A former Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Demola Onofowokan, has explained the ongoing call for Nigerians to leave Ghana.
In recent days Ghanaians have been protesting, asking Nigerians to leave their country.
Onofowokan believes that the call is not for Nigerians as a whole but focuses on the tertiary traders and those who are undesirable to their system and economy.
He added that the call did not start with what is going on now but has been brewing for years and blamed the Tinubu administration’s failure to appoint ambassadors for the crisis.
“There’s a lot to this. The call for Nigerians to leave Ghana is not actually for Nigerians as a whole to leave Ghana.
“I think the focus is on the tertiary traders and people whom I would describe as probably undesirable to their system, to their economy,” he said in an interview on Arise News.
“This has been brewing for years. Yes, we are Ghana’s biggest trading partner in Africa. 60% of ECOWAS trade exchange resides in Nigeria, 40% probably in Lagos.
“We have a very cordial relationship with Ghana, I bet, with some rivalry, especially in sports, but we have more in common than just trading.
“Before independence, we shared the same currency. We had the same airline, and our first set of soldiers, along with Ghanaians who are trained in Teshie.
“Came 1969 during Kofi Busia, Ghana was probably overwhelmed when they said, Nigerians must go. A lot of Nigerians returned, but still a lot of Nigerians remained in Ghana because I saw them there while I served there. They never left that country.
“The current situation of asking Nigerians to leave their country is very economical. Ghana’s economy is struggling, trying to come up the way it was before, but the trade, especially tertiary trade, has been dominated by Nigerians.
“I experienced this when I was there. Many times I had to step up to make sure that this didn’t happen.
“It also has to do with our level of representation. I think if we had an ambassador or High Commissioner on the ground, it probably won’t get to this, because a high commissioner or an ambassador would have made contacts at the highest level, starting from ministerial, like I did, up to the highest level.”
