Finally, Ghanaian Govt Gives Reason For Locking Nigerian Traders’ Shops

The Ghanaian government has finally given the reason for locking Nigerian traders shops in West African country.

Naija News recalls that the President of the Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana, Chukwuemeka Nnaji,  had disclosed that shops owned by Nigerians in Accra, the Ghanaian capital were being locked by the government as they demanded pieces of evidence of their Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration. The requirement for GIPC registration is $1 million minimum foreign equity, while the registration fee is 31,500 cedis.

The President of the Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana said the humiliation from the Ghanaian government has gotten to its height, as he called on the federal government of Nigeria to come to their aid.

However, in its reaction, the Ghanaian government has explained why it has stopped Nigerian businesses from operating.

The Spokesman of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Boakye Boateng, told a Ghanaian publication, Starr News in an interview that the traders have been served notice for over a year now and were pardoned in December by President Nana Akufo Addo.

“It cannot be that we’ve been insensitive. If that is what they’re saying, I’ll be disappointed because I’ll rather say they have rather been unfair to us as a regulatory body because we have given them more time than enough to the extent even the Ghanaians thought that the ministry was not on their side or the ministry wasn’t ready to even enforce law,” Boateng said.

“So, it’s very surprising to me for them to say that we’ve not given them enough time. If you recall as far back as December last year, these shops were locked, the president intervened and we asked that the shops be re-opened because the very law that gives GUTA the right to be the sole traders in our market, that same law requires that a certain group of people are those who can go and do law enforcement and not you, so allow us to do our work.

“They complied, the shops were opened. Since then we have given them an opportunity to regularise the document and submit it to us for verification, that has not been done. Now, this exercise started from Abossey-Okai on Monday. Because we have never been to Abossey-Okai for this exercise, when we went there we did not just start locking shops. We went there, we inspected the shops and we gave them notices that in 14-days they should ensure that all their necessary documentations be complete. These people have been served notices for over a year now.”