From "Ghana must go" to "Nigerians are coming"

Abuja — There is a casual hand bag in the Republic of Ghana derisively tagged "Nigerians are coming". The bag is a mini version of the sack known in Nigeria as "Ghana must go."

"Nigerians are coming" derives its name from the shift in the flow of migrants which sees Nigerians trooping to Ghana for investment opportunities.

"Ghana Must Go" found its way into the Nigerian lexicon in 1982 when former President Shehu Shagari flushed out thousands of illegal immigrants from the ECOWAS sub-region who had turned Nigeria into one big training camp for criminals.

Ghana had the highest number of illegal immigrants in Nigeria thus making the whole exercise look like an operation directed at Ghanaians alone. They all left in long convoys of Mercedes Benz 911 trucks with their belongings packed into the familiar sack that now attracts the euphemism "Ghana must go".