SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND CROSS BORDER MIGRATION IN SUBSAHARAN AFRICA

GHANA AND NIGERIA IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The globalization of capital, labour, goods and other critical resources is not a new phenomenon. However, the migration of persons is one of the most contentious manifestations of contemporary globalization. Nevertheless, there are variations in patterns, outlooks, drivers and consequences of migration across geo-spatial locations. In sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, the phenomenon of migration has become a development of grave concern in recent decades particularly since the 1980s. This paper, for pedagogic purposes, places Ghana and Nigeria in comparative perspective. The paper relied on desk information and thematic data analysis approach and deploys the push and pull theory and neo-classical economic micro theory in its analysis. In terms of findings, the paperreveals that both Nigeria and Ghana share a lot in common in the trends and patterns of international human capital migration as well as in theorigin and destinations of immigrants. In terms of drivers, the push and pull factors were also discovered to be similar for international migration in both countries. Correspondingly, Nigeria and Ghana also derived appreciable benefits as well as incurred some damaging costs from the phenomenon of international migration, and share some similarity in terms of policy responses to stem the migration of professionals abroad.