President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has provided insight into the Government’s ambition to broaden Ghana’s human capital base, stating that the agenda is to ensure rapid development.

“We are paying a great deal of attention to the reconstruction of our educational system, right from primary school to university, because our view is relatively simple – it is people that develop nations, not resources,” he stated.

President Akufo-Addo, in an interaction with officials of the US-based Indiana University (IU), at the Jubilee House, Accra, said “education has been at the centre of what we are trying to do here in Ghana in the last decade.”

The country’s objective is to balance its vast natural resources with the necessary human capital for wealth creation and sustainable growth.

Ghana, despite its well-endowed resources, is still struggling to make the most out of what nature has bequeathed the West African nation – gold, diamond, bauxite, iron ore, lithium, cocoa, oil, arable land, natural gas reserves, among others.

The World Bank, in its 2022 report on Country Climate and Development Report on Ghana, noted that the country had not been able to maintain its natural resources.

The country lags in most indicators of sustainable use of natural resources and environmental health, says the Report.

“You can have all the resources you want but if you do not have the human capital in exploiting them, it is like not having at all,” President Nana Akufo-Addo noted, justifying the huge investment in education under his administration.

The IU delegation, led by Hilary Kahn, the Vice President for International Affairs, is in the country to deepen partnership with the University of Ghana, Legon, as part of its global engagement strategy.

Ghana’s foremost university has been a long-standing partner of the IU, with a focus on research collaboration, faculty and student exchanges, and joint initiatives in Artificial Intelligence, climate change, environmental and health sciences, data science, development policy and African languages and cultures.

Dr Kahn said the IU was delighted to be associated with the University of Ghana, and hoped the collaboration would inure to the benefit of the two countries, especially around human resource development.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged ECOWAS heads of state to reach an agreement and establish a clear policy direction to combat terrorism in the Sahel region.

He emphasized that if ECOWAS were to make any meaningful impact in resolving regional terrorism challenges, a strategy must be agreed upon immediately.

President Akufo-Addo made the remarks when the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, called on him at the Jubilee House in Accra on Monday.

Dr. Touray and his entourage were in Accra to seek President Akufo-Addo’s leadership and advice on combating terrorism in the region.

He was also there to get the President’s backing for efforts to discourage Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso from quitting the Commission.

President Nana Addo was unequivocal that Ghana would be unable to lead the charge on the issues unless the regional bloc worked together.

“This cannot be a Ghanaian initiative. It must be an ECOWAS-wide initiative and I feel that for us to have real clarity going forward, we need an agreement amongst the heads of state as to our strategy going forward.

“It is on that basis that we can flesh out the other matters that you have talked about.

“The whole scenario that is emerging requires that we have a consensus amongst us as to how we treat the alliance of Sahel states. For me, that is the noble point.

“The epicenter of terrorism in our region is there…I think it is important that the Heads of State meet to clarify exactly what are the parameters in which we should go in trying to define the policy,” he stated.

Dr. Touray told President Akufo-Addo that his assistance would be required to bring Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali back into the regional bloc. 

“Your leadership will also be required in bringing the three countries that have indicated their intention to leave ECOWAS. We believe ECOWAS needs to continue to engage them because their exit from ECOWAS threatens us in more than one way.”

Dr Touray said the exit of the three countries threatened the security of the region, because Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali were the epicenter of the fight against terrorism in the Sahel.

He argued that the departure of the trio from the bloc presented a threat to regional administration, emphasizing that it could lead to unconstitutional actions with public support, and urged President Akufo-Addo to “bring them back to ECOWAS.”

Dr also apprised the President on the results of recent engagements and discussions on regional counter-terrorism measures, which the commission was certain would yield the intended results.

“On your instructions and on the instruction of your colleagues, we have convened meetings of Chief of Defence Staffs, Ministers of Defence and Security to look at ways and means of deactivating ECOWAS’s standby force and review ECOWAS plans of action which ends this year but not much has happened since when it was adopted,” he said

Some of the proposals obtained as part of their engagements include the creation of a regional standby force of at least 5000 men and women, with a support budget of around $2.4 billion.

Another plan is to form a Brigade of 1500 men and women, with a budget about $1 billion.

Dr. Touray mentioned that the Commission was looking for assistance with how to raise funds, either internally or through external sources, to meet its peacekeeping financial requirements.

“We believe your mission would include leading us on ways to raise the 25 per cent that we need to raise, whether we decide to go for the 5000 or 1500 and whether we would have to raise the resources internally or with partner support,” he said.

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has appealed to the media not to propagate political messages that fuel religious intolerance ahead of the 2024 General Election.

The Commission said religious intolerance and divisiveness in political campaign messages were dangerous and urged the citizenry to disregard political actors who promoted such deeds.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, Ms Kathleen Addy, Chairperson, NCCE, also appealed to the media to cross-check facts before publication and discourage the use of intemperate language on their platforms.

The meeting heralded the official commencement of work of the NCCE’s Inter-Party Dialogue Committees (IPDC) – a unifying body to promote peace and tolerance among political parties before, during, and after the general elections.

The IPDCs serve as a platform for dialogue and collaboration among political parties, stakeholders, and citizens to address electoral concerns, promote tolerance, and mitigate conflicts.

Ms Addy said religious tolerance was essential in promoting peaceful coexistence and encouraged citizens to safeguard the peace and harmony existing among various religious groups.

“We are paying close attention to religious intolerance and ethnic-based campaigns that are divisive and do not augur well for us.

“It is a very unhealthy practice, and we hope that as time goes on and we deepen and mature in our democracy, we will see less of that,” she said.

The NCCE reiterated its caution against the continuous monetisation of elections, describing the phenomenon as a threat to Ghana’s democracy.

Ms Addy urged the public to desist from demanding money from political actors as doing so would weaken their ability to demand accountability.

“We want to see a situation where this time the media is consciously disallowing political actors from using their platforms to promote negative things, she said, and added: “let’s not give oxygen to fake news.”

Sheikh Armiyawo Shaibu, the spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, appealed to the youth to abstain from politicians who had the intention to influence them to perpetuate violence for political power.

He also appealed to the media to constantly educate the public on their civic responsibilities and promote positive practices.

“If you don’t educate, what you do is to ‘mis-educate,’ when you do not inform, you misinform.” Sheikh Shaibu said.

Reverend Father Kwasi Adjei Clement, Secretary General, Catholic Bishops Conference, appealed to the media not to entertain any political party which sought to draw politics into religion and rallied the public to disregard such political messages.

Manye Naa Badu Adiagba I, representative of the Abelenkpe and Dzorwulu Traditional Stool, urged the NCCE’s dialogue committees to trace and detect early warning signals and device proactive measures to counter any disturbance in the upcoming elections.