Mr David Angaamba, the Principal Programmes Manager, Upper East Regional Peace Council, has cautioned tertiary students to be mindful of online predators in as much as they use social media to support their studies.
He urged them to be vigilant in the use of the Internet in order not to be radicalised by violent extremists who use social media to court their victims.
Mr Angaamba threw the caution to students at the Zuarungu Nurses Training School in the Bolgatanga East District of the Upper East Region, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a sensitisation session on violent extremism.
The sensitisation is part of the tertiary level activities on Prevention and Containing Violent Extremism, in collaboration with the National Commission on Civic Education.
He said tertiary students were not left out as they fell under the youth category with different backgrounds, who could influence each other.
“Others come from already volatile environments where tolerance is a problem, and they come into the school to radicalise their colleagues, and promote riot demonstrations at the detriment of their studies and in the end cause injury, sometimes deaths or destroy school property,” he said.
“In the Upper East in recent times, most second cycle schools have been noted not for any good reason but always for student riots”.
Mr Angaamba reiterated that tertiary students, upon graduation, would move out into the job market and in the absence of a job, they were are easily radicalised into joining extremist groups.
“Some of the violent extremist organisations promise better lives because they use persuasive words to achieve their goals hence choosing a tertiary institutions by the peace council to carry out the sensitization programme,” he said.
Mr Angaamba, during the session with the student nurses, explained to them the triggers, effects and ways to resist and withstand the appeals of terrorism.
He said violent extremism was real and cited some circumstances in the region that made the area vulnerable, which included marginalisation and unresolved conflicts.
However, he noted that as a country, Ghana was lucky because of the strong social concession that existed in communities.
GNA