking to final-year junior high school students ahead of the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and to support them with mathematical sets, Prof. Alidu said the disparity was rooted in the late introduction of formal education in the north, which he said had exacerbated poverty levels.

He was addressing students attending extra classes he organised in the constituency. The programme was first started by the late MP for the area, Murtala Mohammed, and Prof. Alidu said it was yielding results through improved performance.

“The extra classes are one of the best ways to prepare our students to write well and come out with flying colours and continue with their education,” he said.

Prof Alidu also announced plans to procure furniture for many schools in Tamale Central.

“We have visited a lot of them, and most of the concerns have been furniture, to make sure pupils have an adequate place to sit and learn,” he added.

He said solar lights would be installed in schools after concerns were raised about electricity bills.

Beyond education, the MP said his office had been resourcing health facilities with equipment and planned to extend solar power to the health sector. “We have identified a lot of health facilities and have been able to resource them with adequate equipment to run,” he said.

He added that his team had registered many constituents onto the National Health Insurance Scheme.

On infrastructure, Prof Alidu said most inner roads in the constituency were under construction. Boreholes have been completed in Salamba, with drilling underway in Gumbihini and set to begin in Aboabo and Changli.

He said the projects were to honour the memory of the late MP.

He urged students to avoid examination malpractices as they prepared for the BECE.

More than 37,000 pupils across the Northern Region are due to sit this year’s exam. In total, 37,111 candidates from 808 schools have registered to write at 132 centres. Public schools account for 33,329 candidates, while private schools account for 3,782.

Tamale Metro Director of Education Nelson Konlan said there was “no variation” between Prof Alidu’s interventions in education and those of the late MP.

He praised teachers for preparing pupils for the examination and echoed the call against cheating.

“I will urge you to as much as possible stay away from examination malpractice. It’s a worrying situation that’s going on and all of us must make an effort to put an end to it. Insisting on clean examination is not wickedness but to prepare the next set of generations we can be proud of,” he said.