Western region is located in the southern part of Ghana, with its capital as Sekondi Takoradi (twin city). Sekondi- Takoradi is the Region’s largest city and an industrial and commercial center with a population of 445,205.
The chief industries in Sekondi Takoradi are timber, cocoa processing, plywood, shipbuilding, its harbor, and railway repair and recently added to it is sweet crude oil and crude oil. Fishing is the basic job in Sekondi – Takoradi.
WHY THE NAME OIL CITY
The city as it stands is currently named (although not official) as the oil city of Ghana. The reason for its new name was due to the massive discovery of oil in the western region of Ghana. People have traveled from places to settle in Takoradi because of this oil discovery. And the 248,689 population in Takoradi during 2010, only 92,000 population were born in the western region of Ghana. 60,000 came from the Central Region part Ghana, 20,000 are from the Ashanti Region centered on Kumasi and 20,000 were born in the Greater Accra region and they all have all settle in Takoradi due to the oil discovery
DEMOGRAPHICS
The population of the people consists of mainly Christians having the majority of 85%, 12% comprising numerous minor denominations. 9% of their population are Muslims, 3.5% identified as non-religious, and 0.2% practice African traditional religion. The major ethnic group found is the AHANTAS.
TAKORADI’S ECONOMY
It’s a port city and has timber, energy, and technology industries. Over the years it has attracted a good number of investors, including miners since the city is close to the mining areas/towns in the western part of Ghana.
EDUCATION IN TAKORADI
When it comes to education, Takoradi city has several secondary schools, colleges, and special schools, ranging from single-sex to coeducational institutions. Among the tertiary institutions are: Takoradi Technical University, (a public institution) nurses and midwifery training college, holy child teachers training college (now college of education). It also has several secondary schools and special schools which also ranges from single-sex to coeducational institutions. These include St. Johns school, Ghana senior high technical school (GST), Takoradi secondary school (taadisco), Bompeh senior high technical school (bsts), Sekondi College (sekco), Ahantanman senior high, Fiji secondary, Adiembra Secondary school and Archbishop Porter girls secondary school and many others.
The region also has a library that was established in the year 1955.
LANGUAGES SPOKEN
The language spoken by the people of Takoradi is Akan (Fante) , English, and French due to migration from other countries.
FESTIVAL
The Takoradi festival is known as the Takoradi street carnival or masquerade festival. It’s an annual event celebrated by the people of Takoradi, Ghana. Its main attraction is the fact that groups of people or teams are dressed in wild outfits to display their skills and arts via dancing. This particular festival is celebrated from 24-26 December of every year and it’s popular with tourists all around the globe.
The various masquerades groups come together in the township of Takoradi to display their skills, culture, and other arts to the general public through dancing and singing of various songs using the brass band. The festival consists of different gender groups joining from various walks of life. It involves the young and the old who are much passionate about the culture and art during this festive moment. Their fancy outfit for the festival varies from one group to another. During the festival, the brass band team play all kind of sounds, songs, melodies and tunes to spice up the festivity and also increase the excitement of various participant and watchers of the event who stand across the rooftops and balcony just to have a feel of it
Here is a list of a few of the masquerade groups in Takoradi. We have the Ankos, cosmos, holy cities, Nyanta boys, Iron fighters, unity, Mississippi group, Spain group, Sunnato group, Valencia group, Canadian group, Chinese group, Tumus, Ohyewakomen, supreme, oil city, Addyzee, USA and the Nyanta boys and girls.
FAVORITE DISH
The main dish of the people in Takoradi is acheke. Achebe is prepared from grated fermented cassava pulp. It is served with grilled fish and pepper or sauce. However, these people are also lovers of fufu. Aside that, they consume other meals like rice with stew which is the most commonest dish to prepare, yam with garden eggs stew, banku, and many others.
ATTRACTION SITES
Secondi Takoradi has plenty of beaches. However, they are not the major tourist attraction. Many beaches that are found at the west of Takoradi, with small resorts such as the Fanta’s folly, the hideout, and the green turtle lodge. There are some larger ones such as the Busua beach, Lou moon lodge, and Axim beach resort. All these resorts have very nice bars and places to eat. Such as the paragon bar and grill. And these all nice places that you would like to visit in Takoradi. There is also the village of Nzulezu which is one of the most popular tourist sites in the western region.
The city also has two stadiums that are the Essipong stadium and the Gyandu Park. Some of the professional teams based in Sekondi Takoradi are FC Takoradi, Sekondi Hasaacas, and Sekondi wise fighters.
In my next article, I’m going to list some of the tourist sites and attractive sites you can visit whiles in Takoradi.
Knowledge is power, therefore make sure you are always up to date about what is going on around you. Take some time off your busy schedules and visit places to know more about other cultures and also learn new things.
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