The Builsa South District National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), held a youth engagement meeting on Preventing and Combating Violent Extremism (PCVE) on Wednesday June 21, 2023, at the Builsa South District Assembly Hall in Fumbisi.

The European Union-sponsored youth engagement brought together the District Chief Executive Officer, the Paga Immigration Service, and the Parish Priest of SS Peter & Paul Parish as resource persons.

Participants were a cross-section of the youth in the district, comprising of the leaders and representatives of the Fulbes (Fulani’s) Youth, Islamic and Christian communities, Youth Parliament, National Identification Authority (NIA), Builsa Student Development Association (BSDA), GPRTU, Artisans etc. It brought together youth in both the formal and informal sectors.

The NCCE Builsa South Director, Caroline Aliko, welcomed participants whilst reiterating the importance of the engagement meeting and acknowledged the European Union’s support. She added that this was in line with the broader goal of PCVE, which is to prevent and contain violent extremism by identifying early warning signals of extremist activities in the various communities. Therefore, calling on full participation.

The Paga Immigration Service led an in-depth session on the theme, “Preventing and Combating Violent Extremism”. The session was facilitated by Assistant Superintendent, Robert Ubindam and Superintendent SABI.

The session highlighted the theme keywords and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2008 (Act 762). The session created a call to action with some measures of combating violent extremism; through awareness creation, community surveillance and watching by both community members and security agencies. The national security campaign, “If you see something, say something”, and the emergency number 999 were re-emphasized.

The District Chief Executive, Daniel K. Gariba, supported the call to be all-inclusive in the PCVE campaign. He pledged the assembly’s support and commitment to the fight against violent extremism.

Rev. Fr. Michael Ochera, the Parish Priest of SS Peter and Paul Parish in Fumbisi led a session on peace building mechanisms and national cohesion. He highlighted the importance of the media in building national cohesion with its primary roles to educate, entertain and inform. He encouraged participants to actively raise awareness and promote arts and culture.

After a question and answer session with participants, goodwill messages were taken from representatives of the various youth groups and organizations present.

The participants came out with a communique pledging to live in peace in their communities.

The district NCCE director in her closing remarks, emphasised the role of the youth to be crusaders for peace and to quickly report any suspected persons in our communities to the law enforcement agencies to avoid any tension created by violent extremism.

She reminded participants of the commission’s mandate to continually sensitise the general public through community engagements and awareness creation.