NCCE intensifies education on violent extremism

In furtherance of the Commission’s sensitization on violent extremism, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) is intensifying community awareness activities on identifying warning signals of extremist violence with religious bodies in the Yendi Municipality.

Some of the religious bodies they visited and earmarked included; Seventh-Day Adventist (S.D.A) church, church or Pentecost, Assemblies of God church, Yendi Roman Catholic Church, Assembilies of God church Gbungbaliga, Church of Christ, Yendi Central Mosque 1 and 2, Ahamadiyya Mission, Madina Friday Mosque, Fulani Herdsmen Communities amongst others.

Mr. Osunam Kasim Officer In-charge of Yendi Municipal NCCE announced that such engagements required rigorous educational drive to halt the threats of violent extremism and implication for civil order and peace building in the country.

He reminded them that the function of NCCE was to educate the public on their civic rights and 1992 constitution of Ghana and their research revealed that there was violent extremism in Burkina Faso, Niger, Cote de I’voire, amongst others within their neighboring countries.

That, he said had become necessary for them to intensify their sensitization on the violent extremism in the communities because the level of their security in the country was low as the extremists were targeting Ghana’s borders with other neighboring countries to strike.

Mr. Kasim warned them to be mindful of strangers they accept in their churches to worship with them as such questionable characters also targeted churches and markets.

He said security was a shared responsibility and everybody should be keepers of their neighbors.

He appealed to them to volunteer information to the security personal about people involved in criminal activities in their areas.

Some of the church members appealed to NCCE to extend their sensitization to all educational institutions to avoid kidnappings of pupils in such institution, or attacking such institutions violently.

Mr. Agbesi Uriah Boafo, the Yendi S.D.A church clerk expressed the church’s appreciation to NCCE for educating them on violent extremism because without peace they would neither worship nor carry out their work in the Municipality.

Mr. Boafo called on the members to also spread the message to the people they were living with to curb this extremism in the country