The Federal Government said, on Thursday, it had not received any official communication regarding the deportation of Nigerians from the United States to Ghana.
This followed reports that Ghana had accepted Nigerians and other West Africans deported from the US under a new arrangement.
According to Reuters, President John Mahama disclosed on Wednesday that a first batch of 14 deportees, made up of Nigerians, a Gambian and others, had already arrived in Accra, with the Ghanaian authorities facilitating their return to their respective countries.
The report was not specific about the number and identity of Nigerians among the deportees.
Mahama was quoted as saying, “We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US, and we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable because all our fellow West Africans don’t need a visa to come to our country,” he said.
He justified the decision by saying West Africans “don’t need a visa anyway” to come to Ghana.
Reacting to enquiries on development, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, told our correspondent on Thursday, “We have yet to be informed officially.”
The United States had previously approached several African nations with proposals to accept deported migrants, a move that drew criticism across the continent.
Nigeria had strongly opposed any such arrangement resembling those involving countries like Rwanda, Eswatini, Ghana, and South Sudan that have agreed to receive foreign nationals expelled from the United States of America.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, had in July revealed that the President Donald Trump administration was mounting pressure on African countries to accept deportees convicted of crimes into African countries under his “third-country deportation” policy.
“The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons,” Tuggar said.
He described the move as “unacceptable” and warned that such a policy would unfairly burden countries like Nigeria, which are already grappling with their own internal challenges.
Although Tuggar did not reveal the details of the diplomatic pressure being mounted on African countries, the Trump administration had previously announced new visa policies for Nigeria and others.
Commenting on Wednesday’s revelation, retired Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie said the decision to receive Nigerian deportees falls within Ghana’s sovereign rights.
“The government of Ghana has the right to accept deportees from the USA. It is an internal affair of the country, and the reasons for taking such a decision cannot be questioned by another country. What Ghana will do with the deportees is left for the country to sort out,” Akinkuolie said.
Another retired diplomat, Ambassador Ogbole Amedu-Ode, said the move appeared to be driven by logistics rather than any bilateral agreement with Nigeria.
“Ghana is accepting US deportees of West African extraction. This is at the instance of the US. Recall that Nigeria had earlier rejected a US request for the same purpose, albeit, deportees of Venezuelan extraction,” Amedu-Ode said.
He explained that Ghana’s decision may be tied to the fact that citizens of ECOWAS countries do not require visas to enter Ghana.
“Ghana’s reason for accepting these migrants is that, being citizens of West African countries, they’d not require visas to enter Ghana en route to their countries of origin,” he added.
Another Retired Nigerian Ambassador, Mohammed Mabdul, noted that while the move may reduce short-term pressure on other host countries, it could also complicate Nigeria-Ghana relations if not handled diplomatically.
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