Today In Nigerian History: 17th January

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On January 1983, the President of Nigeria at the time, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, held a press conference and ordered all immigrants (mostly Ghanaians) without the right papers to leave the country within a few weeks…

Most of the Ghanaians hurriedly packed their belongings in a big silk bag with red and blue stripes, hence the name for the popular “Ghana must go” bag was born.

Nigeria had welcomed several Ghanaians in the 1970s, when the country was in the midst of an oil boom, and in need of cheap labour but in 1983 about 700,000 Ghanaians were reported to have been expelled from Nigeria.