They look like military men in their blue camouflage uniforms. The airport is getting old – like all airports built decades ago – but Kotoka International airport is well-maintained. I had to use the bathroom upon arrival and though there were attendants there, they did not confiscate the toilet paper like ours do in Nigeria. I also noticed that the insides of the bathroom door did not have ugly graffiti like ours. At Abuja international airport for instance, you can see the anger of the people, and the debasement of the Nigerian society, written on the insides of the male bathroom doors. I hope it is not the same with the females. The battle between Jonathan and Buhari is still etched on the doors of the toilets in Abuja. So also is the tribal wars between Yoruba, Hausa, Igbos and other minorities.
You stepped out of Kotoka international airport to see neat rows of steel chairs on which people welcoming visitors are meant to sit. There is no unnecessary milling around like we see especially at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, where as many as 500 area boys with bloodshot eyes ‘welcome’ our visitors in Nigeria. There are no hustlers visible, trying to drag you to their own taxis. The taxi rank is there and visitors walk freely to pick their choices. It was my second time in Accra, and I cannot but be sad at the near hopelessness of my country, and the budding hope just 50 minutes flight away!
The taxis are fairly neat, and Ghanaians apparently take themselves serious. Anytime I ask a taxi to take me to different places, they usually come out and start cleaning the car at every stop, while waiting for me. Nigerians don’t give a damn. The roads leading from the airport look like London roads, and I ran into no potholes on the road throughout my 4 days stay in Accra. At the airport, there are hundreds of perfect and strong trolleys, which people used for free – unlike the shame that exist in Lagos, which people pay for, or the rickety ones in Abuja, with broken handles and tyres. One wonders what the private sector in Nigeria is doing, making huge money from a huge population, while this country remains an utter disgrace to the black race and the world. I challenge the Dangotes, Elumelus, Ovia, their successors, and all other big men in Nigeria, to get angry (or become shameful enough), and do something about our airports.
I visited a number of restaurants in Accra, and could see that, perhaps because of the huge population of foreigners in Ghana today, they are much neater than Nigerian restaurants. There are thousands of foreigners in Ghana today, who live freely and are happy to be in Africa. You could see a couple of white ladies walking down a side road or main street, or a number of them trying to board the local transport buses. The hope for a Ghanaian takeover of the African initiative probably lies in the fact that foreigners find the place more liveable, relaxing and attractive than Nigeria, and may make Ghana into a model for African countries to follow. That fact is already evident by the pace at which new building developments are springing up all over Accra (more on this later), and the presence of more international hotel brands than Nigeria could dream of. Accra presently boasts of great hotel brands like Holiday Inn, Golden Tulip, Movenpick, Novotel, Best Western and many more that foreigners are happy to lodge in. These hotels do not cost an arm and a leg as everything does in Nigeria.
Also evident in Ghana, are international banks – Bank of Baroda (Indian), Societe Generale (French), Barclays (British), Stanbic (South African/Chinese), Standard Chartered (British), and others, as against what we have in Nigeria where we want to be Africa’s financial hub with mainly local banks riding roughshod on all of us. Ghana is perhaps better positioned to be a financial hub, because it has the orderliness and livability required for international bankers, even if it is nowhere near as rich as Nigeria.
I visited a number of public institutions, including the Ministries of Finance, Ministries of Trade, Investment Promotion Centre, Inland Revenue Service and others. At all of them, I was shocked that ALL the elevators were working and in perfectly maintained condition! The buildings were old alright, but well-maintained. I started to wonder if Nigerians suffered from some sort of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), that make us ignore some simple facts of life – like maintaining what we have. We here like to say that we lack ‘maintenance culture’, but Ghanaians are also Africans. And the alternative to Maintenance culture, really, is BARBARIAN CULTURE. Are we barbarians here? That even our most important public institutions are in different states of dilapidation?
And oh, there is a morbid fear of Nigerians in Ghana. At Country Kitchen Restaurant in Osu, the waiter thought I was a Ghanaian initially, but after learning I was Nigerian, told me she usually would not like to attend to Nigerians because we were a rude, arrogant lot. When I told her we were changing and would get there, she shot back at me; ‘Do you really think you people stand a chance?’ That is another thing; the average Ghanaian may be laid back and slow, but innately very intelligent. A taxi driver who took me round at some point, was so knowledgeable about the African experience, and lamented the loss of the vision of great leaders like Nkrumah. This guy was an expert etymologist – who knew so many similarities in different languages in Africa and believes we are all one (I do too). He taught me that “Akwaaba” in Akan language (spoken widely in Ghana), is same as “Ekaabo” in Yoruba, “Bra” means come in Akan and “Bia” in Igbo, “Fiile”, meaning ‘leave it’ in Yoruba, is “Siile” in Akan. In the north of Ghana and on the streets of Accra, Hausa language is spoken widely. And they have somehow managed their diversity.
I got a rude shock when a friend took me to introduce to his director at the ministry, and upon getting in, the director asked my friend about a university he wanted to visit in the UK. ‘I hope this is not one of those 419 Nigerian universities in London?’ He was later embarrassed when I told him I was a Nigerian. Apparently our bad name precedes us and stops people from doing business with us. We must learnt humility in Nigeria if we are to get anywhere.
Ghana could seize the initiative from Nigeria, and set a new agenda for Africa, if it is wise. That country (which rightly calls itself ‘The Gateway to West Africa’), just needs to cajole foreign investors to assist it, and I think that is going on right now, and in the twinkle of an eye, Ghana could transform into the Singapore of West Africa, while resource-rich Nigeria is still busy lying to itself, with tribes tearing at each others’ necks and religious extremism – on both sides – creating a great drawback! But great challenges exist for Ghana. More next week about these challenges – including my visit to a place called Sodom and Gomorrah in Accra (the dirtiest place I have ever been in my life).
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