Ghana: Nigerians must come!

PAUL ARHEWE 04/03/2011 02:47:00

It is amazing how time flies and events change fast. The axiom that what goes around comes around can be linked to the 1983 ‘Ghana must go’ operation under the regime of then General Muhammadu Buhari and his able deputy, late Brigadier-General BabatundeIdiagbon. Many pointers are vividly showing us how Nigerians and many firms are shifting sites and their headquarters to the former Gold Coast.
It was just like yesterday that we witnessed the convoy of trailers, like those used in transporting goats and cows from Sokoto to Lagos, taking the dislodged ‘unwanted Ghanaians’ home. The nomenclature ‘Ghana must go’ bag is now popular with the multi coloured sack-like bag because this was what many Ghanaians then used in packing their little belongings back to the country of Kwame Nkrumah.
 I remember as a young chap, along with other viewers, we climbed the bridge in front of the International Trade Fair in Lagos to catch a first-hand glimpse of the thousands of ejected Ghanaians; many of them were wailing and looking dejected. I saw frustrations in their eyes, probably foreseeing a bleak future ahead for them in their country’s economy. But that wouldn’t be the case as Ghanaians have successfully managed a bad situation into one that attracts other Africans with a future full of many enviable promises.
How Ghana was able to turn around this pathetic state within 20 years and why are Nigerians making the country a destination of choice? This is really a puzzle. Many localized multinational firms have relocated their headquarters to Ghana! Companies like PZ plc., Unilever Nigeria plc., Dunlop plc., Guinness Nigeria plc., Ok foods and several textile companies are now operating from there. Though, some may argue they may be expanding their business networks, but we all know the business environment in Ghana is presently friendlier and cost-efficient than what we have here in our country. Two major reasons are underpinned here as the cause for this sudden change. For any country to have a thriving economy; the small, medium and large scale businesses require constant power supply which is a sine qua non. This is invaluable and a must, especially for an era where competition is very keen due to globalization and the rate to access products from other markets is open and at cheaper due to improved telecommunication and the internet. We cannot forget in a hurry that Ghana celebrated ten years of uninterrupted power supply in the whole of that country recently. Though, it is true Ghana is as small as the size of Lagos and Oyo states combined, with the huge resources God has endowed Nigeria with, we cannot boast of uninterrupted power supply in any part of the Nigeria for just one day.
Billions of Naira had been injected by past and present governments into arresting the power situation with no progress in sight. It seems the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is so rusty that pumping more billions to salvage it only boomerangs to worsen the already deteriorated state of power generation and distribution in Nigeria.
The hurdles and costs for clearing imported goods from our seaports are a source of disinvestment to importers and investors generally. Apart from the approved import duties that importers pay at our ports, after waiting for months to get their goods cleared, they are made to pay at least five times more before these goods get to their warehouses. Security personnel, like ants that can’t get their eyes off sugar, see trucks with containers as easy way of making quick money. The importers are made to ‘settle’ all the policemen, soldiers and Road Safety officers they encounter before arriving at their warehouses. This usually increases the cost of the end products. Products from Nigerian indigenous manufacturers come with high prices and in low quality. While Ghanaians have the vision of turning their country into an African pride with more promising future as they continue to discover more oil wells, our government should urgently address these obstacles that fast collapsing our economy, and driving Nigerians and our companies to her neighbouring countries. Let’s not wait till Ghana takes her turn to order ‘Nigerians must go’ once again!