I Think We Need to Get Illegal Immigration Under Control

In Nigeria in the 80s there were too many Ghanian, Togolese, and Benin immigrants. More were from Ghana. They were 'taking away jobs' and providing cheap labor. I admit that the major problem then was government corruption and poor governance- Ghana was facing economic hardship, but Nigeria was overflowing with milk and honey. At least ut was supposed to be- oil prices were at an all time high and Nigeria was making big bucks from sales. Yet it had little effect on the economy because it was all being looted away. People knew this, and instead of protesting the government people directed their anger towards the illegal immigrants. The President as at then also played to their emotions and with the help of Congress, an 'Expulsion Order' was signed in 1983. It got about 2 million immigrants deported (more than 1 million were Ghanaians).

Also note that in 1969 Nigerian illegal immigrants were deported en masse from Ghana as well.

So. . .people felt that after the deadline given by the government, they had the right to challenge all Ghanaian illegals. These immigrants, in fear, hurriedly stashed all their belongings in bags like this




And fled to their country.

And till today, those checked, lightweight bags are still known as [b]"Ghana Must Go bags" [/b] here in Nigeria. Its not seen as derogatory in any form, but the slang just kind of stuck.

Also, I have to add that there's a lovely relationship between Nigeria and Ghana today. No enmity at all. In fact, Ghanaians are closer to Nigerians than the two countries in between us. There's a friendly rivalry anytime we compete in anything, like sports competitions for example. 😊😊