Weekend Arena - Ghana Is A Mosquito That Has Landed On Nigeria's Blokos...

There is a popular proverb about the best way to kill a mosquito, which has decided to ‘attack’ an angry man on his scrotum. 

It presents a helpless situation, because a grave consequence can result from a reckless reaction. That is the situation the Nigeria-Ghana rivalry is assuming. The two nations have a lot in common, so much that in the West African sub-region, Ghana, is seen as being closer to Nigeria, than Benin Republic, which shares a border with Nigeria, no thanks to the scramble for Africa, which saw European nations delineate the continent according to their choice (greed?), while imposing their various languages on the various ethnic groups.




Ghana and Nigeria by this action, inherited a common colonial master, Great Britain, which for administrative convenience foisted English language on the two countries, while fostering cooperation between the authorities in both countries. This development has rubbed off positively and negatively. It has engendered an age-long rivalry, leaving positive and negative traits on its trail. In every sphere of life, Ghanaians tend to compete against the Nigerian interest. Perhaps it is an ego thing, because they have consistently done so in football, in regional politics, in jollof rice, in attracting the opposite sex, but the current economic war in this regard, is on the negative path and something needs to be urgently done to nip it in the bud.




In 2020 alone, Ghana has seized and demolished two buildings belonging to the Nigerian High Commission at 10 Barnes Road, Accra and 19/21 Julius Nyerere Street, Accra respectively. As if that was not hair-raising enough, the country has also locked up businesses owned by Nigerians, whom they imposed an individual levy of $1m on! Of course, this looks like an affront and Nigeria’s Minister for Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, pointedly stressed this, but like a ‘stubborn child’, Ghanaian authorities are defending their actions with various excuses, culminating in an insinuation that they were paying Nigeria back for closing her borders in August 2019.



According to Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, “August 2019, saw Nigeria close its land borders without notice to community trade. Explanation: ‘To stop smuggling and to protect local industries from imported/smuggled rice, etc. Of course, this decision ended up hurting Ghanaian exporters and brought many of them to their knees financially as trucks were stuck at the Seme Krake border for months.”



The ‘takeaway’ from the Ghanaian Foreign Minister’s response is the fact that Ghana is attacking personal businesses in reaction to Nigeria’s national action. Shutting of the Nigerian border, may have affected more Nigerians than Ghanaians, but to take it out on private individuals hustling in Ghana from their personal sweat, is in bad taste. $1m, going by today’s exchange rate is almost N400m and to impose such a ludicrous sum as levy is an indirect way of asking the person to shut down his business and try something else. I doubt if these Nigerians would leave Nigeria to trade in Ghana if they had that kind of amount stashed somewhere in a vault like the Ghanaian authorities are making it seem.



While Nigeria maintains diplomatic maturity in resolving this truce, it is pertinent to reinforce that the present hostilities from Ghana may not be unconnected with the state of the economy in Nigeria currently. Would Ghana have meted this kind of treatment to Nigerian nationals in 1980, when the Nigerian economy was strong and the Naira was commanding more value than the dollar? Not likely. After all, we have not read of similar actions towards citizens of South Africa, or even the preponderant Chinese! In the late 70s and early 80s, Ghanaians were trooping into Nigeria to seek economic refuge. Some came to take up lowly positions in the Nigerian system. But the reverse has happened today. It is obvious that many Nigerians are seeking economic redemption in Ghana and the number may be overwhelming their authorities and the easiest way to curtail such migrations will be by rolling out such guidelines.



There is no gain stressing that the Nigerian economic environment has remained hostile to businesses. Apart from the lack of basic infrastructures, which naturally help businesses boom, the government has been coming up with more taxes to stifle growing ventures; and this is scaring investors-local and international. In the past one week or so, Nigerians have been forced to contend with what many are calling a ‘festival of increments’. From Value Added Tax (from 5% to 7.5%), petrol (N143 to N160), electricity (N30.23 per Kwh to N62.33) to transportation and basic food items, especially local rice…prices of everything is on the vertical growth, including the penalty for hate speech.



Some Nigerians have been defending the increases, which is part of our mindset. You would hear them comparing the price of petrol in United States with what it is in Nigeria, without telling people that Nigeria has crude oil reserves they cannot refine over the years. They will not tell people that Nigeria is like the child who lives by the river side and cannot find water to do his laundry.


Ghanaian citizens have every reason to enjoy the benefits of their land. They once passed through what Nigerians are experiencing today. By dint of collective will, they enthroned a leadership class that pulled them out of their dilemma. Nigerians have the tool to be like them, but they need to purge themselves of ethnic, religious and sectional sentiments when choosing their leadership class.

OMG,Ngozi you hit the nail on the head with this classy style of reporting this issue.....Thank you and Happy Birthday to you as you celebrate your birthday today...

May God give you more wisdom to write more classy reports and may God equip you with all that your heart desire..

May your Ikebe lose some fat and reduce so that people will stop wondering why a man with a woman's name has the backside of a woman...LOL

Happy Birthday Ngozi..SDK and Blog visitors celebrate with you as you celebrate in far away Awka where you travelled to some days ago to do what i don't know....

Please any BV in Awka willing to meet and give Ngozi a treat should call his dilapidated number up there and give him SDK VIP treatment if you can....