The 2012 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said in order to succeed in the industrial transformation, Ghana needs to pay attention to education, health and infrastructure development. In this regard, he has suggested that oil revenue should be kept in a separate account at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) and not to be used for general budget support by the government. This, he said, would be the best way of preventing corruption and unfocused use of the oil revenue. Nana Addo made the call in a paper presented on his behalf by the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wenchi and former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour at the 40th Faculty Week Celebration Launch of the Faculty of Social Sciences (SOCIOSO) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. It was on the theme: "The Economic Prospects of the Oil Discovery to the Nation" The four special purpose funds he mentioned were "The Education Fund, The Health Fund. The Infrastructure Fund and The industrialisation Fund" and the purpose of the industrialisation fund should be for the structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy. According to Nana Addo, this would be used to increase access to low capital for local businesses to facilitate the establishment of light industries. "The Infrastructure Fund should be used to provide the necessary infrastructure in roads, railways, waterways, energy, and water to facilitate our efforts towards the industrial transformation". The Education Fund, he said, should be used to provide quality education and train people at affordable costs, while the Health Fund be used to provide quality and affordable health care for Ghanaians. He said there was the need to fortify the cocoa industry and encourage the exploration and production of the traditional non-oil minerals such as gold, diamonds and bauxite, adding "the agricultural and non-oil mineral wealth of this nation will for a long time continue to be the backbone of our economy". The NPP presidential aspirants indicated that in 2001 during the NPP administration, there was a major shift away from the state- centred exploration approach to a market oriented approach that encouraged private sector participation in the oil exploration industry. He said the old fiscal regime which sought to obtain state share of net-oil of between 65 per cent and 55 per cent, was considered by experts as too harsh and a disincentive to private sector participation. In addition, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) was refocused to keep to its core function of facilitating the search for commercial hydrocarbons in the country. "The change in the fiscal regime, which took place in the second quarter of 2003, resulted in active interest by private capital in oil exploration and led to the signing of several agreements, including Kosmos in July 2004, Tullow in July 2006, Hess in July 2006 and Gasop in July 2006". "With this level of incentive and interest coupled with a refocused and retooled GNPC, it did not come as a surprise when in 2007 Kosmos and Tullow made two separate discoveries of oil in the commercial quantities jointly referred to as the Jubilee Field", he stated. The SOCIOSO President, Mr Samuel Sagoe, advised students to take their studies seriously as they sought for higher academic pursuits. He appealed to politicians to institute scholarship schemes for students studying social sciences to help the development agenda of the country. Present at the launch were a lecturer at the Texas University and Tax Advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Amoako Tuftom and the acting Director of Petroleum at the Ministry of Energy, Mr Yaw Adjei Appiah. Source: Daily Graphic