They would say, “Ghana man, shoemaker, we pity for you-oh,”… “Mr Johnbull, so your spare part business just fall down like Ghana country,” etc, etc. My Nigerian in-law used to say, “Ghanaians have taken all our jobs and spoilt our name and passport. I hope we can kick out their ass from Nigerland someday.”

And truly his dreams materialised. About 1.2 million Ghanaians were deported from Nigeria in the ‘80s for their presumed involvement in economic and social crimes. My in-law had confessed how happy he was when the exodus of his fellow Anglophone, West African brothers and sisters came to effect. He said it was a sweet revenge to the massive deportation of Nigerians from Ghana in the mid-60s.

In the Ivory Coast then, when a neighbour wants to qualify an ugly person, an unfaithful wife or a shabby fellow, he would say, “You, looking like a Ghanaian.”

But days and decades have gradually changed the order. Things are no longer the same. Those who thought they were atop and jeering down at minnows now seem to be down craning their neck imploringly upward.

Ghana and its people have suddenly become the attraction of the sub-region.

A nation once regarded as crumbled and criminal-infested is about to experience economic boom. Outsiders are gravitating to snaffle its nascent business opportunities and enjoy its relative peace and security. Can you imagine me seeing policemen in Accra strolling down a street unarmed? Because they might not need it.

More than one million Nigerians are now fully settled in this “shoemakers” land, doing business and seeking for contracts. Children of some Nigerian elites – senators, governors, etc – now school in Ghana instead of London and Washington, while their parents visit the place as tourists.

Alright, sit back and read the funniest part of it all. That in-law of mine recently travelled with his wife and kids to spend holidays in Ghana. He says “Boy, Ghana don change oh, Nigeria no fit compare to them again.” Can you see how batons change hands?

Ivorians now migrate to Ghana to learn Information Technology, English Language and to learn how to set up and run evangelical ministries. President Laurent Gbagbo recently visited Ghana with one motive in mind, “I came to learn from you people how to organise free and fair elections.”

Ghana’s youths, who used to stow away in Europe-bound ships at Abidjan, Conakry, Dakar and Freetown’s seaports, no longer do. Instead, people from those countries now flock to Ghana to seek for British visas and Canadian immigration programmes.

The moral here is: determination for change. It’s true that Ghana experienced a terrible crack in almost all aspects of human and societal structures across decades, the successive rulers and their subjects endeavoured to eschew what hampers peace and progress; and imbibed the zeal to live for comfort – economic, social and spiritual.

I love Ghana. I love to be Ghanaian, but a Ghanaian girl I accosted, whom if I get married to would guarantee my nationality, tells me to I need to familiarize with her for at least six months before even obtaining the first kiss, common on!

Please tell the boys in your respective countries that Ghana women are no longer easy to get.

And also, tell Nigerians, Ivorians, Nigeriens, Senegalese, Burkinabé, Gambians, Guineans, etc, that they should emulate Ghana’s outstanding transformation, because life is short.

I love Ghana, do you?

PEOPLE is a new satirical column written by Kingsley Kobo every Thursday.