The Nigerian High Commission in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

is the primary diplomatic mission of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. It is on 20/21 Onyasia Crescent Roman Ridge in

. The previous High Commissioner was former Senator for Lagos Central Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro, appointed by President

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (; 16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2007 until his death in May 2010. He won the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 Ma ...

in May 2008. The High Commissioner in 2012 is Hon. Ademola Oluseyi Onafowokan.

Official and economic ties

In August 2007 the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana launched Nigeria's 47th Independence anniversary celebrations in Accra. Ambassadorial Minister Simon Ejike Eze thanked Ghana for honoring Nigerians by naming a major stretch of road after former Nigerian president,

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo (; ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian former army general, politician and statesman who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its president from 1999 to 200 ...

. He also said that the Commission would not hesitate to hand over Nigerians who engage in criminal activities to the Ghanaian security agencies any time. When Musiliu Obanikoro presented his credentials to President

John Agyekum Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the tenth president of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. He was the fifth chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008 and his victory over John Atta Mills at t ...

in May 2008, the President discussed the long history of cooperation between the two West African countries, and mentioned that Nigerian expertise would be valuable now that Ghana had struck oil. In November 2009 the Nigerian High Commission in Accra working with Vintage Vision, an Accra-based, Nigerian owned business management firm, was planning to launch a Ghana-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and to initiate a long-overdue trade and investment treaty between the two countries. Speaking at a book fair in November 2009 Adedapo Oyekanuri, Minister at the Nigerian High Commission, said cooperation between the two countries should not only be on trade, diplomacy and peacekeeping but cultural advocacy through reading.

Nigerians in Ghana

The relations between the countries have been strained at times. In 1969, Ghana expelled foreigners who were mostly Nigerians. In the 1980s Nigeria in turn expelled foreigners mainly Ghanaians. In September 2006 the high commissioner intervened to calm down students at the

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), commonly known as UST, Tech or Kwame Tech, is a public university located in Kumasi, Ashanti region, Ghana. The university focuses on science and technology. It is the second public uni ...

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

, after a student was stabbed to death and another two Nigerian students were injured by an armed robber. Nigeria's high commissioner has said that the news media in Accra contributes to tension by overplaying crime stories involving Nigerians. In July 2009, Obanikoro said the High Commission had launched a re-branding campaign to showcase Nigeria's positive aspects and huge potential. At the same time, he told reporters that 300 Nigerians were serving jail sentences in Ghana for crimes such as kidnapping, drug peddling and armed robbery. In June 2020, armed men invaded a land on which the Nigerian Commission was erecting a building and pulled down parts of the said building in Accra.

References

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Ghana–Nigeria relations

Official and economic ties

Nigerians in Ghana

See also

References