Over a million West African migrants, most of them Ghanaian, were ordered to leave Nigeria at short notice in 1983. The Nigerian economy was suffering a downturn. But hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians then found themselves stuck outside Ghana's border unable to get back home. Alex Last has spoken to one Ghanaian who took part in the forced exodus. Photo: Migrants leaving Nigeria wait at the border to enter Benin.

In 1983, when Shehu Shagari was the President of Nigeria, an executive order was given to immigrants without proper immigration documents to leave the country or they would be arrested according to the law. Most of the immigrants were West Africans and mainly Ghanaians. Over 2 million men, women and children were affected. Incidentally, in 1969 Ghana also expelled Nigerians from its country. In 1969, Ghana enacted the Aliens Compliance Order in which hundreds of thousands of immigrants, most of which were Nigerians, were forcefully expelled from the country.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyYYRlNk1Jo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3VJavf66I


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWPaR8D0hN0


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s15qILX9dbY

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