Sensitise students to curb campus insecurity- Security analyst  

A security analyst has called for increased security education to curb growing insecurity on university campuses.

According to Adam Bonah, increasing the presence of security personnel on campuses without commensurate security education will not yield much.

The head of Security Warehouse Limited was speaking to Daniel Dadzie, host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Showing Monday following the stabbing of a final year Psychology Student of the University of Ghana, Legon.  

Armed robbers attacked Daniel Osei Saturday night leaving him in a pool of blood as he bled profusely from deep wounds from the head and legs.

The student was reportedly attacked along the road leading from Pentagon to the Evandy hostel which is situated on the university campus.

Daniel is currently on admission at the 37 military hospitals.

Identifying the source of the growing campus insecurity, Mr. Bonah pointed to the growing population of the university community which includes students, university workers, traders and visitors.

For instance, according to the University of Ghana’s website, student population stood at 37,940 in 2016,

This population size, Mr. Bonah reckoned has a telling effect on the resources need to manage university security such as security personnel needed to police the university, lighting in and around campus and adequately identifying all persons who access the university community.

According to him, the situation has been aggravated by the additional student hostels which have been situated at remote parts of the university and outside of campus with little security and inadequate lighting.

To address the problem in the short term, the security consultant proposed a stakeholder conference which will include students, university management, private hostel owners, university security and the ministry of education.

This meeting, he urged should fashion out educational programmes aimed at informing students and other users of the university campus on their role in keeping the university and themselves safe.

According to him, this is important because most students are not security conscious. These students, he explained gained their freedom for the first time on campus without the supervision of their parents or teachers.  They, therefore, need considerable education on what constitutes security threat and how to respond effectively.

On a long term approach to addressing the menace, Mr. Bonah called on the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwasi Yanker to use his experience during his days as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana to fashion out a policy which can effectively provide leadership for University security management.

Beyond the policy intervention, the security consultant called for collaboration between all parties who have security responsibility on the campuses.

It had been alleged by a Radio Universe Journalist on the Super Morning Show that the university had contracted the services of a security agency to provide security on campus, which is being done on the blindside of the Head of  Security of the University of Ghana.

But Mr. Bonah posited that this is unhealthy as, without effective collaboration, the needed results cannot be achieved.

Ending on a technological note, he called on the university to switch from the national grid as the source of power on the campus following erratic power supply and use solar energy to ensure that the campus is lit at all times.

He has also called on students to be provided with lone walker alarm systems which can be triggered to alert people within a radius of 200 meters of any security threat.