APA – Accra (Ghana)
The call by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on the United Nations (UN) Security Council that there is the urgent need for a collective response to deal with the rising incidence of violent extremism and terrorism is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has told the United Nations (UN) Security Council that there is the urgent need for a collective response to deal with the rising incidence of violent extremism and terrorism.
He said no single country, regardless of its might, was immune to the scourge of terrorism and violent extremism, nor could one country alone respond effectively to such threats.
President Akufo-Addo made the call when he addressed the UN Security Council Chamber at the UN Headquarters in New York yesterday.
He referred to the most recent report of the UN Secretary-General on the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known by its Islamic acronym, Da’esh, to the international community, which was released in February this year, as well as the 2022 Global Terrorism Index and the 2022 report of the African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism.
He said those raised issues about an increase in the incidence of terrorism and violent extremism across Africa, with the attendant evolution in their modes of operation.
Indeed, he said, data on casualties on the continent were particularly sobering.
“It is for these reasons that Ghana reaffirms its condemnation of all acts of extremism and terrorism and urges the civilised world to do same. Our common humanity and existence depends on it,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo also expressed worry about the steady transformation of Africa into an arena for violent extremism and terrorism.
The newspaper says that the Bank of Ghana has warned the general public to stop using cedi banknotes as bouquets and hampers when gifting people.
It said the currency was issued to be used as a medium of exchange for the purchase of goods and services.
The Director of the Currency Department at the central bank, Mr. Dominic Owusu, told journalists on Thursday, March 30, 2023 that any other use of the currency was illegal and subject to prosecution.
He said the bank had noticed that some people were using the cedi notes as bouquets and hampers as gifts during weddings, birthdays and other celebrations, a practice he said must be stopped.
He said beyond being illegal, such acts made it easier for the notes to spoil or get defaced.
Given that spoilt and worn-out notes are replaced at a cost, he said such acts affected the operations of the central bank.
Mr Owusu was speaking to journalists on how to preserve the currency as part of events marking Ghana month in March.
He said the local currency was a great symbol of the country and efforts to preserve its quality and cleanliness must be prioritised by all.
The Ghanaian Times reports that parts of the coun¬try are expected to experience inter¬ruptions in power supply for 14-days as the Ghana Gas Company Limited temporarily shuts down its Atuabo Gas Pro¬cessing Plant for maintenance.
According to the Ministry of Energy, the exercise, started on Saturday, when completed, would ensure the reliability of the gas processing plant and transmission infrastructure in the country.
A statement issued by the Communications and Public Af¬fairs Unit of the Ministry yester¬day said the Electricity Company of Ghana is expected to release a schedule for the power supply interruptions.
“In order to manage the im¬pact of the shutdown, the gov¬ernment is procuring additional gas from Nigeria, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), and Light Crude Oil (LCO), to complement available domestic gas for power genera-tion,” it said.
The statement said in line with the ‘Dum siesie’ programme of ensuring reliable power supply through maintenance, the min¬istry was working actively with all stakeholders to mitigate the adverse effect of the exercise.
After four years of preparatory and construction work on the $1-billion onshore gas process¬ing plant located at Atuabo near Takoradi in the Western Region, was unveiled in September 2015.
It process more than 180,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic use, representing about 70 per cent of the national requirement of 240,000 tonnes.
From time to time, it is shut down for maintenance to im¬prove its efficiency.
The newspaper says that fuel prices will fall be¬tween 2 per cent and 9 per cent for the third consecu¬tive time from next month, with Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) expected to witness its biggest decline in recent times.
According to the Institute for Energy Security, LPG would go down by about 9 per cent, while petrol and diesel will witness between 2 per cent and 5 per cent drop.
The institute attributed the ex¬pected drop to the stability of the cedi to the dollar, and the easing of prices of finished products on the world market.
“Fuel consumers must expect another round of fuel price drops in the coming days. The imminent price drop is a reflection of hap¬penings on the world fuel market over the past two weeks, which shows decline in prices of Petrol, Liquefied Petroleum Gas and some other finished products,”
Nana Amoasi VII, Executive Di¬rector of the Institute for Energy Security, told Joy Business.
“In the last 14 days, the price of Petrol on the world market posted a drop of $21 per metric tonne. Diesel also dropped by roughly 3.6 per cent from the previous price of $813 per metric tonne,” he added.
Nana Amoasi VII said, “LPG is the product that posted the biggest drop in price over the last two weeks on the world market. The commodity’s price fell by a whopping $95 per metric tonne, about 15 per cent drop”.
GIK/APA