The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Upper West Region has engaged youth groups and individuals in the Wa Municipality on the need to fight against the infiltration of violent extremism in the country.

The engagement was to educate the youth and individuals on the threat of violent extremism and terrorism and the various ways they could contribute to fighting the act for the betterment of the country.

The engagement was part of the Commission’s awareness creation and sensitization efforts under the European Union funded ‘’Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism’’ (PCVE) project.

Addressing participant, the Deputy Regional Director of the NCCE Mr. John K. Yibile said the project aimed at preventing and containing violent extremism and terrorism through the promotion of social cohesion in the five regions in the Northern , Upper West, Upper East, North East and Savannah regions and their respective neighbouring regions.

He said violent extremism was a threat to the peace of the country and stressed on the need for the youth to support the preventive measures such as creating awareness among themselves and serving as a watch dog to their various communities.

He advised the public to be vigilant in their various communities and report any suspicious moves to the authorities for investigation and immediate action.

The Wa Municipal Police Commander Assistant Superintendence of Police (ASP) Alhaji Bawah Abdul-Jalil who took the participants through peace building mechanism and National cohesion highlighted the need for a peaceful coexistence in the societies.

He said ensuring peaceful coexistence was key to preventing conflicts and violent extremism in the society and stressed on the need to respect each other’s opinion.

He said it was important for people to live in harmony by respecting the views, beliefs, culture, political parties and tradition of others.

He advised the youth against joining violent extremist who might lure and recruit them into their various groups to cause danger to the country.

Adding on, the Executive Director of the Community Development Alliance (CDA), a non-governmental organization in the region working on PCVE, Mr. Salifu Issifu Kanton said violent extremism was a serious challenge across the world hence the need for youth to be extra careful with the type of people they associated with.

He advised the public to adopt the ‘’See something, Say Something ‘’ campaign by reporting suspicious individuals or activities to the authorities for investigation and action.

He urged the youth to be agents of peace and play crucial roles to preventing conflicts in their various communities.

Some of the youth who were interviewed after the programme pledged to be ambassadors and advocates of national cohesion and peaceful co-existence in the country and to report any threat to national security for action to be taken.

Participants were taken through the causes, effects, some preventive measures of violent extremism and various ways to take during attacks from violent extremism.

FROM RAFIA ABDUL RAZAK, WA