President John Evans Atta Mills on Saturday urged religious leaders to preach virtues of love, honesty, transparency and unity to dissuade people from engaging in criminal and corrupt practices.
He said the rising crime rate in society needed a religious intervention to complement the laid down rules and regulations to ensure good governance and rapid socio-economic development.
President Mills made the call when he met members of the Christian Council of Ghana as part of his two-day visit to the Upper West Region.
The President also visited the Wa Muslim Chief Imam Alhaji Issahaque Yakubu and Maulvi of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission, Maulvi Mohammed Yassin.
The President said, as religious leaders, they had a stake in moulding the characters of the youth by constantly keeping in touch with them through the word of God that could allow them contribute meaningfully to national development.
"We as a government, we know where we are going and we know how to get there, but without your interventions through prayers, we may not be able to achieve those goals in society".
Apostle Anthony Ekuban, leader of the pastors that met the President said the perennial drifting of northerners to the southern parts of the country was affecting their work as most of their church members left without returning.
He therefore appealed to President Mills to consider constructing more dams to engage the youth during dry seasons and consequently put an end to the migration of the youth from the north to south for non-existent jobs.
Apostle Ekuban also appealed to the President to work on the road network in the region to facilitate the movement of pastors to evangelize more people in the rural areas of the region.
Also at the meeting were, Mr. Cletus Avoka, Minister of Interior, Lieutenant General Joe Smith, Minister of defence, Mr. Benjamin Kunbour, Deputy Minister Of Health, Mr.Mohamud Khalid, Upper West Regional Minister, Mr. Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress and Mr. Malik Issahaku, Upper West Regional Chairman of National Democratic Congress.