Campaign against ‘sakawa’ launched in Yendi

Some stakeholders and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have started a campaign to stop Internet fraud, popularly called ‘sakawa’, among the youth in the Yendi municipality in the Northern Region.

To achieve that, a taskforce involving key stakeholders has been set up to take the sensitisation of the youth to schools in the area.

The taskforce is made up of chiefs, assembly members, representatives of the Yaa Naa, Mahama Abukari II; the Mion Lana, Mahamudu Abdulai; the Yo-Na, Andani Yakubu Abdulai, women and youth groups as well as some opinion leaders.

The consortium of NGOs collaborating with the chiefs and the people in the municipality for the campaign are the Rural Water and Development Programme (RWDP) of the Church Of Christ and the 7AS College of Sciences and Technology (COSTECH).

The partners organised a workshop in Yendi last week for the stakeholders in the campaign.

Collaboration

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the RWDP of the Church of Christ, Mr Nathaniel Adams, explained that the workshop was aimed at engaging the various stakeholders to collectively stand against the Sakawa menace.

He underscored the need for collaboration among the stakeholders to provide guidance, support and security to reduce the menace among the youth.

Mr Adams also said it was important to address issues of poor parental care, poverty and other social challenges that led young people into Sakawa.

He urged the youth in the municipality to take advantage of the government’s numerous programmes in agriculture, industrialisation and entrepreneurship to earn a living.

The chief executive also urged members of the taskforce to be diligent in their work to ensure that they achieved the needed results.

Commendation

The Yendi Municipal Chief  Executive (MCE), Alhaji Hammed Yussif  Abukari, commended the organisers of the campaign for the initiative.

He said parents had a social part to play in curbing the menace, even as the government had its legal part to play.

Mr Abukari called on the sakawa representatives who participated in the workshop to go back and sensitise their colleagues to stay away from the practice.

Significance

A Professor of Design at the Harding University Searly, Arkansas, USA, Ms Amy Cox, who facilitated the workshop, said similar workshops were necessary to build a holistic society where the youth would have a better future.

She urged the youth in the area to take up skills training as a way of gaining sustainable livelihoods and stay away from Sakawa.

Prof. Cox also encouraged them to take their education seriously, since that was the surest way to grow to be useful citizens.