The Minister for Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has charged Ghanaian media houses to dedicate time in creating awareness on their various platforms towards supporting government’s campaign against terrorism and violent extremism in the country.
He made the remarks during the launch of the National Security Citizen Education Campaign in Accra on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.
According to him, just as the media played a significant role in the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, it owes it as a responsibility to help raise awareness level amongst Ghanaians and further educate Ghanaians on the terrorism threats we face as a country.
“The focus for my colleagues in the media from here on should be on the terrorism threats that we face. We should focus on how to get our people to understand the nature of the threats, how to get them to understand their role in helping to assist our security and intelligence agencies to respond appropriately”, he said.
“If we get our people to understand, it will help them take necessary actions to help our security agencies counter terrorism. That is why I am calling on you my colleagues in the media, and as we commence from today, to make time on your various platforms to help us engage the public not in fear but to deepen the understanding so that all can play their part,” he added.
The West African Region has in recent weeks been inundated with attacks by extremist elements some of which have occurred as close as 50 kilometers from Ghana’s northern frontiers.
Within the first quarter of 2022, out of the 346 terrorist attacks in various African countries, 49 per cent of them have occurred in the West African sub-region.
As recently as May 11th, 2022, in Togo, about 15 assailants and 8 military personnel were killed during a terrorist attack.
This has prompted Government to put its security and intelligence agencies on heightened alert and at the same time, rally Ghanaians as part of a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach to mitigating security threats that confront the state.
The campaign dubbed “See Something, Say Something” is aimed at mobilizing and providing persons in the jurisdiction with more security education and deepen engagement with the Ghanaian public in line with contemporary security practices to counter acts of terrorism and violent extremism.
The Minister encouraged Ghanaians to also take issues that pertains to national security seriously. He said we should make it a point to report issues that threatens the security of our immediate environment to the state’s security and intelligence agencies.
Source: MOI (PR Unit)
