Nigerian traders in Ghana have said they are ready to return home , if Ghana refuses to honour the multilateral trade agreements of the Economic Community of West African States .
Last week , a Nigerian trader, whose store was forcefully locked up by the Ghanaian security officials , had recorded a video of the incident .
In the video, the trader is asked to pay a $ 1 m registration fee . Though the victim shows the officials his business registration certificate and other documents , the enforcement team insists on shutting his store .
The closure of scores of other Nigerian businesses by Ghanaian security agents in Abossey Okai Circle , Accra and Kumasi, Ashanti Region over non - payment of the imposed $ 1 m fee , as well as allegations of harassment by local traders , sparked protest among Nigerian traders and resulted in diplomatic talks between the two countries .
The ECOWAS Revised Treaty , among others , states under Article 3 ( 2 ) ( g ) and 3 ( 2 )( i ) that the community shall ensure “ the adoption of measures for the integration of the private sectors , particularly the creation of an enabling environment to promote small and medium scale enterprises ” and “ the harmonisation of national investment codes leading to the adoption of a single Community investment code . ”
The President of the Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana , Chukwuemeka Nnaji , in a telephone interview with Saturday PUNCH, stated that ECOWAS nationals should be treated as Ghanaian citizens when it comes to doing business.
Nnaji said , “ The Protocol of the rights of establishment say the citizen of any member - state who moves into another member - state should have the right to economic activities . You can set up a company and manage it . And the same legislation that is used for its own citizen should be applied to ECOWAS citizens .
“ Therefore , if that protocol is followed , Nigerian traders in Ghana should not be asked to pay $ 1 m , unless the same is being demanded of Ghanaian traders . Nigeria has a foreign policy when it comes to trade . But we have never applied it on Ghanaians because there is an agreement .
“ That shouldn ’ t even be a matter for discussion , but if Ghanaians think they must apply their law in its fullness , we are ready to go home because we cannot fight with them over their law . ”
The NTUG president added that over 150 businesses had been closed , though he refrained from giving an estimate of the worth of businesses affected or losses incurred as a result of the mass closure .
He said , “ I know it ’ s not as easy as that . Those places are high - income areas where people pay a lot of money . Getting a shop there would be between 50 , 000 to 80 , 000 cedis, which is N 4 m to N 6 m .
“ So far , we are talking about between 150 and 200 ( businesses ) . The last figure I got from the public relations officer was 158, but they continued ( closing shops ) the next day , which means it would be over 160 now , or less than 200 shops . ”
While bemoaning the mistreatment of Nigerian traders in Ghana , Nnaji said , “ Regarding what happened last week , we have had it worse than that . Ghanaian traders would organise hoodlums to beat us up . Some of our members were attacked with machetes .
“ In 2018 , we called the attention of the governments of both countries to the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians. We kept it cool because the governments intervened and things were curtailed . One would not be far from the truth to say these are xenophobic attacks , but this time , it ’ s in a different form . The ( Ghanaian ) government is not handling this . ”
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