Ghana is not fully prepared to survive any terrorist attack, according to Professor Kwesi Aning, Head of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).
The nation's intended level of preparedness against a terrorist assault is "zero," according to the security expert.
He explained that his claim is based on the findings of a study project his organization undertook in an interview with Benjamin Akakpo on the AM Show on Tuesday.
He pointed out that there is still more to be done to prevent the nation from suffering in the case of a terrorist strike. "I visited every border crossing in this nation between July and September of 2020 and produced the United Nations report on Ghana's war vulnerability, paying particular attention to the six northern areas.
That portrayed a bleak image of lack of readiness, hollow rhetoric, and a propensity for waxing poetic without putting the necessary logistics in place. I visited Kumbungu, Pusiga, Paga, Hamile, and Bawku before arriving there. The readiness level is zero, he said.
According to his research, Professor Aning said, he also learned that Ghana is a "net exporter of the instruments and the infrastructure for violence."
In order to protect the nation's peace and security, he stated, this demands the attention of all pertinent parties.
His remarks followed a recent study by Promediation that found that more than 200 Ghanaians had joined four infamous jihadist organizations active in West Africa.
These young recruits are brought back to their home villages to participate in religious proselytizing after receiving training in the Sahel, posing a security threat to the nation.
Due to their capacity to enlist locals who have been taught to carry out their instructions, these jihadist organizations may eventually establish themselves in specific areas of Ghana's northern regions.
Due to its proximity to the northern Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso's Cascades region, Ghana appears to be particularly exposed.
Northern Ghana is actually a perfect cross-border withdrawal and control zone for armed groups due to the increasing presence of katibas, particularly GSIM-JNIM, in the Cascades region in 2021 as well as the intensification of a strategy of attacks and settlements against the neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.
This is particularly true because these highly bandit-infested regions provide access to highly desirable illicit resources like livestock rustling and covert gold mine, according to the study.
Dr. Ishmael Norman, a security analyst, has already claimed that Ghana is just as vulnerable to terrorist attacks as the nations currently facing them.
He asserts that corruption and terrible living circumstances are just two of many underlying issues that might easily lead to terrorist strikes in the nation.
"As a nation, we shouldn't deny the reality. Because there are many underlying reasons why a bunch of bandits or terrorists will attack this state, we are just as vulnerable to terrorist assaults as Nigeria, Togo, or any other nation in the region. T
The economy is in dire straits, there is a great deal of corruption at the top levels of government, and all of these aggravating circumstances might lead individuals to break the law and commit bad deeds, he remarked in June of this year.
Following the release of the most recent report, a number of security analysts, including Professor Aning and Adib Saani, have made many recommendations that they feel can be used to combat any insurrections.
The government's "See Something, Say Something" campaign is still in place to lessen any unrest in the nation.
The goal of the program, which the National Security Agency initiated in May of this year, is to get people to report terrorism-related suspicious activity. This campaign's objective is to increase public awareness of potential terrorist threats and encourage them to report suspicious individuals and activity.
It is a component of the operational strategy for coordinating citizen and security agency actions to protect the nation's borders. In order to secure the territorial borders and establish a formidable plan for handling national security threats across the country, this national security strategy is also anticipated to see a combined security action in response to security concerns from citizens.
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