Ten differences between Ghana
and Nigeria
Filed under: VSO, ghana, travel —
kevin @ 19:09
1. Taxis are all clearly marked (by orange wings) in Ghana. While this theoretically applies in Nigeria most taxis in (for example) Abuja are unmarked.
2. There seems to be some enforcement of car roadworthiness checks in Ghana, you don ’t see the kind of old wrecks on the road that you do in Nigeria. Maybe the vehicle inspectors are less easily bribed in Ghana?
3. Electricity. In Ghana you get a schedule telling you when there are going to be outages (due to insufficient supply), in Nigeria NEPA/ PHCN like to keep it a surprise (probably even to themselves). The Ghanaians complain about how the suffer due to poor electricity supply anyway, I struggled not to laugh at them.
4. Ghana still has an agricultural sector, the economy hasn ’t been completely dominated by one product.
5. Newspapers in Ghana actually contain some news, rather than stories the journalists have been bribed to insert.
6. Ghanaians aren’t as keen on greetings, in fact often asking “how is your family?” or “how was the night?” will result in blank faces or funny looks.
7. Ghana smells. The drains at the side of the road seem to commonly be used as sewers, in Nigeria they ’re normally just storm drains. This gives the country a special aroma.
8. The roads in Ghana are mostly in reasonable condition. I often travel on the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, Nigeria ’s best road (because the generals used to use it to travel between the capital and their homes in Kaduna). A typical major road in Ghana is at least as good. Even dirt roads to villages in Ghana showed some signs of maintenance.
9. There’s a greater variety of food in Ghana. Even in smaller towns you can often get some “continental” or even Chinese food.
Ghanaians seem to be more adventurous when it comes to food.
10. You get singled out for begging in Ghana. In Nigeria the beggars go round everyone, in Ghana they immediately target the rich “obruni” tourists. In fact in Nigeria you don’t feel as singled-out just for being white.
Of course this is based on the parts of Ghana I saw, it ’s possible that things are different in the north. In general I ’d say that things work better in Ghana but I found the people slightly less friendly.

I read your write up and I am not sure it is totally objective. For example, there are traffic enforcement police in Ghana who arrest traffic offenders. You can see this on Citi news on YouTube under Operation War against indiscipline. Attempts may be made to bribe the officers by offenders, but not every officer can be bribed, so an offender could aggravate the arrest. I don't know what the situation is like in 9ja for traffic enforcement police. I don't know what the situation is like across the nation, not Lagos state or other states.
Ghanaians are very friendly. I get greetings all the time and they ask about family. I think every traveler may have a different greetings experience. Asking after family may not be the norm unless you're very familiar with the greeter.
Ghana smells? I think most African nations smell. I am sure parts of Lagos or Abuja and other places smell. You should balance your views of Ghana with your experience of smells in other countries. I have traveled by road between Accra and Lagos and the whole 4 nations (Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic and 9ja) have their particular peculiar smell. Same in the UK and the USA. They got their smells too.
As for targeted begging, I am not an Obroni or white person, so I won't know. The begging I experienced in Ghana is equal opportunity begging. The beggars sit down and call to everyone passing. At traffic lights, the beggars go from vehicle to vehicle. The more flashy your car, the more time spent begging from you. It is what it is.