By Winifred Bulus

Ghana has appreciated Nigeria’s good relationship and its role in Ghana’s attainment of independence.

Ghana’s high commissioner, William Awinador-Kanyirige, made the remarks during the celebration of Ghana’s 60th independence in Nigeria’s federal capital city, Abuja.

He said, “The struggle of Ghana’s independence was a struggle not just by Ghanaians but by all Africans that were in that territorial region.

“When we talk of the heroes of Ghana’s independence, we are also talking of the Nigerians that assisted us in that struggle although we don’t hear of them often.

“Our independence is intertwined and when you dig into history, you realise that many Nigerians helped in enforcing the freedom of Ghana.

“Take for instance the Ghana military, which has Hausa songs used to motivate the soldiers, was gotten from the interrelationship between the two countries.

“Colonialists created the Officer Corp Training in Accra and the Police Training School in Kumasi where the great Nnamdi Azikiwe enrolled in before his mother took him out prior to his graduation day.

“The history of our countries have been intertwined for decades and it’s not just the relationship between the military and the government but it is mainly in the relationship between the people of Ghana and Nigeria.

“We hope this relationship gets stronger as we grow together.”

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who was represented by Peter Iyambo, admonished Nigeria to keep supporting Ghana so as to improve bilateral trade and economic integration.

“Like Nigeria, Ghana is currently carrying out reforms targeted at rebuilding the psyche of the people on issues of transparency and good governance.

“I want to appeal to all Ghanaians present here to support the Ghanaian president, Nana Akufo-Addo, in his efforts to transform Ghana.

“Nigeria and Ghana have both enjoyed economic and international relations as our two countries have signed a number of agreements aimed at fostering economic integration.

“Nigeria remained determined in its resolved to implement bilateral agreements in order to ensure our people receive the full benefits.

“The relationship between Ghana and Nigeria remains very promising and full of potentials, we should collectively build on existing political and economic cooperation that has been the hallmark of our partnership,” he said.

Rita Orji, Chairman House Committee on Nigerians in the Diaspora, said: “I must confess that Ghana is one of the countries that we have the best relationship with.

“They know how to maturely handle and deal with issues that may bring about controversies or problems.

“Ghana is three years older than Nigeria and the fight for our sovereignty involved similar people like Kwame Nkrumah, Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and other prominent people.

“There are many Nigerians who migrated from Nigeria and helped develop Ghana, therefore we see Ghanaians as our brothers.

“Nigerians have come to celebrate Ghana’s 60th independence anniversary because Ghana has been a good friend and ally to Nigeria.”

Meanwhile, during the celebration of Ghana’s independence in Ghana’s capital city, Accra, the President Nana Akufo-Addo said the country has no justification to be inadequate after sixty years of independence.

“After sixty years, we have run out of excuses, and it is time to set Ghana to rights and get our country to where it should be. The challenge before us is to build our economy and generate a prosperous, progressive and dignified life for the mass of our people.

“Hard work, enterprise, creativity, discipline and a consistent and effective fight against corruption in public life would bring the transformation we seek.” he says.

The president also added that called on Ghana to join hands in building a better society,

“Let us mobilize for the happy and prosperous Ghana of tomorrow, in which all of us, including our youth, our women and the vulnerable in our society, will have equal opportunities to realise their potential, and build lives of dignity.”

Nigeria says Abuja bound passengers aboard diverted flights to Kaduna will enjoy free train and bus ride from Kaduna to Abuja.

Nigeria plans to divert Abuja bound passengers to Kaduna over the next six weeks starting March 8th.

The government under Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan attempted to carry out repairs on the airport runway in 2014, but the then opposition parties and other activists opposed the move.

At a joint press conference, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika; Representative of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing; as well as the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris said adequate measures have been put in place to ensure smooth operation.

There will also be adequate security, with the police deploying the air wing, the counter-terrorism and the special units to ensure the safety of passengers travelling between Kaduna and Abuja, according to the Inspector-General of Police.

It was also announced that the rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna road has been completed and that the road is now very motorable

According to Minister of Information and Culture, “When an airport is built there is a maintenance schedule depending on the number of landings that have been made. After a particular number of landing there is what we call surface cleaning, which is done. After additional landings, we now do resurfacing, after that it is closed completely and we do reconstruction.

“In the case of the Abuja Airport, for 34 years neither surface cleaning has been done nor resurfacing and it has deteriorated, so what we are doing is total reconstruction and there is no other alternative than to close the runway,” he said.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Aviation said, both the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and the National Society of Engineers (NSE) have agreed with the government that the integrity of the Abuja Airport runway has been degraded and that the only way to ensure safety on the runway is total reconstruction.

Mr. Sirika said the government is adopting the Concession Model to ensure that all the airports in the country are rehabilitated to meet global best practices and safety.

“We are concessioning the entire airports in Nigeria that belong to government. We will begin by concessioning four. Concession means we will give it to a private entrepreneur who has the wherewithal, the know-how, the technology, the capacity, the ability, the finance to put up huge fantastic edifices as airports with everything including hotels, just the way you see them abroad,” he said.

By Winifred Bulus

Nigerians have expressed dismay on the way and manner the country’s currency is being handled.

The currency is mostly torn and worn out, a situation if not checked could give a bad picture of the country’s currency.

It is observed by Africa Prime News that most Nigerians are in the habit of rejecting such money. Despite the rejection of old torn or worn out money, it is in circulation and finds its way in people’s hands.

Speaking on the issue, a commercial bus conductor in Kaduna, Nigeria, said, “I accept old torn money so long as it is still intact.”

Another commercial bus conductor observed that he rejects torn money given to him by any passenger because he finds it difficult to spend it. “The problem in the country is that people are in the habit of misusing the curreny with many people making it dirty beside tiring it,” he lamented.

Tinock Garba, a Nigerian also expressed her experience with worn out money, saying, “I give old torn money to my father to use while buying petrol at the filling stations. I also give some to bankers to change the worn out money for me for new note.

“It is also hard to spend that kind of money in the market because traders always refused taking it. I always end up with worn out money because I don’t always check change given to me by motor cyclists. Ironically, It is the same motorcyclists who don’t accept old money from me.”

Amina Abdulkareem, a fashion designer from Abuja, Nigeria shares her experience saying, “I don’t collect  old money from people as change or any other transaction because of the way it is being used. At the bank where one suppose to get good currency, the story is the samething and you find it very difficult to spend.”

To Teddy Moore, a professional photographer in Lagos, “All torn or worn out money should be returned to the bank and replaced with new notes. That is what I do. It also depends on how bad the money is, there are times I accept worn out money, but there are also cases when the money is unacceptable.”

Others who expressed their opinion on the condition of the country’s currency noted that there was the need for the government of the day to ensute strict compliance on proper use of its money with respect.