• Withdrawal from circulation of the fifty cedis notes, the national currency highest denomination. A lot of people were left penniless.
• All savings in banks above fifty thousand cedis were frozen
• Withdrawals needed clearance from the Attorney General’s Department
• Shortage of fuel turned people into human caravans
• Daily struggle to buy basic necessities – milk and sugar
• Corrupt practices flourished by civil servants and business people
• People fled to Nigeria including the highly qualified
• Severe drought in 1984 led to food shortage, exports of cocoa, timber and gold hit a record low due to economic downturn
• Border closure by Cote d’ivoire, Togo and Burkina Faso
• Economic mismanagement by military leaders
• The youths unexpectedly placed in high positions of responsibilities – inadequately equipped
• The environment was engulfed with filth and also political, social and moral rot
• A period of panic due to the economic crisis
• The Central Bank issued several directives trying to control inflation
• Naked hardship and economic mismanagement – everything at a standstill, citizens are frustrated, hope is lost and nobody to turn to

During the period of exodus in Ghana, Nigeria had discovered oil in commercial quantities and their economy was faring well. Therefore, a lot of Ghanaians went there for a better financial and economic freedom.