The Wa Municipal Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has held a sensitization session on conflict and violent extremism with students of Nakori-Chansa Technical Institute, a fast-rising public technical training institution under the Ghana TVET Service, in the Wa Municipality.
The sensitization formed part of the commission's Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE) program, which is a nationally coordinated program, aimed at empowering citizens to counter the threats of violent extremist activities in the country.
According to the Municipal Programmes Officer of the NCCE, Mr Frederick Bondong, the role of young people, especially students in preventing conflicts and violent extremism and fostering a peaceful society was very critical because they were mostly the target of violent extremist groups.
He said violent extremists usually prey on the vulnerability of young people to recruit them into activities of violence by luring them with money and other forms of material possessions and rewards.
"And sometimes, these violent extremists, they target the young ones, influence them with money and sometimes, some material things. They even give them training, online training, as to what to do," he observed.
He noted that sensitization has also become necessary to equip the students with techniques to identify and nip in the bud triggers of conflicts and violence, especially in this electioneering year.
Mr Bondong intimated that the dangers of conflict and violent extremism could not be overemphasized as he said "a threat to peace anywhere is a threat to peace anywhere."
He added that issues of conflict and violent extremism could lead to killings which might result in the loss of lives of prominent and influential community members and crippling of the country's economy through killing of the working population.
Mr Bondong, therefore, urged the students to refuse to be used as actors in conflict or violent extremist activities by such groups, known as "spoilers", despite whatever incentives they might propose to offer.
He encouraged them to report any attempts of that sort or any hints of violent extremist activities to appropriate authorities in line with the popular "See Something, Say Something" mantra.
Mr Bondong called on the general public, especially landlords to do a due diligence check before renting out their facilities to people, lest they harbour violent extremists.
He cautioned that violent extremist activities were not far away from Ghana as neighbouring countries had experienced such already, saying that “we [Ghana] haven’t experienced it yet doesn’t mean it can’t happen to us”.
Some students of the school who participated in the session said they learned a great deal of information regarding conflicts, violent extremism, and electoral violence from the session.
"I learnt that in conflict resolution, before I do anything, I have to first find the root cause of the conflict and then take it from there by speaking to the parties involved," Miss Ridwan Takiyat, one of the students, said.
The students promised to adhere to the pieces of advice that were given by the officials of the NCCE at the session including reporting suspicious activities and staying away from luring attempts of violent extremists.