The Nabdam District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Joachim Elbazar, has called on parents to inculcate in their children the spirit of punctuality, honesty and hard work, to become more responsible citizens.

He said parents had a crucial role in shaping the lives of their children, and their ability to instill in them discipline and orderliness would enable them to become responsible citizens and guard themselves against violent extremists. 

“Your children would only be able to cater for your needs at your old age when you train them to be responsible and as parents, that task is on you now to instill in them discipline, to enable them to resist the activities of violent extremists and contribute meaningfully to national development,” he added.

Mr Elbazer said this when he engaged parents and guardians at Gane-Asonge in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region on violent extremism.

The engagement formed part of the Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE) project being implemented by the NCCE across eight border regions of the country, including the Upper East, Upper West, North East, Northern, Savannah, Bono, Bono East, and the Oti Regions.

It is being funded by the European Union (EU) and aimed at creating awareness about violent extremism and facilitating activities to engender among the citizens of Ghana, security consciousness, social inclusiveness, community cohesion, and situational awareness.

He emphasised that the youth were the targets of the violent extremists, and parents had a role to play in helping their children guard themselves against radicalization.

The Principal Civic Education Officer of the NCCE, Nabdam District, Fatima Atamina Mohammed, said the peace being enjoyed could not be taken for granted and underscored the need for parents to be vigilant and help the security agencies fight crime.

According to her, “security is a collective responsibility, and as citizens, it is bestowed on us to help the security agencies, since they cannot be everywhere at the same time, by reporting to them suspicious characters and other activities that have the tendency to mar the peace we are enjoying.”.

The National Deputy Director of the NCCE, Victor Brobbey, urged parents to help the NCCE advance education on violent extremism by speaking to their children and others on occasions, for the maintenance of peace for development to thrive.

Mr Norbert Naab Tulbil, a participant, expressed gratitude to the NCCE for the education on security consciousness but bemoaned that unemployment was a serious problem frustrating the youth and needed to be tackled.

He said: “For the youth not to be lured because of their financial dependency and curiosity, the government needs to tackle the issue of unemployment, and this includes creating job opportunities and ensuring that those who are 60 years old go on retirement without contract, to pave the way for the youth."