Empower the Youth Through Arts to Save Ghana’s Culture — KNUST Lecturer

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Language and Communication Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Victoria Ogunnike Faleke, is calling on government to empower young people through the arts and entertainment industry as a strategic way of preserving Ghana’s cultural identity.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of Afrocuration Ghana 2026 held at KNUST in Kumasi, Dr Faleke said young people cannot be expected to effectively preserve culture when many are struggling to meet their basic needs.

She explained that the entertainment industry offers a powerful platform for cultural promotion, noting that young people are intelligent, creative and capable of using their heritage and local languages to express themselves meaningfully.

Dr Faleke praised the late Highlife legend Charles Kwadwo Fosu, popularly known as Daddy Lumba, for using music as a tool for cultural preservation through songs rendered in Ghanaian languages. She said music plays a vital role in teaching language, providing entertainment, and transmitting values, proverbs and historical knowledge across generations.

Drawing from Nigeria’s experience, she noted that deliberate government investment in youth development through music and culture has strengthened national identity—an approach she believes Ghana can learn from.

“Language is identity, and the loss of language means the loss of culture and humanity,” she said.

— CitiNewsRoom