The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Ojukwu, has met with Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Samuel Ablakwa, to address the recent wave of protests targeting Nigerians living in Ghana.
In a statement shared on her official social media account on Thursday, Amb. Ojukwu disclosed that the meeting focused on concerns arising from the demonstrations, where some Ghanaian citizens accused Nigerians of contributing to rising crime levels.
Her words: “Meeting with the Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana, Hon. Samuel Ablakwa, to address the situation of Nigeria-Ghana citizens’ relations in the aftermath of protests against Nigerians living in Ghana.
”The Minister assured that the lives, properties and businesses of Nigeria and Nigerians living in Ghana are safe and protected, and that there is certainly no threat of mass deportations of our nationals residing in Ghana,” she said.
Ojukwu’s meeting with the Ghanaian Foreign Minister comes just a day after she revealed, also via an Instagram post, that she had arrived in Accra at 9:30 p.m. and was received at the Kotoka International Airport by the Inspector-General of Police of Ghana.
She noted that the Federal Government of Nigeria was exploring all avenues to bring a diplomatic resolution to the crisis, which stems from widespread protests in Ghana against Nigerian nationals following repeated incidents of criminal activities blamed on foreign residents
Ojukwu’s meeting with the Ghanaian Foreign Minister comes just a day after she revealed that she had arrived in Accra to explore all avenues to bring a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
The crisis stemmed from widespread protests in Ghana against Nigerian nationals following repeated incidents of criminal activities blamed on foreign residents.
The protests, captured in a viral video, showed demonstrators calling on Ghanaian authorities to expel Nigerians over alleged misconduct.
In response, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) urged calm and condemned the generalization of Nigerians as criminals.
NiDCOM Chairperson, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, described the accusations as unfair and misleading, stressing that Nigerians are good ambassadors wherever they find themselves.
Dabiri-Erewa appealed to both Nigerians and Ghanaians to avoid inflammatory remarks that could escalate tensions, noting that there was no verified evidence of attacks on Nigerian-owned shops or properties in Ghana.
She reassured the Nigerian community in Ghana that the relevant authorities were actively addressing the matter.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations, Senator Aniekan Bassey, described the protests as “deeply disturbing and contrary to the spirit of African brotherhood.”
He called for sustained diplomatic engagement and regional cooperation to resolve the crisis.
