Tamale Stakeholders Asked to Shape Review of Ghana’s National Security Strategy

The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) has asked people in the Northern Region to help identify the security threats a revised national security strategy should address, at a stakeholder meeting in Tamale on Thursday, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reports.

The meeting is part of a nationwide consultation in all 16 regions on reviewing Ghana’s first National Security Strategy, launched in 2020. GNA reported a similar engagement with Upper East stakeholders in Bolgatanga earlier in the week.

Threats that have grown since 2020

NSCS Director of Legal George Loh said the review was needed because the security environment had changed. He listed the spread of violent extremism in the Sahel, cross-border crime, illegal mining, cybercrime, inter-communal conflict and climate-related pressures among the threats.

He said the Secretariat wanted to hear about threats specific to the Northern Region that the current strategy might have missed, so that national policy is not shaped only by views from Accra.

According to Mr Loh, the revised strategy aims to move from reacting to incidents towards spotting and preventing threats before they escalate. He said the review also follows the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 2026 (Act 1168), which, he explained, provides for periodic reviews of the security framework and changes how security agencies are coordinated.

Who took part

Participants included the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, the Regional Security Council, security agencies, traditional authorities, religious bodies, civil society groups, youth groups, schools, farmers’ associations and transport unions.

Mr Loh said the meeting was purely consultative, and that all contributions would be recorded and passed to the review team.

Northern Regional Minister Ali Adolf John, in a speech read on his behalf, described the review as an important national exercise and urged participants to make constructive contributions.

The Northern Region shares a border with Togo, and the five northern regions lie closest to the Sahel, where armed groups have been active in neighbouring Burkina Faso. Chieftaincy and land disputes have also fuelled recurring conflicts in parts of the North.

Source: Ghana News Agency — https://gna.org.gh/2026/11/national-security-council-secretariat-engages-stakeholders-on-review-of-2020-security-strategy/