West Africa’s most compelling story of regional integration may not be unfolding in government chambers, but in cinemas, on radio stations, digital platforms and dance floors. From the painful era of migration expulsions symbolised by “Ghana Must Go” to the contemporary dominance of Nigerian Nollywood and Afrobeats across Ghana, culture is quietly rewriting the relationship between two of the region’s most influential countries.
In a new intervention, ECOWAS West African Youth Ambassador and Cultural Ambassador Amb Dr Jamezany James argues that the Ghana–Nigeria cultural relationship has evolved from confrontation and suspicion to a powerful platform for influence, cooperation, and people-to-people diplomacy. But he warns that stronger systems for intellectual-property protection and fair compensation must now match the success of this cultural exchange.
Drawing on his experience in Nollywood, music promotion, film festivals and African cultural diplomacy, James says the continent cannot continue celebrating the popularity of African creative products while allowing creators and rights holders to lose revenue through piracy and weak cross-border licensing arrangements. For him, the next phase of Africa’s cultural integration must ensure that cultural consumption produces economic value for those who create it.
In a provocative call for a new cultural compact, James proposes what he describes as an “AfCFTA for Culture”—a framework that would allow African music and film to circulate freely while ensuring that creators are protected and paid. The proposal raises a difficult question for policymakers, broadcasters and the creative industries: Can Africa build a borderless cultural market without building a borderless system for protecting the people who create its culture?
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION WEST AFRICA DID NOT PLAN
For decades, Ghana and Nigeria were often portrayed through the language of migration, economic competition and national interest. Today, however, the strongest connection between their populations may be cultural.
A Nigerian song can become a Ghanaian party anthem within days. A Nollywood production can find an audience in Ghana almost immediately. Nigerian performers command enormous followings across the country, while Ghanaian artistes have established their own influence in Nigeria and beyond.
The irony is difficult to ignore.
The same region that once witnessed citizens being forced across borders now has millions of people consuming one another’s culture every day.
But James believes the celebration must come with a warning: cultural popularity without economic justice is not integration—it is exploitation wearing the clothes of success.
WHEN “GHANA MUST GO” BECAME “LET THE MUSIC STAY”
The historical contrast is striking.
In 1969, Ghana expelled large numbers of foreign nationals, including Nigerians, during a period of economic and political pressure. In 1983, Nigeria introduced its own expulsion measures, leading to the departure of large numbers of Ghanaians. The expression “Ghana Must Go” became permanently associated with one of the most painful episodes in Ghana–Nigeria relations.
Yet in 2026, the cultural traffic moves in the opposite direction.
Nigerian Afrobeats is firmly embedded in Ghanaian popular culture. Nollywood enjoys a substantial audience, while Ghanaian artistes, filmmakers and media professionals participate in the same increasingly interconnected African entertainment ecosystem.
The old politics asked: Who belongs here?
The new cultural economy asks a different question:
Who owns the content—and who gets paid?
That, according to James, is the question Africa can no longer afford to avoid.
NOLLYWOOD: THE DIPLOMAT WITHOUT A PASSPORT
James argues that Nollywood has achieved something traditional diplomacy has often struggled to accomplish: it has entered African homes and created emotional connections across national boundaries.
Nigerian films have allowed Ghanaian audiences to laugh, cry, argue and celebrate with Nigerian characters and performers. The industry has consequently become more than entertainment; it has become an instrument of cultural diplomacy.
But James speaks from experience when he raises the darker side of that success.
He recalls a December 2022 incident in which a young Ghanaian contacted him after watching a film in which he had acted alongside veteran Nigerian actor Jide Kosoko. James had also been involved in bringing Kosoko onto the production.
The joy of knowing that the film had reached Ghana, he says, was overshadowed by the knowledge that it was allegedly being shown without the appropriate licence or royalty arrangements.
For the creators, popularity did not necessarily mean payment.
And that is the contradiction at the heart of Africa’s creative boom.
AFRICA LOVES THE CONTENT—BUT DOES IT VALUE THE CREATOR?
The continent has never had a shortage of creative talent. What it has lacked is an equally sophisticated infrastructure for monetising that talent.
Piracy, unauthorised broadcasting, weak royalty collection, fragmented copyright systems and limited enforcement continue to undermine the economic potential of African creative industries.
The problem becomes even more complicated when content crosses borders.
A film produced in Lagos may be consumed in Accra. A song recorded in Nigeria may be played hundreds of times in Ghana. A Ghanaian television station may build audience and advertising revenue around foreign content.
The question is whether the creators on the other side of the transaction receive a fair share of the value generated.
James says the answer must be yes.
“If Ghanaian TV stations are showing Nollywood because of high demand, then let there be licensing agreements,” is the substance of his argument. Likewise, commercial use of Afrobeats should generate appropriate publishing and performance royalties for songwriters, producers, performers and rights holders.
AFROBEATS: NIGERIA’S MOST POWERFUL EXPORT?
Few African cultural products have travelled as rapidly as Afrobeats.
From Lagos to Accra, London, Johannesburg, Nairobi and New York, the sound has become a defining expression of contemporary African identity.
Its influence has also altered perceptions of Nigeria.
The country is no longer represented internationally only through politics, oil, business or population. Its musicians have become cultural ambassadors whose influence reaches audiences that may never read a Nigerian government statement or visit the country.
But James insists that cultural influence should eventually translate into economic value.
A song that fills a Ghanaian nightclub, radio programme or commercial platform is not simply entertainment. It is intellectual property.
The challenge is creating systems capable of tracking its use and returning revenue to the people who created it.
THE “AfCFTA FOR CULTURE” CHALLENGE
James’s most ambitious proposal is for what he calls an “AfCFTA for Culture.”
The concept would extend the philosophy of African continental trade integration into the creative industries, creating stronger mechanisms for cross-border licensing, copyright protection, royalty collection and enforcement.
Such a system could potentially allow African creative products to circulate more freely while ensuring that creators do not lose their rights when their work crosses national borders.
It would also force governments to reconsider the economic status of culture.
For too long, culture has often been treated as decoration for diplomatic conferences, festivals and national celebrations.
James’s argument is more disruptive: culture is an industry.
It employs people. It generates intellectual property. It creates brands. It attracts investment. It drives tourism. It influences global perceptions of Africa.
If Africa is serious about building a continental economy, therefore, the creative sector cannot remain an afterthought.
JAMEZANY JAMES: “I AM THE BRIDGE”
James presents his own career as evidence of the possibilities created when entertainment and diplomacy intersect.
His background spans Nollywood publicity and administration, film production, music promotion, festival coordination and cultural diplomacy. He served as coordinator and Head of Media for the Lagos International Film Festival in 2021 and has participated in FESTAC-related cultural activities.
Since 2024, he has served as a FESTAC Ambassador through the State of the African Diaspora, undertaking public relations and promotional work. His activities have included supporting international artists and promoting African cultural productions across borders.
His humanitarian work also contributed to his appointment as an ECOWAS West African Youth Ambassador.
It is from this position that he presents himself not simply as a Nigerian industry professional, but as a cultural bridge between Nigeria, Ghana and the wider African diaspora.
“I am Nigerian. I am Pan-African. I am a Cultural Diplomat,” he says.
THE REAL TEST OF AFRICAN INTEGRATION
The significance of the argument extends beyond Ghana and Nigeria.
If Africa genuinely wants the African Continental Free Trade Area to transform the continent, then the creative economy must become part of that transformation.
A continent cannot claim to have removed trade barriers while its creative workers remain trapped behind complicated copyright systems.
Nor can Africa celebrate global recognition for Afrobeats and Nollywood while producers, writers, musicians, actors and other rights holders struggle to collect the value generated by their work.
The next battle, therefore, may not be over whether African culture can cross borders. It already does.
The battle is whether African law, technology and institutions can move as quickly as African culture.
FROM EXPULSION TO EXCHANGE
The symbolism of “Ghana Must Go” may ultimately be replaced by something more constructive.
Not because the history should be forgotten, but because the region can choose to learn from it.
The Ghana–Nigeria relationship demonstrates that cultural exchange can succeed where political rhetoric sometimes fails. Music has created shared spaces. Film has created shared stories. Digital platforms have created shared audiences.
But the future of that relationship cannot be built on consumption alone.
It must be built on partnership.
James’s challenge to West Africa is therefore blunt: stop celebrating African culture only when it becomes globally successful. Build systems that protect it while it is being created, consumed and traded at home.
From “Ghana Must Go” to “Nollywood and Afrobeats Must Stay” is more than a change of slogan.
It is a test of whether West Africa can transform cultural popularity into cultural power—and cultural power into shared economic prosperity.
The music has crossed the borders. Now the rights, royalties and opportunities must cross them too.
