Revamp cultural heritage – Minister

Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, Northern Regional Minister, has reiterated the need to revamp the country’s cultural heritage to ensure a spirit of patriotism in the younger generation.

According to the Minister, recent patronage of local artifacts is high among the youths who now recognise the value of their culture, and hence the need to ensure its sustainability to avoid being overshadowed by other cultures.

“It will also generate more revenue to the nation if all stakeholders could eschew tribalism and politicisation and rather support government to achieve set goals to enhance the economy.”

The Regional Minister said these at the inauguration of a 14-member Northern Regional Cultural Committee (NRCC) to help educate and embark on activities to attract the public’s interest in cultural activities to promote development in the region.

The committee is chaired by Saha-Naa Abdul-Latif Abubakari, a staff at the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, with most of the members being civil and public servants who are to work with the Centre for National Culture (CNC) for achievement of its objectives.

He noted that the lack of these activities have been compelling the youth to engage in mischievous conduct, resulting in teenage pregnancy which has been deterring some from achieving and thereby jeopardising their future.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru stressed that revamping the cultural heritage will serve as a practical aspect of the school’s curriculum to acquire more knowledge to improve academic performance in the country.

Alhaji Mohammed-Muniru said culture in the past had promoted and fostered unity as well as social cohesion, and urged the committee members not to rely solely on government for funding support but use innovative ways of mobilising funds to undertake their activities.

He said most of the government policies had been transmitted to the people through their culture, and that aspects of outmoded culture need to be reformed to meet modern standards.

He said the region has waged a war against environmental pollution, deforestation and poor sanitation, which are derailing cultural values and traditions; and that because of the violation of cultural values, environmental pollution and poor sanitation have become serious problems in many communities in Ghana.

Gladys Tang, acting Northern Regional Director of the Centre for National Culture (CNC), said even though government has supported the centre in diverse ways it currently faces financial and logistical constraints, and appealed for support from both the government and philanthropists.

She said even though the centre is the repository of culture, it can no longer gather audiences at its auditorium in Tamale because of poor acoustics in the building and the auditorium leaks during rainfall -- and therefore appealed to the Northern Regional Coordinating Council to help rehabilitate the structure.

She noted that embarking on cultural activities for the youth in their schools will help them to know much about their culture, which would go a long way to instil discipline in society.

She called for a market for the artifacts, saying such a market will help expand the business to employ more of the youth and reduce poverty in the region.

Mrs. Tang observed that the region has lots of eco-tourism activities that can help generate revenue for developmental projects, and hence the need for all to support in achieving the set goals to attract more investors to the North and help alleviate poverty.