By Emmanuel Obisue
Amid viral videos and rising public concern over recent anti-Nigerian protests in Ghana, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has assured that there is no cause for alarm, stressing that the Ghanaian government is effectively managing the situation.
In a statement issued on Thursday by Dr. Magnus Eze, Special Assistant on Communication and New Media to the minister, Odumegwu-Ojukwu was quoted as making the remarks during a joint press briefing with Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Ablakwa, in Accra.
“We are here in the Republic of Ghana on a fact-finding mission as special envoy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a result of recent disturbances that have made the rounds in Nigeria. The government and the people of Nigeria have been concerned with the widespread protests that have been taking place in Ghana requesting Nigerians to leave and dousing tensions in Nigeria regarding the safety of lives and property of our nationals residing here in Ghana,” she said.
“I must start by saying thank you to the President of the Republic of Ghana, President John Dramani Mahama, for the warm reception we received when we arrived.
“We are pleased to note that things are rather calm here. Since we arrived, I haven’t seen people burning tyres in the streets or carrying placards everywhere calling for Nigerians to be deported.
“This shows that the Ghanaian Government and the president have stepped up to the situation — I would say there’s no cause for alarm, they are handling the situation effectively, and we will continue engaging stakeholders.
“The tensions that had been generated by these viral videos in Nigeria seem to have literally evaporated once we arrived to see that there were no visible protests that were ongoing. We want to reiterate essentially that Nigeria and Ghana have long been partners as a result of our shared history. We have a special relationship that so much binds us together. And these sights of inciting videos and rhetoric are capable of causing irrepressible damage. They are capable of inflaming nations within the shortest possible time because young people always don’t consider the far-reaching effects of the actions they take and sometimes they jeopardise the lives of people who in most cases are innocent. So, our government has been concerned, our National Assembly has been concerned, our traditional institutions have been concerned, and the ordinary citizens on the streets have been concerned about the tensions that have been generated in Ghana. And they just want to be assured that Nigerian nationals in Ghana are coexisting very well with their Ghanaian brothers and that their lives are not in any danger at all.
“So, we had a very constructive engagement with the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs and he assured us on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama of the safety of our nationals in Ghana and that they are free to go about their daily activities without fear and without anxiety bearing in mind the history, the references and the painful memories of the past that neither of us are keen on witnessing,” the minister was quoted as saying.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu emphasized the need for both countries to promote mutual respect among citizens and called for the institutionalisation of the Nigeria-Ghana Joint Commission to further enhance bilateral cooperation and foster people-to-people engagement.
On his part, Ghana’s Foreign Minister reaffirmed the safety of Nigerian nationals, noting that his ministry had already engaged with both the Nigerian community and concerned Ghanaian citizens.
“The Ghanaian government will ensure that everyone in the country — citizens and non-citizens — is protected,” he stated, urging all residents to remain law-abiding and avoid actions that could incite division.
He dismissed the misleading narrative being spread online and clarified that the videos circulating do not reflect the current situation in Ghana.
