Dagbon Team engages NaCCA
Story: Mohammed A. Abu
The Director General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) in Ghana, Professor Samuel Ofori Obuobisa Bekoe, has expressed his gratitude to the Dagomba Community for choosing to engage with the Council rather than pursuing alternative options.
Professor Bekoe was speaking during a Dagbamba Youth Association (DAYA)-NaCCA engagement in Accra, on Tuesday, intended to provide an opportunity for discussions on the concerns raised in DAYA’s petition submitted to NaCCA on 11th December 2025.
In his opening remarks, Jeliu Issahaku Sapaschini ESQ, on behalf of DAYA expressed profound gratitude to NaCCA for affording them the opportunity to engage on matters concerning the content of history educational materials approved for use in Ghanaian schools.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen today’s engagement does not occur in isolation.it follows an earlier and successful engagement between NaCCA and the Dagbon Traditional Council concerning historical content contained in the textbook, “History of Ghana for Basic Schools (Learner Book 4) which is co-authored by Francis Benjamin Appiah and Henry David Appiah.
“In that publication it was asserted that the Gonja Kingdom attacked and conqured Dagbon and consequently compelled the relocation of Dagbon capital from Diari to Yendi. The Dagbon Traditional Council petitioned NaCCA contending that the account was historically inaccurate and distortion of Dagbon-Gonja relations.
“We are informed that NaCCA responded positively to that petition and directed the publisher to withdraw the publication and effect the necessary corrections. We wish to place on record our appreciation for the responsiveness, professionalism and openness demonstrated by NaCCA in addressing the concerns.
“That response reinforced confidence in NaCCA’s commitment to ensuring the integrity and accuracy of educational materials used in our schools.”
Professor Abubakar Motariga, the Team Leader and also the Director of Communications of DAYA who signed the 2025 petition on behalf of his organization in his expression of gratitude said, “On behalf of His Royal Majesty, N’dan Ya-Naa, the Dagbon Traditional Council, the Dagbon NaCCA History Committee, Dagbamba elders, drummers, historians, and the Dagbamba community, I wish to express our gratitude for the understanding of NaCCA so far” adding, “Your reception alone is something commendable which has already laid the ground for a fruitful cooperation.”
On the authority behind the engagement, Prof Motariga said, “We come here on the express blessing of His Royal Majesty N’dan Ya-Naa, King of Dagbon. We speak on behalf of the Dagbamba Youth Association, Dagbon Forum, the Dagbon NaCCA/GES/MoE Review Committee, and the broader people of Dagbon, their chiefs, elders, drummers, academics, and youth.”
Alhaj Ibrahim Abbass, former Ambassador of Ghana to Turkey, indicated as part of the meeting that, he is very happy and takes the engagement with NaCCA very seriously.
This he said,had been one of his main concerns, having at one point served as a consultant to the Dagbon Constitution Review Committee appointed by His Royal Majesty the Ya-Na to come out with a first time ever written and standard Constitution for Dagbon.
The need to compile the accredited history into a volume accessible to the public Alhaj Abbas noted, had always been apparent.
It was therefore against this background that, the Dagbon Traditional Council(DTC) under the auspecies of His Royal Majesty had to appoint a Dagbon History Committee comprising exclusively of Dagbon scholars to come out with an authentic history on Dagbon free of narratives sourced from Hausa accounts and colonial diaries.
The 2025 petition signed by Professor Abubakar Is-haq Motariga,Director of Communications of DAYA,an Author and History Rsearcher,noted inter alia.”if the history of the Mole Dagomba in the curriculum and assessment standards and the recommended text books are not proper accounts,we must conscientiously call for a review to reflect who we are.This is to reduce the false labels and identities given to Mole-Dagomba people as well as reduce to the barest minimum conflicts in Northern Ghana bordering on our doctored history”.
Such contents the petitioners contended, don’t only misrepresent the true identity of the Mole Dagomba group, but it also needlessly distorts the true and original centuries long historical relations between Asantes and Gonjas.
The beef of the petitioners is that,the true unadulterated original Dagbamba Asantes/Gonjas history has never been based on any purported conquest of Dagbon by the duo and falls flat when subjected to rigurous academic, rational, logical,intellectual scrutiny and more so, commonsensical reasoning.
As part of the engagement, copy of a book written by Prof Motariga, titled,” The untold history of the DAGBAMBA PEOPLE” was presented to NaCCA
The book interrogates, audits and unpacks the true original history of the Mole Dagomba people and exposes the shoddy academic works of early Hausa settlers in Gonja and that of some of their colonial era European writers, collaborators.
The Dagbon related historical accounts produced in Ajamin Scripts by the early Hausa settler clerics with particular reference to “Kitab Gbunga” about Dagbon, were in a number of instances based on speculation, conjecturing and mere exaggeration.
The authors failed to engage any Dagbon elders,drum historians,griots,etc.,at the time in order to cross check the authenticity of non-Dagbon origin historical narratives sourced from others to get the side of Dagbon story in tandem with serious academic and historical research ethical standards.
The Dagbon High Profile Team
The meeting was led by a team of high-profile individuals, including drummers, academic historians, and youth leaders, who represented the Dagbamba community and the history Committee.
Notable members of the Committee included, Prof. Abdulai Salifu Asuro, Ambassador Ibrahim Abass, Yeni Malizali Naa (Prof), Alhaji Alhassan Sulemana Gonji, Jelilu Issahaku Sapaschini (Esq), Alhaji Jagbo Baako, Prof Motariga, Ibrahim Yussif Osman (Sheihu), Mohammed Hardi Ibrahim, Hon. Hardi Pagazaa, Yakubu Fusheini (Author, Bimbila), Lun’pagbia Abdul Razak, Gumani Lun-Naa Umar Suhuyini, Chaanshegu Lun-Naa, and Huzeima Mahamadu (Diaspora Rep – Australia), among others.
