The world they say is a global village.
Everywhere, like we say in Ghana, is everywhere and we as
citizens of this village should be able to move freely in it.
Unfortunately, in practical terms, this is never been found to
be true. In real terms, it is only in West Africa that people
are actually ABLE to move freely and fairly without so called
visas as required on the other side of the world. Of course, you
can move from any state in the US to another freely, yearh?
For many of us therefore, in reality, the best
global village is West Africa. No doubt that under the ECOWAS
Protocol on Free Movement of People and Goods, we here can move
around freely. Hence we gravitate around often determined by the
forces of demand and supply or by economic conditions in one
country or the other.
A major development in a rapidly growing economy
such as one that has discovered oil, or is industrialized,
enjoying high gold price and ever-increasing cocoa price etc, is
that it begins to attract all manner of people from across the
world. The good, bad and the ugly. An increasingly propserous
nation experiences a constant string of in-flows of people from
all over the world, especially those nearby.
A typical case is the experience of what
countries such as South Africa the US, Europe and now in hot
demand is Asia are experiencing.
In the case of Ghana, the story has been that
with the accollade as “the friendliest people in the world”,
people flocked in just to know and experience what this tag all
meant. Today it is the advent of oil that is attracting all the
different kind of people and businesses into the country.
With the attainment of independence and the
natural assertion of nationalism, the existence of foreigners in
Ghana and their worries and aspirations or problems that faced
them became more apparent and of great concern.
For Ghana, the presence of foreigners could not
be overestimated considering the pan-African undertones of Dr
Kwame Nkrumah’s approach to every day life in the immediate post
independence era. This was not limited to only the presence of
Togolese, Ivorians, Beninois and of course people from then
Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), but also people as far as from
Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia etc. But the presence of people
from Nigeria catches my fancy.
It is common knowledge that there are more
Nigerians in every Ghanaian surburb than any other national from
the continent or beyond. According to the 75th Anniversary
Edition of the West Africa Magazine, as far back as in 1959, it
was generally known that there were large number of Nigerians in
Ghana than all other nationals. It was however, not known
exactly which part of Nigeria they came from nor the role they
played then in the Ghanaian economy. Presently the case is
dfferent and I will enumerate it shortly.
The 1948 Population Census of the Gold Coast put
the total number of Nigerians in Ghana at 46,800. Ten years
later in 1958 that number rose to 67,000 due to increased
migration and natural increase. Three thousand were known to be
Yoruba or Hausa and despite the fact that they were born in
Ghana, they do actually consider themselves as Nigerians.
Brian Stapleton of West African magazine in an
article said Nigerians, with very few exceptions, do not usually
migrate to Ghana permanently, adding that those who fail to
return home are almost those who have not improved their
economic position. “They may take Ghanaian wives, the father may
never return to Nigeria, but still he will send his sons back
“home” to build a house and keep the link with the family there.
The more normal pattern is for many of the older people to
return to Nigeria but to be succeeded in Ghana by younger
members of the family.”
Brian notes that, “Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo all
prolific traders”, in those times, “once they start to work away
from home do not seem to make any clear distinction between an
alien part of Nigeria or Ghana or the nearby French
territories.” Where life will be good, there they go. Today
Nigerians from all parts of their country have migrated, some
living in Ghana and leading decent, distinguished blissful
lives.
The love of Ghana by Nigerians (and vise-versa)
is not lost in the sands of time. Almost 55 years down the line,
we have in Ghana currently a total of a little over 1 million
Nigerians living happily, though some with concerns, in Ghana.
In the 1959 article, Stapleton remembers that
some Nigerians (Yoruba) were recruits from the Oyo area and
fought for the Ashanti at the turn of the century with Private
Ojo Oyo as an example of two Nigerians who received the
Distinguished Conduct Medal. Some were known to have stayed
later to trade, build the railways and supply firewood and
pit-props to the gold mines. A lot became rich in the diamond
trade, retail and small wholesale trading in a significant part
of the economy and this still persists in modern day Ghana.
In the colonial and pre-independenced era and the
period immediately after, it was known that Nigerians were
really embedded in the Ghanaian economy as Winneba hosted the
main waterfront stores in the hands of the Yorubas, while the
Egbas, a strand of the Yoruba tribe where known to have
dominated the Fadama motor spare parts, now known as the Kokompe
and Kumasi Central Market, the biggest market in West Africa,
held Nigerian festivals as well as numerous others who spent
time and energy in the cocoa farms. There was of course ‘Lagos
Town’, in Accra where it is believed a large number of Nigerians
lived within sight of the residence of Dr Kwame Nkrumah himself.
Some Nigerians were bold and got involved in
local politics with some of the prominent traders listed as Town
Councillors. This cannot of course, happen today as voting
rights and the right to stand to be voted for, is restricted and
rightly so, to Ghanaians only according to the 1992 Republican
Constitution and its predecessors as it were. I can hear you
almost saying it flies in the face of some ECOWAS protocols, but
who is responsible for that?
As stated earlier concerning the spread of
Nigerian in Ghana, my research across seven regions of Ghana
indicates that Nigerians are found in all of them undertaking a
wide range of activities from trading, manufacturing, banking,
media, construction, agriculture and of course the largest
number being students, represented at all levels of the
educational ladder. Contacts in the three remaining regions of
Ghana is not any different. The same goes for the economy with
the presence of Nigerian banks - UBA, Intercontinental, Zenith,
GT Bank.
With a commanding private investment of 6.1
billion Ghana cedis in the Ghanaian economy, Ghana Investment
Promotion Centre’s boss, George Aboagye in the “Ghana Oil”, an
online news magazine is optimistic that the warm, cordial
relationship between Ghana and Nigeria will work down to
ensuring a greater ease of life of the people of the two
countries.
He estimates that 184 Nigerian projects have been
established in Ghana with a total investment of 5.1 billion
dollars, making our brotherin the sub-region the fifth and sixth
largest source of investment by value and number.
To some, this makes us suceptible to the whims of
Nigerian investors in the event of a withdrawal of Nigerian
investment, especially if there is no corresponding investment
or back-up financing to aiment such a development. But on the
whole, it is a clear manifestation of the growth and coming of
age of the Ghanaian economy and its ability to attract quality,
solid financing.
The next attraction for Nigerians in Ghana is in
the areas of education. Some months ago, Malam Lamido Sanusi,
Central Bank of Nigeria Governor put the totalnumber of
Nigerians in Ghana at 71,000, arguing that:”I would imagine this
influx is largely due to the much stronger Ghanaian educational
system.”
My investigations at the University of Ghana,
Ashesi University, Zenith University College, Wisconsin
International University College, Central University College,
Pentecost University and IPMC, a top notch IT edcuation outfit
all in Accra have all go to confirm Mr Sanusi’s assertion.
Cape Coast University, Kwame Nkrumah University
of Science and Technology, Kumasi are other examples. Indeed the
assertion is not unfounded; but grounded in the large number of
Nigerians and other West Africans and indeed Africans who have
gone through Ghana’s “sound”, “reputable” educational system and
risen to either lead their countries or become successful
individuals in their own right and by allinternational
standards. Others choose to call it educational tourism and I
bet they are not too far from the truth.
According to some, the situation “back home where
things can be manipulated is completely out of the picture here
in Ghana.”
James Okere, a Level 300 student is of the
opinion that Ghana’s educational system is highly rated and is
attested to by the huge number of Nigerian students who have
made Ghanaian schools especially at the tertiary level, their
priority destination. “Over here in Ghana, you are made to work
hard and it is the only way you can earn your grades. There are
sharp differences in how things go on here and we wish we had
the same situation back home.”
Onome Elvis Enakem of the All Nations University
in Koforidua in my research, when asked to give his thoughts on
what being a student in Nigeria was like said: “It means you may
not attend classes but you may come out with flying colours,
because lecturers could bemanipulated in order to get marks.
But here in Ghana, the syetm is strict and
encourages discipline and hard work,” Elvis argues saying that
an average Nigerian student in Ghana takes his studies serious,
knowing that its costs their parents huge financial sacrifices.
For him there are no two ways about it. In one word, the major
difference in Ghana, is that hardwork and discipline is
encouraged, but theNigerian educational system is flexible and
many things could be manipulated.”
On what some of the problelms they encounter in
Ghana, Fumi Oladipo, said, “the disturbing thing is that
Nigerian girls are too flashy and court high cost of living for
the rest of us. “This has translated in high cost of
accommodation, and transportation for us in this country”
“First of all, Ghanaian landlors do not trust
Nigerian tenants, and I think the feeling is mutual,” as a
result, they take exhorbitant rent charges, “thinking that we
are rich and can afford everything,”one of the Nigerians I spoke
to in Koforidua said.
Indeed, Ghanaians do have huge reservations about
the Nigerians living with them. How do you expect to reaction to
the constant arrests of Nigerians for 419 scams, armed
robberies, child traffiking (of course with Ghanaian
accomplices), not to talk of the irresponsible and reckless
behaviour on our roads. Often it is most obvious that a certain
reckless road behaviourin a community is purely traced to the
Nigerians in the neighbourhood. But can someone blame Ghanaians
for thinking and feeling the way they do about Nigerians?
This goes without saying that some lovely
law-abiding Nigerians do live in Ghana and relate so well with
their friends and neighbours and are considered worthy
ambassadors of Nigeria at all times. It would have been good to
mention names here. But guess the fact that good worthy
ambassadors in the mould of Nigerians still do exist, is enough
to motivate others to get on to the right path.
On the costs of education in Ghana, Mr Sanusi
said he could not believe that Nigerian students in Ghana pay an
annual fee of 155 billion Naira when “the whole government
budget for all Federal universities in Nigeria annually is 121
billion Naira.”
The influence of Nigerian movies and music in the
Ghanaian entertainment industry is massive and it does not seem
it will abate any time soon. The role of event organisers such
as Charter House and others ismost notable. Indeed, these
organisations have done better over the last decade than the
politicians have done in ensuring regional integration.
The issue of crime, cyber crime seems to have
found a fertile ground with Nigerians and like a student at the
All Nations University in Koforidua said the earlier Nigerians,
especially, found something more profitable andcrime free to do
the better it will be for good neighhbourliness and regional
peace and security.
Ghana stands tall because of what it stands for
social justice, self determination ready to be the harbinger for
the realization of the dreams of the people who come into her
bossom. The fact that people are willing to migrate to the
country or acquire citizenship is of significant importance and
the earlier that the authorities wake up to the realities of the
times and take appropriate action, the better it would be for
all.
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