A GNA feature by Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Fumbisi (U/E), Dec 30, GNA – Mr Mathias Ayonsey is a resident of the Builsa South District in the Upper East Region worried about the welfare of his younger brother.
Real situations
Andrews (not real name) his brother left the house, travelled down to the south in search of greener pastures having completed his tertiary education and was sitting at home for two years without securing any decent job.
“My brother is a trained nurse and somewhere in 2022, he contacted our relative who lives in Accra for financial support, which he offered him,” Mr Ayonsey said tearfully, however, “He eventually left home days later and started sending us voice notes that he had gotten an opportunity and left the country”.
According to Mathias, they were all shocked because the money that was given to him could not have facilitated documents required to travel outside the country.
“When we asked him which country he was in and the kind of opportunity he got, until today, he has not disclosed that to anyone but all he says in voice notes he sends is that he is safe and is working as a nurse and would come back in due time, but knowing him as our younger brother and son we are certain that he certainly is not in good hands and has probably been radicalised into joining some extremist group.
“Because this is someone who was calm, respectful and could not leave the house without saying goodbye to his brothers or parents and what is even more worrying is the fact that in those voice notes that he sends, it is clear he is being coached on what to say and repeats same anytime while we don’t even have his contact to reach him”. He added
He said they were more worried as a family because he had managed to convince his sister who has also started acting strangely and detest hearing that his brother has been radicalised, though she admits not also knowing his whereabouts, she was eager to join him wherever he is.
The story by Mr Ayonsey is not different as Mr John Apaabey, a former presiding member of the Builsa South District and current Assembly member for the Samsa-Zogsa Electoral Area shared a chilling account of how a known hairdresser in the district got lured with fancy promises and allegedly radicalized into joining suspected extremists’ group.
Mr John Apaabey, narrated that while from a conference he attended in Accra last year he received a voice message of a known hair dresser tbrough an unknown contact, telling another woman she believed she was directing the message, to be sent to her children she had left in her care for the family house because she was not sure she could make it back to Ghana alive.
Mr Appabey said upon listening to the voice note, he sensed, the woman was in trouble.
“So I called the number and the one who picked said he was a security official in Nigeria and the woman was part of a group that was captured on an unproved route and was detained in a remand home in Kaduna state, so l reported same to the family and her church members and started making follow ups”.
Apparently “she was lured by a woman who told her hair dressing was lucrative in Saudi Arabia and braiding a single head alone at the time was paid over GH₵1,000 and she was going to support her through a support system to travel to Saudi Arabia. So, she first travel to Kumasi where she and others were camped for some days and were later taken to Nigeria through unapproved routs”.
He said upon their arrival; they were camped for some days and was again taken through another unapproved routes to leave the country where they were caught and all efforts to contact the woman who was guiding them through the journey proved futile.
“Fortunately for us, the Chief of Doninga, Naab McAcarious Akanbeanab Akanbong then a diplomat was contacted who reached the Ghana’s consulate in Nigeria and furnished them with the information and followed up made leading to the release of the hairdresser together with other 20 Ghanaians who were then transported to Ghana through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, he added.
According to the Assemblyman, he personally went to Accra together with the families of the others to receive them because when he realized she wasn’t the only one lured he established contacts with the families of the others with their support.
Vulnerability
“Damn the consequences, I graduated from the University of Ghana with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and I have been unemployed for four good years now, I am not just waiting for government to employ me, but how to even get capital to start a business is a big problem and nothing to me is more scary than this so don’t be surprised if l say l will risk it for any group that would make my life meaningful”, One unemployed said in an interview with the Ghana News said in his frustration.
Another,Sarah Atiah (not real name), an employed graduate bemoaned that at a point in her life she almost ventured into commercial sex work just to survive.
“I completed my service in 2022 and virtually saved nothing. For the very first time in my life, I felt sorry for myself because there were days l had to borrow money from my friend just to buy sanitary pads and as l continued to pressure her, she told me l could also use my body and l nearly joined the trade”.
Fortunately, my Aunty called the next day and asked if l was interested as a salesgirl opportunity being advertized which I obliged either than that I was tired or was ready to do anything just to survive because when you are suffering you care less about the consequences”. She added.
These stories are not isolated as they only highlight the plight of many frustrated youth and reflects situations of Mohammed Nazir Nortei and Abubakar Mohammed of KNUST and Shakira Mohammed who were radicalized into joining Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
As hopes continue to fade, it is easy for many unemployed youths to be lured into dark promises of radicalization, where violence becomes the only means of expression.
The devastating link between youth unemployment and violent extremism is not just statistics, it is the story of lives lost, and futures stolen.
Interventions
Government and non-governmental organizations over the years have tried to proffer possible solutions to build the resilience of the youth against the activities of violent extremism by either getting them employed or building their capacities to guard themselves.
For instance, 100,000 unemployed graduates benefited from the Nation Builders Corps which has now fizzled off. Other flagship programmes such as the Planting for Food and Jobs, Youth Entrepreneurship programme among other government direct employment has benefited some of the youth.
The Peace Council through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the Atlantic Corridor project has been building the capacity of the youth and opinion leaders on the prevention of violent extremism in the Northern regions.
The National Commission for Civic Education with support from the European Union has also been embarking on dialogues on Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism in the five Northern Regions and two other adjoining regions.
In all these, its positive impact could not be denied, however, the vulnerability of the youth worsens by the day as a result of the high rate of unemployment.
Unemployment and the threat
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, the unemployment rate as at the first three quarters of 2023 stood at 14.7 percent, thus 1.85 million Ghanaians were unemployed.
It highlighted that on average, more than three-quarters, thus 77.4 percent of the total unemployed persons in the first three quarters of 2023 comprised the youth aged 15 to 35 years. This means almost 1.4 million out of the 1.85 million unemployed were youth.
A study by the UNDP in 2023, dubbed, “Understanding the multi-faceted drivers of radicalization to violent extremism in Northern Ghana” found that youth unemployment was the primary driver of vulnerability to violence in northern Ghana.
Mr Mutaru Mumuni Muqthar, Executive Director of the West Africa Centre for Counter Extremism (WACCE) indicated that interventions of the centre had helped to stopped 23 Ghanaian youth particularly in the northern regions from joining terrorists’ groups.
“All of these who have now been reintegrated back to society cited unemployment as the major reason for their displeasure and the fact that they were promised better conditions by these extremists’ groups” he stated
Mr Ali Anankpieng, Upper East Regional Executive secretary of the Peace Council said one of the key issues that emerged during the implementation of the Prevention of Violent Extremism (PVE) project under the Atlantic corridor project was youth unemployment and therefore important for government to act swiftly to avoid its possible implications.
Recommendations
When young people are denied the tools to succeed, they are left vulnerable to forces that seek to exploit their frustration and a government that ignores the cries for opportunity is complicit in the erosion of the future.
To address this, government must not only invest in education, but prioritise skills development and create meaningful employment opportunities, such that graduates don’t become worse off after completing their education and continue to wallow in the abyss of poverty.
Again, flagship programmes aimed at addressing the plight of the youth must be sustained and not fazed off after election as this would not only worsen their woes but would constitute deceit and would expose the inability of the government and the vulnerability of the youth to extremists’ groups to exploit.
GNA