The Welcome address and introduction of the chairman and panel members was done by Mr Baba Salifu.  The Chairman for the session, Mr. William Nsiah Asare, TALIF Office, UDS and CEO of Filla Consult in his opening remarks mentioned that the youth of the North show a lot of skills in the use of technologies especially with the internet. Unfortunately, these skills are wrongly applied and it was time the ICT4D Community seriously looked at how to channel these skills into productive use.

In his presentation on the “Habits of youthful Internet users in Northern Ghana”, Mr. David Yiridong Issaka of the Youth office of SEND Foundation lamented that the youth of the north who frequently visit internet cafés have gradually made themselves dons of internet fraud who have clients online that they frequently chat with. He mentioned that these youth do these with impunity and without neither shame nor fear to even pose as a sex that they are not. He mentioned that the unfortunate part of this whole cancer is that these same youth are those that the nation is depending on to take mantle of leadership and development of the nation in the nearest future. He gave his doubts if the several youth out there who are “earning” several thousands of dollars without any sweat would show any interest in earning wages and salaries through hard work especially as they benefit from these fraudulent acts at this tender age. He revealed that youth as young as fifteen years operate huge accounts with some reaching the tune of GH Cedis 20,000 and yet no one raises an eyebrow. He mentioned that many youth in Tamale, without any formal education but with the capability of telling lies easily convince their “clients” who tend to believe in these lies.

He mentioned that though a sad commentary on the youth of the North, some of the youth are even believed to regularly visit “Mallams” and “Juju men” and specially request them to charm their “clients”. He mentioned that as a result, there are several websites now which do not allow entries in Ghana and this goes against Ghanaians who want to do genuine business online. He also said for all the above reasons, foreigners with investment interest in Ghana can no longer trust the easiest means of getting information through the internet.
He concluded by urging parents and leaders to revisit the adage “good name is better than riches” and reorient their wards.

When he took his turn, Mr. Kubuga Kennedy and MBA student of the Paris School of Management Studies mentioned that the youth of third world countries are moving quicker into the Knowledge age leaving the rest of the world behind in the information age. He said this development looks very positive in the sense that we have been able to learn and use technology to improve upon our lives. The challenge however, he said, is whether we are using them for the right purpose.

He stated that a way of channelling the skills that the youth have in ICT is to organise a regular youth camp where the youth would be trained on netiquettes and some other web2.0 tools that they could savour their energies in. He challenged GINKS, IICD, Filla FM, Institute of Local Government Studies and all interested bodies to take the issue of ICT youth camp seriously to save the youth for leadership tomorrow. He also proposed that the ICT4D communities here and the world over take the formation of ICT clubs in schools very seriously since activities of these clubs help in shaping the attitude of the youth.

Participants at the session appealed to GINKS to as a gesture of not throwing away or keeping ideas that are generated from the idea factory (the Northern ICT4D series) on the shelves to gather dust, take up the issue of forming ICT clubs in schools and especially organise an annual ICT youth camp.

In his closing remarks, the Chair Mr. Nsiah Asare tasked the youth present at the session to come out with a plan for the youth camp which should be presented at the next session on 27th March for onward action and a realisation of the institutionalisation of the ICT youth camp idea. He appealed to all interested organisations and individuals to support the idea of the ICT youth camp.