On December 31, 2023, I went to Accra Ghana for a family occasion. I had not been to Ghana since the coming to power of the incumbent president, the very articulate President Nana Akufo-Addo. Akufo-Addo was not my preferred candidate in his contest with his predecessor John Dramani Mahama who is a friend of Nigeria and a literary artist. The current president of Ghana on coming to office gave a critical lecture at Oxford University, his Alma mater in which he cynically lambasted Nigeria for foolishly wasting its oil money. Even if this was true, I do not believe it is proper for an African president to ridicule another African country in a foreign land. Permit me the digression.

My visit to Ghana lasted a full week during which I experienced many things which I had not experienced in my several visits to Ghana, first as a secondary school student, then as an undergraduate, then as an academic and now as a person with family ties because my youngest child is married to a Ghanaian. My father had lived in the then Gold Coast colony working in the Manganese mines around Nsutta in Central Gold Coast. This was before I was born. He made some money which he brought home to build a rambling house for himself and his two uterine brothers in Okemesi our hometown. I have always wondered why the Gold Coast was where my people went in search of the “Golden Fleece”.

In my youth, sections of my town were inhabited by people who spoke as their second language Fanti which they picked up in the then Gold Coast. This is the second language spoken by most people in Ghana after Twi. The largest number of Yoruba people in Ghana in colonial times were Ogbomosho people and there were also people from such towns as Oyo, Ejigbo and Ede. The only explanation for this migration was probably scarcity of arable land. This was certainly the case in my home town being sandwiched in a valley surrounded by hills and where as a result of history of migration and our wars of liberation, we paid less concern for agriculture than for security. It is a long history which needs not bother us. I don’t know the reason for Ogbomosho people going in droves to the Gold Coast. But it is the same search for trade and profit that drove them to northern Nigeria as well.

Back to my story. I flew to Ghana on new year Eve 2023 on an AIR PEACE plane, manufactured by EMBRAER. S.A of Brazil. Apart from Boeing and Euro Aerospace, this Brazilian company is the third commercial planes manufacturer in the world. This position may change soon when the Chinese commercial airline planes bulldoze their way into the world market, the usual massive Chinese way.

My flight to Ghana was uneventful. In spite of the dusty Harmattan haze, the flight landed as scheduled. The flight was fully booked with a substantial number of the passengers made up of black Americans and Nigerian-Americans and their spouses who came “home” to Africa for Christmas and new year. I learnt it has become fashionable for these compatriots to celebrate Christmas in Lagos or Abuja and then fly to Accra for for elaborate new year celebrations. Tourism is big business in Ghana not just in Accra but in the country as a whole but particularly in the south. Hotels in Accra are absolutely exquisite. The beaches are primed for accommodation in beach hotels. The most remarkable thing is that electricity is regularly available every hour. Even though Accra strangely enough, is hotter than Lagos but air conditioning appears to be effectively available because of the regularity of electricity. Service in the hotels is friendly and efficient and the people are trained to be friendly. Ghanaians are on the whole much more friendly than our people. I am surprised about this because this was not always like this in the Ghana of my youth. At that time Ghanaians were very arrogant and proud. They had reasons to be like that. They beat every country in black Africa apart from the Sudan in the race to political independence. They also used to thrash everyone on the soccer field. Their voice was loudest in the struggle for pan African independence and unity and their president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah – the “ Osagyefo” or “saviour “ was the most well-known African leader and the youth of Africa including most young Nigerians admired him compared with our chaotic political leadership.

Of course things changed with our petroleum wealth which apparently went to our head and we mismanaged the opportunity. But even up till today, the evidence of our conspicuous consumption is evident in the luxurious cars on our dilapidated roads compared with the small cars on Accra roads.

When I arrived in Accra I noticed the difference. I wanted very badly to ease myself in a toilet. I was under severe pressure and I couldn’t wait for normal immigration or customs procedures so I dashed to a lady in uniform. I told her I urgently needed the use of a toilet. She did not start by directing me to a toilet she actually took me to one! I felt so good as an 81-year old whose bladder was about to explode would feel. When I finally got to the immigration desk and my pictures were to be taken, I was asked to remove my cap and glasses. For comic relief I asked the Ghanaian officer whether a chief’s head can be exposed just like that in Ghana. He apologised and we both laughed. Then the next port of call was the customs department. The officer insisted that I open my box. I asked him why? This time I was serious because he seemed for some strange reasons to have picked me out of the crowd. When he saw I was serious, he backed down and let me go.

What would have been the experience of a Ghanaian if the roles had been reversed? When I returned to Lagos I discovered that touts had infested the new extension of the Murtala Muhammad airport. One of them tried to rip me off pretending he was helping to clear my luggage but I stood my ground. What was most impressive was the airline that was expertly run and the brand new plane safely flown to and fro showing the possibility of a new Nigerian business owner and run by young Nigerians of mixed ethnic background. I saw this with my own eyes in AIR PEACE!

The Murtala Muhammad airport’s new extension shows what is possible. It is newly built and mercifully the air conditioning is working. The seats were clean and so were the toilets. If this can be maintained, then our airports would not be known for their ugliness and filth. How I wish the entire airport in Lagos can be as well maintained as the new extension. All things are possible. We just have to work at it. Small things are important. We cannot be talking about foreign investment if ordinary things like airports are in shambles. There are also too many desks one has to check at presumably because of security, drug trafficking, immigration, customs and so on and these things give room for the usual Nigerian malady of corruption. We just have to be determined to build our country because this is the only country we have.

Update news