Illiteracy Is The Bane Of Muslims’ Development – Sheikh Bamba

Sheikh Amin Bamba

The Chief Executive Officer of the Bamba Islamic Institute Ghana (BII-Ghana), Sheikh Amin Bamba, has observed that one key factor that has slowed down the pace of development of Ghanaian Muslims is high rate of illiteracy. 

According to him, “illiteracy has denied and continues to deny majority of our people critical information that they require to make informed economic, social and political decisions to improve their livelihood and general wellbeing.

“It is therefore logical to suggest that the appropriate strategy to address the illiteracy challenge is to use the United Nations’ concept of ‘partnership for the goals’, to package either relevant information or educational programs that can be delivered to the people through their religious and traditional representatives”.

Sheikh Amin Bamba said these in Tamale at the launching engagement of Traditional and Muslim religious leaders programme under the theme: “Promoting Community Development: The Role of the Muslim Clerics”.

The programme seeks to break both cultural and religious barriers to all development efforts, especially those that hinder regional progress towards the full realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

It also seeks to engage Muslim leaders to build their capacity and facilitate their engagement with relevant government and non-governmental agencies for the development of their communities.

Sheikh Bamba also cited the good initiatives of the Christian Council of Ghana and the Catholic Bishops Conference in the social and political development of the country, and lamented that “the Muslim leadership on the other hand have not, as a group, made that much contribution largely due to inadequate capacity”.

Thus, he indicated BII-Ghana’s readiness to initiate Traditional and Islamic Religious Leaders on various programmes with the primary objective of training and equipping them with skills needed to take proactive initiatives towards community and national development. 

Supported by UNFPA, the issues identified by the programme being implemented by BII-Ghana through training in order to shape the wellbeing and development of the people of Tamale and for that matter, Northern Region, are maternal and infant mortalities. Other issues are family planning, child protection, child marriage, peace building, environmental and population among others. 

  

The Head of UNFPA Decentralised Office in Tamale, Mammah Tenii in his address, underscored the need to bridge the development gap between Northern Ghana and the rest of the country. 

“There is no doubt that there is development gap between Northern Ghana (the Savanna zone) and the remaining portions of the country. All indices of development point to this fact. Per the core principle of the SDGs, Northern Ghana cannot afford to be “left behind”, he said.

According to him, statistics from the 2010 Population and Housing Census report indicated that Muslims constitute 17.6 percent of the total population of Ghana whereas in the Northern Region, the figures show a whopping 70 percent.

“UNFPA is convinced that actively engaging community leaders including religious and traditional authority will pave the way for increase support for reproductive health and family planning”, Mr. Tenii noted.

He appealed to other development partners to come on board so that together, they could influence the total development of Ghanaians and for that matter, residents of the Northern Region.

 

Sagnarigu Chief Calls for an End to Child Marriage

Sagnarigu Chief

The Paramount Chief of the Sagnarigu Traditional Area in the Northern Region, Naa Yakubu Abdulai, has called on all his divisional chiefs and elders to support the fight against teenage pregnancy which often leads to child marriage.

Accordingly, he has directed all his divisional chiefs to spread the message to all nooks and crannies in the Sagnarigu Traditional Area so that residents especially parents would get the directive.

Naa Yakubu Abdulai made this clarion call when change agents under the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) project in the Sagnarigu District held an engagement meeting with him in the regular Friday sitting of his Traditional Council at his palace in Sagnarigu. 

The change agents were selected by Songtaba under the GAA project from among traditional and faith leaders as well as ‘magazias’ (women leaders) in the area to support the advocacy agenda under the project.

In attendance were Palace Technocrats, Elders, Traditional Priests, Assembly Members of the area, staff of Plan International Ghana and Songtaba.

The GAA project is a 5-year project that seeks to achieve equal rights and opportunities for girls and young women. It is being implemented by Songtaba in 4 Districts including Songtaba with support from Plan International Ghana. 

Aside the Northern Region where GAA is being rolled out in 40 communities across all four districts, other partner organisations of Plan International Ghana are also implementing the same project in the Upper West and  Eastern  Regions of Ghana. 

The GAA project centres on some five thematic areas; child marriage, sexual violence and abuse, commercial sexual exploitation of children and child sex tourism as well as access to Technical, Vocational Education Training (TVET) and decent employment opportunities for girls and young women. 

By the end of the 5 years, the project would have reduced child marriage and sexual abuse of girls and young women.

Besides, girls and young women would have increased access to TVET and to decent work opportunities.

An Islamic scholar and change agent under the project in the Sagnarigu District, Sheik Ilyas Umar, implored the Paramount Chief and his elders to really support Plan International Ghana and Songtaba in the fight against child marriage and commercial sexual exploitation of young girls in Sagnarigu and for that matter, Northern Region.

He observed that, child marriage in the North was increasingly being influenced by teenage pregnancy, and called for collaboration and support from the Paramount Chief of Sagnarigu in the fight against the menace as it was ruining the education and economic advancement of girls in the region.

Naa Yakubu Abdulai also observed that, the increasing trend of child marriage was caused by westernisation and globalisation, saying “Customs of Dagbon already frowns upon teenage pregnancy”.

He further argued that, the surge in child marriage and teenage pregnancy could not be entirely blamed on poverty.

Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted by Songtaba in five districts revealed that, girls as young as 13 years are being given out for marriage whereas in some cases, they are betrothed to men at birth and given out for marriage as soon as they have their first menses.

BESSFA Rural Bank Emerge Overall Winner At Northern Investor Awards

Mr. Solomon Awini

Fifty-Six (56) individuals, businesses and social enterprise organisations in Northern Ghana have been honoured at the maiden edition of the Northern Investor Awards held in Tamale in the Northern Region.

The awardees comprise of individuals and investors in various sectors of the economy including hotel and tourism, health, education, social entrepreneurship, media, agribusiness, fashion, arts and entertainment among others.

However, one of the major highlights of the well attended event was the overall award given to BESSFA Rural Bank Limited in the Bawku Municipality. 

General Manager of the Bank, Solomon Awini also received an award in the mentorship category. For his prize, he received a plague and a certificate as well as a trophy for his bank. 

Mr. Awini who is a former investment officer at SSNIT, took over the management of BESSFA Rural Bank at a time it could not pay workers salaries and give loans to small and medium enterprises to do business.

Speaking to Savannahnews shortly after being honoured, he said at the time he took over as General Manager of the bank in 1991, there was no money and most customers including individuals and organisations deserted the bank.  

He said he had to appeal to organisations such as the Catholic Church, Presby Agric Station and ISODEC who all spoke to their partners abroad to come and invest in the bank to enable it stand on its feet again.

The bank, he said, is now one of the best and formidable rural banks in the country, adding that BESSFA Rural Bank is currently the 29^th Rural Bank among 146 rural banks in Ghana and is rated strong, the highest rating given to a rural bank.

Over the years, he said the bank has provided scholarships to medical students to study abroad, paid fees of needy but brilliant students, donated books to educational institutions, donated building materials towards the construction of hostel facilities in schools and among others.

CEO, The Investor Consult

Personally, Mr. Solomon Awini has trained a dozen of young men and women who were later employed by other financial institutions that came later to establish businesses in Bawku. “I have sponsored some students on my own to complete school and they are working and taking care of their families”, he added.

BESSFA Rural Bank’s performance has not gone unnoticed. In recent times, it has received awards from USAID-ADVANCE, Apex Bank and the Northern Rural Growth Programme. 

Organised by business advisory company, The Investor Consult, the Northern Investor Awards seeks to recognise, appreciate, encourage and motivate hardworking entrepreneurs and investors in Northern Ghana.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of The Investor Consult, Prince Siita Hissan Sofo, the Awards also seeks to close up the gap in the recognition of entrepreneurs and investors in the North since most of these businesses would usually not be given the opportunity to compete favourably with their counterparts in the South.

He explained that, over 200 nominations were made into 17 different categories and eventually, 56 entries were shortlisted for the awards. 

Meanwhile other prominent sons and daughters who have served as role models and mentors to many young people in Northern Ghana over the years in their respective career fields were also honoured. 

They include the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Minister for Zongo and Inner City Development, Alhaji Boniface Abubakari Saddique, Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the immediate past Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Nashiru Issahaku and Minority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu.

The rest are Professor David Millar, Vice Chancellor of Millar Open University, Manasseh Azuri Awuni of Multimedia Group, Abdul-Hayi Moomen of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Alhassan Andani of Stanbic Bank Ghana, Dr. Abass Adam, a neuro surgeon and Alhaji Abdulai Yahaya, first District Secretary of Tamale under the CPP government.