Mr Wilberforce Zangina, the North East Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on Ghanaian students to eschew violence and resist monetary inducement ahead of the December 7, 2024, general elections.
He said electoral violence, vote buying, spreading of fake news, and religious intolerance were affronts to the democratic fabric of the country and students must build resistance against those activities, to safeguard and maintain the peace of the country.
The Director made the remarks when he addressed students of the Gambaga College of Education as part of the phase-two of sensitisation sessions for tertiary students under the European Union (EU) sponsored project dubbed ‘Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE)’.
It aimed at providing students with essential information on PCVE and terrorism while empowering them to be role models and influencers within their social circles and communities and equipping them with the knowledge to report any suspicious a
ctivities in their areas.
The sensitisation also focused on augmenting students’ understanding of peacebuilding mechanisms, social cohesion, community-based mechanisms for countering violent extremism, including identifying warning signals, and basic community-based strategies for countering arms proliferation.
Mr Zangina noted that there was a need for civic engagement that fostered a sense of unity and patriotism in the youth to prevent violence and radicalisation during the elections, to maintain the peace of the country and propel development.
That, he said, became necessary following deliberate attempts targeted at the youth to recruit them to cause havoc during electioneering periods and must be avoided before such activities degenerated into breeding grounds for activities of violent extremism.
‘Tertiary-level students, who are in a crucial phase of shaping their political and social beliefs, can be easily targeted by violent extremists through social networks and with support from the EU, the NCCE
aims to educate these students to protect themselves from radicalization and to inspire others as positive role models,’ he stressed. Mr George Asare, the Regional Commander, National Investigation Bureau (NIB), said the security services needed the support of all citizens in the fight against violent extremism and urged the students to be vigilant and report suspicious characters to the appropriate authorities, including community leaders and the security services.
He also called on the students to exempt themselves from any violent activity that had the tendency to jeopardise the peace of the country.
Source: Ghana News Agency