The federal government has asked Nigerian traders in Ghana not to relocate but exercise more patience adding that they are engaging relevant stakeholders with a view to addressing their challenges.
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola stated this when he played host to a delegation of the Nigerian Traders Association in Ghana, an Affiliate of the Nigerian Traders Association, led by its National President, Dr (Barr) Ken Ukaoha.
The minister gave the assurance that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will continue to engage Ghanaian Authorities to ensure that the challenges faced by Nigerians are amicably resolved.
While reiterating concerns at the disheartening condition under which Nigerian Traders in Ghana are made to operate in recent time, he promised that the government will not abandon them.
His words: “Your pains cannot endure, we will not abandon you, and no stone would be left unturned in removing the pains you are passing through in Ghana.
The Minister stressed that the Nigerian government is not resting on the matter but that it is doing everything possible to make life better for its citizens in Ghana and other countries of the world
Earlier, the National President, Association of Nigerian Traders, Dr (Barr) Ken Ukaoha expressed what he referred to as the “agony, humiliation and torture of Nigerian Traders in Ghana, emanating from their government’s decision to raise the capital base of any foreign trader doing business in the country to $1million, and the subsequent locking up of many Nigerian traders’ shops since 2019.
He added that in spite of various interventions by representatives of the federal government, nothing significant had been done by the Ghanaian Government to reverse the trend.
Ukaoha who further expressed the frustrations of many Nigerians, who are doing business in Ghana, noted that about 753 citizens of Nigeria are ready to leave Ghana.
“If we react proportionately to the way we have been treated in Ghana, it might lead to a serious crisis,” he stressed.
Dr. Ukaoha therefore appealed to the federal government and ECOWAS to take urgent steps against the Ghanaian authority to assuage the sufferings of the Nigerian Traders in that country.
– Leadership