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The government is doing everything possible to secure the nation against the threat of terrorism, President John Dramani Mahama has assured.

Addressing Ghanaians in Scotland last Thursday, he said, “The threat level is something we cannot discount”.

President Mahama mentioned the recent meeting the National Security Council held to assess the situation and said the security situation was consistently being monitored to ensure that the people were safe.

Attacks

There have been three attacks in West Africa by  the terrorist group called  Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) within the last six months.

On March 13, 2016, a group of armed men attacked the resort town of Grand Bassam in Cote d’Ivoire that left 18 people dead.

Before that, some men had launched similar attacks in Mali and Burkina Faso where many were killed.

In all cases AQIM claimed responsibility for carrying out the attacks.

President Mahama explained that the terrorists attacks being witnessed in West Africa had their roots in the troubles in the Sahel region.

Following the turmoil in Libya and other parts of North Africa, a lot of weapons found their way into the region and West Africa is beginning to experience the consequencies.

Economy

The President also spoke on moves by the government to diversify the economy by adding value to primary products .

“This has been the vision of this government but it will not happen overnight,” the President said.

He said it was the intention of the government to transform Ghana into a net exporter of rice by 2020.

Challenges

President Mahama said every country in the world had its challenges and Ghana was no exception.

He mentioned the power crisis the nation went through and said the government was making sure that the nation never returned to that terrible situation.