Unexpected Joy at Dawn written by Alex Agyei-Agyiri is an African prose selection for the Literature in English WASSCE 2021 – 2025 examinations.

The story is linked to the “Aliens Compliance Order” of 18 November, 1969 under Abrefa Busia, and “Ghana must go” in Nigeria in 1983 and June 4^th Revolution uprising in 1973 – 81.

In the early twentieth century, Nigerians and Ghanaians were well -established in one another countries and were major contributors to the socio-economic development of each.

Unexpected Joy at Dawn is a tale of two countries, their slightly different administrations, policies and the stringent hold they had on the citizens of both countries. It narrates the stories of two siblings, Mama Orojo and Nii Tackie, both separated by their surrounding circumstances and the unrelenting struggle to reunite, which births the entire story.

The novel is set concurrently in two West African countries: Mama Orojo’s exploits and actions in Nigeria and Ghana; and Moses Nii Tackie Bi Akrong Na Bii’s actions and inactions in Ghana and later, Nigeria.

The lesson will focus on the impact of the “Aliens Compliance Order” and the “Ghana must go” orders which captures the unstable political and economic situations of the late 1960s through the late 1970s and early 1980’s. It is a period of economic gloom and extreme hardship. How did it impact the lives of citizens and aliens alike in Ghana and Nigeria principally although other West African countries were involved as well; Togo, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.