Ghanaian traders in Nigeria caution Akufo-Addo against possible retaliation

A Ghanaian trader in Nigeria has cautioned the Ghanaian government against the possible retaliation by the Nigerian government on the Ghanaian community if there is no permanent solution to the incessant harassment of Nigerian traders in Ghana.

Kofi Gyamfi, a spare parts dealer, who has a shop in Onipanu, a suburb of Lagos said that he and other Ghanaians have been living and working in Nigeria since 1992. He noted that during his 20 years stay in Lagos, the Nigerian authorities have never harassed or closed shops belonging to Ghanaians.

He added that Ghanaians are also noted for engaging in retail businesses like, managing boutiques, selling phones, and operating drinking bars.

“I have been staying in Nigeria since 1992 and I know other Ghanaians who are also there, working there, and having shops. Some are having drinking bars, some are having boutiques some are selling phones, many people are doing retailing,” Mr. Gyamfi noted.

“So, when I came here and I realized they are closing Nigerians shop, and I am thinking, what would happen if they also decide to close Ghanaians shops in Nigeria, what would happen that’s my concern now,” he quizzed.

Mr. Gyamfi indicated that the Ghanaian community in Nigeria have been rightly absorbed by the Nigerians, stating that Ghanaians who engage in retail trade are not bothered with the burden of paying the one million dollars fee cited in the new set of laws introduced by the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC). According to him, Ghanaians are given the freedom to trade in Nigeria irrespective of the type of business.

“Any amount to carry, you will be able to do work anywhere. It is very painful when I hear these things and I compare them with the people I know that are working in Nigeria or in Lagos,” Mr. Gyamfi told a journalist in Lagos.

On Sunday, August 30, 202, veteran journalist and publisher of Ovation International, Chief Dele Momodu said that the best way to settle the impasse which might hurt the cordial relationship between both countries is if President Buhari engages Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a dialogue.

Speaking told Channels TV in a panel discussion that had Former High Commissioner to Ghana and Senator, Musiliu Babatunde Obanikoro, Mr. Momodu said: “Our president should put a call through to President Nana Akufo Addo. Nigerian traders cannot wait until after the elections. They are suffering.”

“The only person who help these guys now is our dear beloved president and he must act. Let him reach out to them, if our foreign minister needs to fly into Ghana urgently, please let him go there, appeal to the government to please have mercy on these people,” he said.

His comments come after Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed issued a strong-worded statement condemning the continuous harassment of Nigerian traders in Ghana.

The statement issued to the press on Friday, August 28, 2020, indicated that the Federal Government is working assiduously in mapping out a strategy that will permanently solve the impasse.

He said that the Nigerian Government has taken note of the actions by the Ghanaian government, stating that they (The Nigerian Government) "will no longer tolerate such".

Meanwhile, the Government of Ghana has rejected the accusations by Nigeria of intimidation and maltreatment of Nigerian nationals in Ghana.

In a six-page response signed by its Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and sent to the press on Sunday, August 30 2020, Ghana particularly denied several allegations by Nigeria and provided detailed explanations showing it was incorrect to suggest Nigerians were being targeted for maltreatment in Ghana.

“The Government of Ghana notes, with concern, a statement, dated Friday, August 28, 2020, issued by the Ministry of Information and Culture and signed by the Federal Minister, Hon. Lai Mohammed, on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, concerning current relations between Ghana and Nigeria.

Ghana remains committed to the maintenance of warm relations with all sister nations, particularly, for well-known historical reasons, with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and will proceed to engage the Federal Government of Nigeria with a view to resolve comprehensively and exhaustively any matters that have the potential to sour relations between the two countries” the statement said.

Last year, some foreign-owned retail shops of Nigerians were forced to shut down on the basis that their presence was ‘illegal’. In December 2019, the Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA) locked up over six hundred shops belonging to Nigerian retailers at Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

This move caused a clash between Ghanaian traders and Nigerian traders leading some persons involved to be arrested while others were badly injured.