Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari travels to Ghana in first official visit
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is visiting Ghana on his first official visit to the country since assuming office in May.
According to some Ghanaian reports, Buhari will discuss, among other things, the repatriation of Nigerian funds he alleged previous administrations had stolen and stashed away in Ghana. The Nigerian president has vowed his administration would end the country's widespread corruption and recover billions of dollars of funds believed to have been stolen and transferred to other countries.
Buhari will also discuss bilateral relations, trade and regional security with Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama, according to a statement by Femi Adesina, special adviser to Buhari. A meeting with the Nigerian community in Ghana is also part of the president's schedule.
The two countries started trading during the British colonial era. However, the relationship between the two nations has strained at times. In 2010, the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana's capital Accra accused local media of overplaying crime stories involving Nigerian immigrants.
During the 1960s, Ghana expelled around 100,000 foreigners, mainly Nigerians. A few years later, Nigeria expelled at least 1 million people, mainly Ghanaians, further harming relations between the two West African countries.
Nigeria is currently leading a regional offensive - comprising some 8,700 troops from Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin - against terror group Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of people in its fight to establish an Islamic caliphate throughout the occupied territories.
Earlier this summer, Ghana faced widespread protests in Accra with some people warning they would carry out Boko Haram-style attacks after the government had demolished their houses in a slum to prevent floods.
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