Why Nigeria, Ghana must end dispute now

Editorial

The ongoing dispute between the West African nations of Nigeria and Ghana is one that should be brought to a most amicable resolution now in the overall interest of the peoples of the respective nations, and the sub-region and continent.

In the post-Independence era, while periodic flashes of conflict and acrimony have now and again broken out between both nations on account of a sundry range of issues, the current misgivings are in themselves connected to matters of diplomacy, trade, economics and migration.

Ghana is seemingly miffed over the large numbers of foreign retail traders (many Nigerians included) that have taken a strong foothold in its economy as well as Nigeria’s closure of its land borders with neighbouring West African nations. On its part, Nigeria is upset that its High Commission grounds in Accra have been breached, and its citizens deported and hindered from carrying out their businesses in Ghana by operatives of regulatory and enforcement authorities trying to curtail the activities of retail traders in the Ghanaian economy.

In the ensuing situation, both nations have presently taken to the public space to state their own sides of the story, and in the process heightening the state of tension in both nations and across the broader sub-region and continent.

Going beyond even the immediate details of the conflict, part of the challenge that we see is that the countries in question are two of the biggest players in the sub-region and by extension also the continent. And as such, any conflict between them has considerable impact on the sub-region and continent as well as on outsiders’ perceptions of Africa, thus emphasising the need for a speedy resolution of the face off. But with other neighbouring states already having their hands full, it does not appear that a lot has presently been done or would indeed be done most speedily by third parties to broker peace on this occasion.

The most likely mediator would have been ECOWAS Heads of States Chair, Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger. But he apparently has his hands full with the Mali crisis and his added frontline role in the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA process. As for President Alasane Ouattara of Cote D’Ivoire, he is caught up with the electoral process in his country, ahead of the October Presidential Polls.

As a first step then, we urge that the two directly affected parties urgently agree to take their positions to the negotiating table and broker peace for themselves. One reason why they should do this is because the sub-region and continent has a lot on its plate that it cannot afford any more conflicts. From the management of the COVID-19 pandemic to the imperative of curtailing the rising sceptre of Islamist insurgency and on to the process of deeply establishing AfCFTA, there is indeed so much to do at the moment. Very simply then, these two leading nations in the sub-region and continent should get into a room and put these smaller matters behind them.

Going forward also, we counsel that the dispute resolution mechanisms of both the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union would need to be overhauled so as to be able to speedily resolve disputes of this nature should they arise in the future. Africa has too much at stake now to be held up in fights and conflicts that do not deliver fundamental benefits to the larger mass of the peoples of the continent. Let the Ghana, Nigeria dispute be resolved today.

President Alasane Ouattara of Cote D’Ivoire