Rivalry has existed between Ghana and Nigeria, for some time now. I do not see the case for comparing the two West African nations; I consider it like comparing a mango with an orange.

Well, I feel obliged to share my thoughts on this issue, as a result of a few write-ups I have gone through on the Internet, recently. However, I would keep my opinion until a later date and share what others have said, for now.

Yesterday, I saw a blog headline on Nigerianbloggers.com by one Ore, where she chronolizes her visit to Ghana. She has even spiced up her post with pictures this morning. This is part of what Ore has to say:

“I think you can tell a lot about a city by how clean and efficiently-run the airport is. And if Kotoka Airport was anything to go by, Accra would be miles above Lagos. Indeed in terms of cleanliness and orderliness, Accra was a model for Lagos as far as I was concerned. There was a clearly-marked information desk where we were told when to expect the next hotel shuttle.”

Also, a week ago, I saw a post on Nairaland by one ‘Medube’, a white Nigerian and I find his title a bit aggresive: “Why Can’t Nigeria Be Like Ghana?” He said among other things,

“I recently went to Accra, Ghana with my wife and daughter for the Xmas and New Year holidays. What can I say, I was so shocked and wondered if we were on the same continent with them. It was hard to believe that these were the same people we flushed out of Nigeria in the late 70s and early 80s in trucks and tippers.

Everything is so organised and so stright forward. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly it was unbelievable. Life is reasonably cheaper and more relaxing than Naija. You come home there is constant power. YOu drive anyhow on the street and you are given an alcohol test, if you fail you face a jail sentence of 3 months. Petrol stations are open 24 hours a day with built in supermarkets like Europe. The whole city works on traffic lights 24 hrs a day. The police ar friendly and do not disturb anyone, infact every police station has a telephone number for emergencies. Crime rate is very very low and infact its sad to know that all crime there are commited by Nigerians or Liberian refugees. I put on the news one day and found out they caught a gang of 12 robbers terrorising KUmasi in which 9 were Nigerians.”

As for Nigerians robbing in Ghana, its regular. You often see such headlines on the Daily Graphic about Nigerians leading a team of brutal armed robbers. Its sad.

Also on Nairaland, ‘Hero’ declared: “Nigeria Should Follow Ghana’s And Brazil’s Path.” His concluding part is what I find more interesting:

“Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya are primary destinations for African American tourist… for that they present the greatest incentives to this market. If you build it… they will come!! If Nigeria builds a marketing incentive for AfAm’s to come to Nigeria, they will come in droves and pump lots of its ((($800Bill))) in wealth into the Naija market while they’re at it. They’ll buy land, houses and more, if only the proper incentive is given to them to do so.

Don’t believe me, just ask Ghana about how serious we are about this. Within just a few years after that nation has implemented several major incentives to increase African American involvement in the nation…. the number of African Americans visiting the nation yearly has been growing rapidly, as has the number of these individuals whom are buying/building up homes and land in the nation; investing in companies, and building others.

While the Nigerian government is creating incentives for entrepreneurial White Zimbabweans to come to Nigeria and live, Ghana has been and continues to… create incentives for entrepreneurial African Americans and other blacks in diaspora to come to Ghana and invest their time, talent and wealth… and thus far it’s wilding great results. Thousands of African Americans already live full-time or part time in that nation, and guaranteed thousands more will follow suite in the near future.”

One of the respondents, ‘Kokscity’ stated:

“First of all,Ghana has a more stable Economy and a stronger sense of citizenry than we do. Hey things general work in Ghana,there is constant power, taxis are very clean,roads are generally good,water is readily available ETC. Those fundamentals are not there in Nigeria or rather at least not as widespread. But anyway i talk to a lot of my African American Buddies and they tell me the want to visit Ghana,Liberia, and Senegal. When i ask what about Nigeria, they have this funny look on their face and we go through this long silence and it comes down to where it more favorable.”

This is how I concluded on Nairaland:

“I’m a Nigerian and have been in Ghana for over three years now. Everything said by “medube” about Ghana is true. The only glitch is, not all the road between Togo and Ghana is world-class. They just rehabilitated a part of it (from Tema to Sogakokpe) last year. The rehabilited part is what he’s talking about. Aflao (Ghanaian border town) to Sogagokpe is not as good.

Each time I visit home, I’m ALWAYS eager to get back here. Why? The erratic power supply in Nigeria could drive one crazy and I don’t want to go crazy.

I could go on and on but I’d conclude by saying that Ghana and Nigeria are incomparable. It’s like comparing Orange with Mango. Each country has its good and bad sides, and both countries have a long way to go, compared to a place like South Africa.”

I would update this blog entry to include much more information as time goes. I want it to be as balanced as it can be.

#1
You might also want to see where Ghana and Nigeria rank on the Rank Order - GDP - per capita from CIA’s World Fact book.

#2 The only rivalry between the two countries that makes sense to me is in the world of …. SOCCER!