Nigeria’s Ghana-must-go slogan, Pan-Africanist diplomacy and the mediation of African literature in the age of globalization and sustainable development goals

Abstract

The statement Ghana must Go is a trade name of a brand of a utility bag in Nigeria. However, this nomenclature is a constant reminder of the 1983 expulsion of Ghanaian nationals from Nigeria. Since the expression is derogatory, it naturally threatens the bilateral diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Ghana, and portends a diplomatic row that has the potential to escalate. The study was motivated by the principle of pan-Africanism as its theoretical framework. The threat to the bilateral interaction between Nigeria and Ghana is opposed to the realization of the SDG Goal 16: Peace & Justice and this erodes the partnership accord that the United Nations intends in SDG Goal 17. The Consequence of this is that SDG Goal 8: Economic Growth is un-actualized because of diplomatic row. This goes against Goal 1: No Poverty and Goal 2: Zero Hunger. The paper opines that African literature is capable of healing the wound already caused. This is because literature is a formidable tool for social enlightenment, civil education, history preservation and popular source of societal entertainment. The African Literature’s task of re-orientating the Nigeria-Ghana civil societies is capable of averting the disaffection from exacerbating. This task with which African literature could be saddled, unavoidably, is appropriately discharged when the prominent Nigerian and Ghanaian literary writers such as Wole Soyinka write pacifist literary works. Other African nations need contribute to the fence-mending efforts. By this, the disaffection which the Ghana-must-Go Nigerian civil culture is capable of engendering in the Nigeria-Ghana diplomacy will be subdued.