The Richard Nii Armah Quaye (RNAQ) Foundation has donated GH₵500,000 to the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment to support Ghana’s national anti-drug initiative, “Ghana Against Drugs – Red Means Stop.”
The funding will go towards combating opioid abuse among young people and carrying out research to address the root causes of the crisis.
During a meeting with the Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment on Tuesday, August 12, at the ministry’s headquarters in Accra, founder and chairperson of the RNAQ Foundation, Richard Nii Armah Quaye, formally presented their support for the government’s anti-drug campaign and discussed wider issues affecting Ghana’s youth.
He reaffirmed his organisation’s mission to support vulnerable communities and promote youth development.
“We are a foundation that is here to provide social justice to the deprived, to the forgotten, to the marginalised people in our community,” he said. “And so, we have been trying to give a 360 support. Not only are we providing thousands of jobs to the youth, but we also understand that in a country, not everyone is employable.”
Mr Quaye noted that while employment creation is important, there are people who, for various reasons, cannot work and even struggle to feed themselves.
“In as far as we are employing so many people, there are others too who are finding it difficult to be employed. And for that matter, even feeding themselves becomes a problem,” he explained.
To address this, he said the foundation has established food banks in the Greater Accra Region, with plans to expand to all regions in Ghana.
“Those that are not independent and capable of being employed to feed themselves, at least they will be able to rely on these food banks to feed themselves,” he said.
He stressed that neglect can push people into substance abuse.
“We also understand that when people are neglected, they begin to seek comfort in drugs. And so, most of our deprived communities are the places where this menace is very predominant.”
“That is why we are setting these food banks in those areas, so that these people can be given some comfort and bring the pressure down, so that they don’t end up relying so much on opioid abuse,” he said.
He also noted that the foundation intends to work with the Ministry to support people already battling opioid addiction.
“Those that have already found themselves in opioid abuse and have been impaired mentally and physically, we also want to align with the minister and his ministry… so that it doesn’t become a national catastrophe for us,” Mr Quaye said.
Mr Quaye stated that the gesture was more than financial support; it was a pledge of long-term partnership with the ministry in addressing social challenges.
“From the RNAQ Foundation, we understand the threats that we are facing as a nation, and we are fully committed to working hand in hand with you to be able to actually confront these threats head-on. And so we have come here to do a presentation of 500,000 Ghana cedis… to show our commitment and our everyday support to the ministry’s fight against opioid abuse and rape. By this gesture, we are saying that we are all going to put our voice together, our effort together, and say that Red means stop.”
Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, expressed his gratitude for the donation to help curb the menace.
Marking International Youth Day, the minister reflected on the role of young people in Ghana’s future.
“Today we gather to celebrate International Youth Day, not on the very bright notes that we should have been encountering,” he said. “This year’s theme, Local Youth Action for SDGs and Beyond, highlights the powerful truth that young people are not just waiting for change, but they are driving it.”
He praised Mr Quaye’s efforts, saying, “Clearly, we’ve seen the efforts of people like Richard Nii Armah Quaye and how they are driving change in our various communities. In Ghana, our youth are at the forefront of innovation, entrepreneurship, social activism, and community development.”
The minister noted that young people are no longer “mere beneficiaries of development programmes” but “powerful agents of change” whose actions are vital for both Ghana and the global community.
Turning to the issue of drug abuse, the minister outlined the ministry’s plan to address the crisis.
“Our focus is on five main thematic areas, but key in those… is the wellness and wellbeing of young people. No amount of development can take place when the people are not in the best state of mind and health,” he explained.
He emphasised the need for research to fully understand the problem.
“You can address a problem midway through it, but you are able to address it properly when you have a proper understanding of what the root cause of the problem is,” he said. “A lot of the solutions… are ad-hoc… so we commissioned research into understanding what exactly is leading to young people doing this.”
The minister revealed that the donation from the RNAQ Foundation would be used to fund this research in secondary schools, tertiary institutions, and deprived communities, with the help of a credible research organisation.
“We want to… get us into the specifics, get us the details, get us into the slums of this country and give us exactly what is happening,” he said. “Once we have that report, it will help us appreciate what the real challenges are, and then we can look for effective solutions.”
Mr Opare Addo urged other philanthropists, community leaders, and businesses to join the fight.
“You may have a son or a daughter in school, and you don’t know when it will strike close to home. We are all in danger,” he warned. “Collectively, we must all put our shoulders to the wheel in addressing this menace.”
He encouraged Ghanaians to use their social media platforms for advocacy in order to curb the menace.
“Instead of all the reels we share that are unproductive, we can dedicate our reels, our stories, and our timelines to sensitising our peers and colleagues on the challenges this menace brings,” he said.
Ghana Against Drugs, ‘Red Means Stop’ campaign, a national youth anti-drug initiative to combat the rising tide of substance abuse among the youth, was launched earlier this year by the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment to tackle opioid abuse among young people.
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