Ghana’s President, John Mahama, has confirmed that the country is receiving West African nationals, including Nigerians, deported from the United States.
According to the BBC, Mahama disclosed on Wednesday that the move followed an agreement with Washington and was consistent with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) free movement protocol.
He revealed that an initial group of 14 deportees — including Nigerians, a Gambian, and other West Africans — had already landed in Accra.
The Ghanaian government, he said, arranged buses to transport the Nigerians back to their country, while the Gambian national was still being supported to return home.
“We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US,” Mahama explained.
“And we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable. All our fellow West African nationals don’t need visas to come to our country.”
Although Mahama admitted that trade tariffs and visa restrictions had strained Ghana-US relations, he maintained that the partnership remains “still positive” overall.
This development comes amid Washington’s stepped-up deportation drive under President Donald Trump, who has pushed for migrants to be transferred to “third countries” as part of a tougher immigration agenda.
Recently, the US deported seven people to Rwanda, five to Eswatini, and eight to South Sudan.
Human rights advocates have strongly criticised the policy, warning that expelling non-nationals to unfamiliar countries undermines their rights and places them in precarious situations.
While Ghana has agreed to cooperate, other African nations have resisted. Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said in July that the government would not yield to US pressure to take in third-country deportees, citing both economic and security concerns.
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