The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rt. Rev. Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mante has called on all Churches in Ghana to establish counselling centres to help deal with addictions amongst the youth in the country.
He says this can help address the surge in addiction to alcohol, drugs, sports betting, and sex, among the Ghanaian Populace and the youth especially.
Rt. Rev. Prof. Mante believes that for the church to succeed in dealing with the problem of addiction, prayers and counselling must not be treated separately.
He, therefore, encouraged all denominations especially at the Presbyterian Church to add counselling to the prayers and other activities undertaken to curb the menace of addiction of their members and the communities at large.
“Prayer, together with specialized counselling, will do the work. If you only take specialized skills and counselling, it will not do the work. In the same vein, if you also take only prayer, prayer will only start with deliverance, but then people after deliverance will need counselling. I am therefore calling on the churches to actually establish counselling units in every district, starting with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana”, he said.
Rt. Rev. Prof. Mante was speaking at a special service held at the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Unity Congregation, Nkafoa, Cape Coast on the occasion of the dedication of Daniel Ntow Obese Children and Youths Resource Center (DNOCY).
He also appealed to the government to play its part in dealing with the portrayal of adverts and other media content which increases addiction among the youths.
“But precisely because of the issue of addiction, the government should help us. These days, there are people who are addicted to betting, and they advertise these things on television, on the radio, and so on. I know people are making money out of it, but once people get addicted to betting, they cannot stop. And I want to submit that the best way to stop addiction is to help our young people not to start at all”, he continued.
Dedication of the Daniel Ntow Obese Children and Youths Resource Center
The Daniel Ntow Obese Children and Youths Resource Center (DNOCY) is a 2-storey building with three rooms for children and youths service, a 12-seater ICT Laboratory and a 250-seater Air-Conditioned Conference built by Daniel Ntow Obese Foundation in honour of the Late Daniel Kwaku Ntow Obese who served as a caretaker of the Unity Congregation-PCG, Nkafoa from 2005-2020.
Dedicating the facility, Rt. Rev. Prof. Mante urged the church and the community to make good use of the facility and also ensure its sustainability.
The Chairperson for the Daniel Ntow Obese Foundation, Mrs. Elizabeth Obese said the idea of the Resource Centre is a way of fulfilling their Cooperate Social Responsibility.
She added that the establishment of the ICT laboratory is to help empower the youths to build their competencies in ICT which is a critical component of the 21st century skill set required by the young people.
“Indeed, what motivated us is to train those who are less endowed. There are a number of people who don’t even know what YouTube is or what Facebook or anything concerning ICT is. So, we want to bring that to the doorstep of the people.
So that was why the foundation was launched and we asked for support from people to support this noble cause.”
The main purpose of the Daniel Ntow Obese Foundation is to mobilise funds to complete and resource centre, the Children’s Service Block and, thereafter, to provide scholarships at the tertiary level to needy but brilliant students in the Pedu and Cape Coast Districts of the Church, and the Nkafoa Community.
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Source: Eric Sekyi &Nyameyei Panyin Pinkrah/ATLFMNEWS
