NORTHERN, BA CELEBRATE DAY AT NAFAC (PAGE 29, NOV 25, 2010)

RESIDENTS of Tamale metropolis have been treated to cultural performances by various cultural troupes from the Northern and Brong Ahafo regions at the ongoing National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) at the Jubilee Park in the metropolis.
Seventeen cultural troupes from the Northern Region and three groups from the Brong Ahafo Region performed.
The programme was interspersed with poetry recitals. The one that drew admiration and cheers from residents was the poem on the tourism potentials of the Brong Ahafo Region by Akosua Kakyere Boakyewaa.
The various ethnic groups in the Northern Region, mainly Dagombas, Gonjas, Mamprusis, and Nanumbas performed to the satisfaction of the residents.
The groups include; the Nchile Tosiwa from Gambaga, the Takai from the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Tamale and the Tanokrom Agoromma and Philamonic Choir from the BAR.
The event was co-chaired by Nana Owusu Akyeaw Bripong II, the Omanhene of Atebubu traditional area and the Mamprugu King, Na Bohagu Mahami Abdulai.
The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Moses Magbenba, used the occasion to call on the arts and film industry to ensure that the nation’s cultural identity was not undermined by foreign culture.
“We need to strengthen our national identity as a way of preserving our cultural heritage, particularly at a time when we have an information super highway” he pointed out.
He outlined the region’s tourism potential but expressed regret that most of the tourist sites were inaccessible.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye Marfo, announced plans by the government to provide funds through the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture to complete the region’s theatre project that had been abandoned for decades.
He said the region abounded in such potentials as the Tano Sacred Fish, the Buoyem Bat sanctuary and caves, the Bui and Digya National Parks.
The minister noted that the region had gold deposits and that plans were far advanced to undertake mining activities in the Tano North District.
“The region has a lot of potentials in agriculture and animal husbandry and provides 30 per cent of the country’s food requirements” he stated.
According to him, the region had a total land mass of 39,557.08 square kilometres.
Mr Marfo explained that the region was carved out of the Ashanti Region on April 4, 1959.
The week-long NAFAC has 10 participatory regions with each of them given the opportunity to display their cultural heritage and mount exhibitions.