Ghana High Commission Blames Insecurity On Stateless People

The Consul-General of the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria, Abdulai Abukari, on Monday blamed insecurity in the country and other West African nations on unregulated movement of stateless people. Speaking in Lagos, Abukari quoted a recent UNHCR report which states that about 700,000 people in West Africa had no nationalities, with more than five million others on the verge of being stateless. He pointed out that the increasing number of people without nationalities across the region was becoming alarming, and called for an urgent need to give the affected persons nationalities "Statelessness is a situation whereby some persons do not have a state, country or nationality" he said. "Today, we have so many people who hop from Nigeria to Ghana, Ghana to Nigeria, Niger to Nigeria, Cameroon to Nigeria and so on. Countries in West Africa should know that such people are instruments for promoting violence and insecurity in our countries. For instance in Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency is not only linked to Nigeria but with people from other countries". Abukari reiterated the need for West Africa countries who haven't ratify the UN Conventions on Statelessness to quickly do so. The envoy urged governments not to allow statelessness in their countries because of its consequences on the affected persons. He listed the consequences as; loss of identity, limited or no access to state protection, services and territory and no right to return to their former countries. "Statelessness is gradually becoming a major challenge that West African Governments should tackle head-long" Abukari said. "Affected persons should be made to have nationalities in the states or countries they presently claim. This way, they will stop moving about like nomads and governments will be able to protect and provide them with social services".