Traders want sanctions for Ghanaian businesses in Nigeria

The National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) has urged the Federal Government to take some punitive measures against Ghanaian businessmen and business interests over the continuous harassment of Nigerian traders in Ghana.

The President of NANTS, Dr. Ken Ukaoha, made the plea when he led a delegation of NANTS and Nigerian Union of Traders in Ghana (NUTAG) to the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday to explore ways of resolving the crisis.

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This is as he also urged the Federal Government to take the matter to the ECOWAS court for adjudication.

“The journey to the ministry was to lay our grievance and resolution to the minister in recognition of the fact that the traders are Nigerians and, therefore, require absolute security wherever they may find ourselves. We feel strongly that reciprocity is part of diplomacy and so we are challenging government to rise up to the occasion, because we have had enough,” Ukaoha said.

He lamented the agony, humiliation and torture Nigerian Traders had gone through in Ghana, due to the Ghanaian Government’s decision to raise the capital base of any foreign trader doing business in the country to $1m, and the subsequent locking up of many Nigerian traders’ shops since 2019.

Ukaoha who expressed the frustrations of many Nigerians, doing business in Ghana, said that about 753 Nigerian traders are ready to leave Ghana and that despite various interventions by representatives of the Nigerian Government, nothing significant had been done by the Ghanaian Government to reverse the trend.

He said, “Today, Nigerian traders in Ghana are passing through torture, intimidation and molestation of the highest magnitude, if we react proportionately to the kind of pressure we are getting from Ghanaian authorities and their citizens it may lead to civil war.

“Imagine our businesses being under lock and key for several months by Ghanaian authorities, these are means of livelihood of people, some traders borrowed money from banks to transact business, some goods are expiring and they are all locked up. The traders need to generate money to renew rents, pay school fees, settle bills, but they cannot because their means of livelihood are under lock and key.”

He expressed sadness that many of the traders had complied with the laws in Ghana, which are contradictory with provisions of the ECOWAS treaty and protocols, and yet their businesses still remained under lock and key.

He said that it is not out of place to apply carrot and stick to Ghanaian traders and business interests in the country as reciprocity is part of diplomacy and that may make the Ghana authority to stop the harassment of Nigerians in their country.

Responding, Aregbesola assured the delegation of the government’s efforts made to resolve the matter, saying the Federal Government was not keeping quiet, but would use diplomatic means to deal with the matter.

“We will not abandon you. No stone is being left unturned to remove the pains you are passing through in Ghana. The government is not resting on this matter and was doing everything possible to make life better for its citizens in Ghana and other countries of the world,” the minister said.