“I Pray For Nigeria’s Success So Citizens Don’t Run To Ghana” – President Mahama

Ghana’s President John Mahama has highlighted the close relationship between his country and Nigeria.

Speaking as Special Guest of Honour at the 4th African Heritage Awards in Accra, Mahama said Nigeria holds major security importance for Ghanaians.

Mahama described both countries as closely related, joking that the only regular disagreements between them are over Jollof rice and football.

He added that many people in Ghana trace their ancestry back to Nigeria, especially to Yoruba communities, which makes the stability of Nigeria very important to Ghana.

“Ghana and Nigeria are twins of the same mother, except when we fight over Jollof and football. Otherwise, you know we are the same people.

“A lot of the people in Ghana migrated from Nigeria. They find their roots in the Yoruba kingdoms and all that… and so, Nigeria is of keen security interest to us”, Mahama said.

According to him, the two nations are deeply linked, and Ghana benefits when Nigeria is stable and thriving.

He also noted that because Nigeria has a large population, any serious crisis there could have ripple effects across the region, including migration pressure on smaller neighbouring countries.

“If Nigeria does well, Ghana does well. I mean, when you have cousins, 250 million of them, you want them to do well so that 1 million of them don’t come drifting towards a small country like Ghana.

“So every day I wake up, I pray for Nigeria, I say God let Nigeria get their act together,” Mahama said.

Beyond regional relations, Mahama used the platform to call for a major shift in how African countries handle investment and natural resources.

He said global systems are changing, with countries reducing humanitarian support and focusing more on defence spending.

“We need to make a paradigm shift in how we have considered investments, how we’ve considered our natural resources and everything in Africa.

“The world is changing, the global order is changing, and we must adapt to the changes. After the Second World War, we all agreed that we had a multilateral system and each was his brother’s keeper.

“After the arms race came to an end, we said there was going to be a dividend, a nuclear dividend which would make sure that everybody on this earth enjoys a decent standard of living.

“I mean, clearly, things are shifting from what we all anticipated. Humanitarian assistance is dwindling, countries are reducing their ODA and using it more for defence purposes and all that”, he said.

He argued that Africa must adjust to these changes by rethinking its approach to development and resource management, rather than relying on external assistance.

Mahama criticised arrangements where foreign companies gain large resource concessions while local communities remain underdeveloped and lack basic services.

He said Africa should no longer depend on such systems and must take full advantage of its own natural wealth, including oil, gas, gold, and lithium.

“Africa cannot sit with a cup in hand and go begging. One of the major assets we have is what nature gave us. We didn’t put the gold in the ground, we didn’t put the lithium in the ground, we didn’t put the oil and gas in the ground.

“God gave it to us, and so like I’ve said in many places, those days of huge concessions gifted to foreign companies and set up huge you know rich enclaves next to African poverty where there’s no clean drinking water, those days are coming to an end,” he added.

Mahama also pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area as a positive step, saying trade within the continent is already improving despite early challenges.

According to him, Africa has the potential to build shared prosperity if countries strengthen cooperation.

He said, “We must take advantage of what God has gifted us to make sure that we’re able to create prosperity for our people, and we can do it.

“We started with the African continental free trade area, we do have teething problems, but I’m sure that it’s a good sign. Already, we can see that trade between our countries is increasing, and so we do have the capacity to be able to create prosperity for our people and dignity.”

The president added that progress will depend on strong leadership, unity, and the effective use of Africa’s human and intellectual resources.

“We continue to fight and represent our countries. We want to show that leadership can make a change because I believe that if we get proper leadership in Africa and we work together, we have some of the best brains, we have wonderful people, we’ll be able to make a change in the lives of our people,” he added.

The event also saw the former President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

KanyiDaily recalls that President Bola Tinubu recently called on Nigerians to remain grateful despite the country’s economic difficulties, saying some African nations such as Kenya are facing even tougher conditions.