Nigeria and Ghana have agreed to deepen cooperation in tackling the rise of Afrophobic protests and attacks against African nationals, with both countries seeking to place the issue on the agenda of the next African Union Summit.
This was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and signed by its spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, following a bilateral meeting between Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, and Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. The meeting held on the sidelines of the ongoing ECOWAS Mid-Year Summit in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
The two ministers raised concerns over recent Afrophobic protests and attacks targeting African nationals in South Africa, warning that such incidents threaten African unity, regional integration and the free movement of people across the continent.
They condemned xenophobia, Afrophobia, intolerance and violence against fellow Africans, describing the acts as a betrayal of Pan-Africanist ideals and the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Enikanolaiye and Ablakwa also called for coordinated regional and continental action to tackle the root causes of the tensions, protect the lives and dignity of African migrants, and encourage peaceful coexistence among African communities.
They maintained that criminal elements among migrant populations should be handled through due legal process rather than mob violence, which often victimises innocent and law-abiding African citizens.
The ministers further agreed to push for Afrophobia to be included on the agenda of the next AU Summit and to work with other member states to strengthen continental mechanisms, including early warning systems, monitoring, and preventive diplomacy.
During the meeting, Enikanolaiye praised Ghana’s leadership on Pan-Africanism and reparations for the historical injustices of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonialism. He commended Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama for the recent United Nations resolution on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and for hosting the Next Steps High-Level Conference on the matter, reaffirming Nigeria’s backing for the conference’s resolutions on reparative justice.
Ablakwa, in turn, congratulated Enikanolaiye on his recent appointment and called for stronger bilateral collaboration built on preventive diplomacy. He also acknowledged Nigeria’s support for the UN resolution and the contributions of the Nigerian delegation to the reparations conference.
Both ministers reaffirmed the historic ties between Nigeria and Ghana, pledging continued collaboration within ECOWAS, the African Union, and other multilateral platforms in pursuit of a more peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous Africa.
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