By Abebe Dawuni
Yendi, March 1, GNA Ya-Na Abukari II the Overlord of Dagbon has commended the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for their efforts at educating the citizens on their rights and responsibilities.
He expressed personal gratitude for benefiting from civic education, particularly as his grandson served as the Yendi Municipal Director of NCCE in the Municipality.
Ya-Na gave the commendation when the new Northern Regional Director of NCCE Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed called on him at the Gbewaa Palace at Yendi in the Northern Region.
He said the Yendi NCCE regularly briefed him on the progress of NCCE activities, emphasising the impact of the Commission in the Municipality despite the challenges they were facing in educating the entire municipality.
Ya-Na assured the NCCE of his continuous support and affirmed that his palace doors were always open to the Commission.
He pledged to collaborate closely with them to enhance effective civic education in the region.
Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed for his part indicated that his courtesy call on Ya-Na formed part of engagement with key stakeholders in the region and to strengthen the collaboration between the NCCE and the key stakeholders.
He said the visit was also to monitor and assess the progress of Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism (PCVE) activities being undertaken by NCCE with funding from the European Union.
The Director said the aim of the activity was to prevent and contain violent extremism by promoting peaceful coexistence and inter-faith tolerance, raising awareness of violent extremism at various locations identifying signs of radicalization and providing strategies to prevent radicalization among youth.
Alhaji Aliyu said the significance of the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary elections emphasising the need to hold political leaders accountable for their actions to ensure peaceful elections.
He applauded Ya-Na for his recent admonishment of political figures such as Vice President Alhaji Mahamudu Bawunia and former President John Dramani Mahama urging them to conduct clean campaigns.
He expressed his concern about the reckless riding of motorbikes in the region without crash helmets and appealed to Ya-Na to intervene and lend his voice to encourage citizens to prioritise wearing them to reduce the risk of sustaining serious head injuries during accidents.
In a related development in briefing the media, Mr Osman Kassim the Yendi Municipal Director of NCCE said the Commission was faced with a number of challenges to carry out effective civic education in the Municipality.
He said the lack of vehicles and publicity vans were their major challenges and appealed to Ya-Na to intervene and appeal to the government to allocate a publicity van to the Commission in Yendi for dedicated and effective work in educating the citizens on their rights and responsibilities.
GNA