Anti-Nigerian sentiments may worsen as Ghana nears general elections

By Femi Alabi Onikeku

Anti-Nigerian sentiments in Ghana may worsen as the country draws closer to general elections scheduled for December 7, 2020.

Developments in that country in recent times show that anti-Nigerian feelings have been on the rise.

READ ALSO: Federal Government chides clampdown on Nigerian businesses in Ghana

In June, Nigerians were taken by surprise when armed men stormed the Nigerian High Commission compound in Accra and pulled down buildings under construction.

Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama had condemned the demolition and called on the Ghanaian government to protect Nigeria’s interests. Later, he disclosed that the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, had “apologised” and that the perpetrators had been arrested and arraigned in court with the Ghanaian government agreeing to restitution.”

He noted that both nations would like to put the matter to rest, even as they “continue to further strengthen bilateral relations between our two countries, take lessons learnt from what has happened and move forward without recrimination.”

In 2018, hundreds of shops run by Nigerians were shut following an impasse with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA).

Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji, the President, Nigeria Union of Traders Association Ghana (NUTAG), recalled: “The Ghana Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a public notice and gave an ultimatum that all non-Ghanaians should move out of the markets on July 27.

“In August, 2018, the ministry, in a joint operation with the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), established a task force with specific mandate to clamp down on Nigerian traders.

“This eventually resulted in the closure of over 400 Nigerian traders’ shops and lawfully established businesses in Kumasi, Ashanti Region of Ghana.

“Our members are shut out of their business premises in pursuance of the eviction order dated July 27, 2018, demanding that we must have one million dollars as minimum foreign investment capital to do business in Ghana.”

However, following intervention by the federal government, which involved a summoning of the Ghana High Commissioner to Nigeria, the stalemate was resolved and the shops were reopened.

GUTA reportedly believes that foreigners, particularly Nigerians, Chinese, and Lebanese were taking over their retail business and that this was in breach of section 27 of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act 865.

The section stipulates that “the sale of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place” must be reserved only for Ghanaian citizens.

The ghost of anti-Nigerian sentiments again reared its head last week as Ghanaian authorities were again accused of closing shops owned by Nigerians doing legitimate business.

A trending video has since surfaced online showing a Nigerian trader complaining bitterly as security operatives swooped on his shop to lock it up despite what he said were proof that he had fulfilled all legitimate demands.

Appealing to the federal government to come to the aid of the traders, Nnaji said that shops belonging to Nigerian traders in Accra were locked up by Ghanaian authorities who demanded cash payment of one million dollars from them before the shops could be opened, Daily Times gathered.

According to him, an inter-ministerial task force went round on August 10 to identify shops owned by Nigerian traders and request for registration of business taxes, residence permit, standard control, and Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration.

He said: “Most of our members do not have the GIPC registration, because it requires one million dollars cash or equity, and they gave us 14 days within which to regularise. As of Thursday, they had moved to another area and started locking up shops of Nigerian traders.

“Nigerian life in Ghana matters. This is the livelihood of Nigerians being destroyed by Ghanaian authorities. This is not being perpetrated by a trade union, but Ghanaian authorities.

“They demanded that we must employ a minimum of 25 skilled Ghanaian workers and must not trade in commodities that Ghanaian traders have applied to trade in.”

Nnaji regretted that the “humiliation” of Nigerians was getting out of hand and called on the Nigerian government to intervene.

But the history of troubled relations between Ghana and Nigeria is decades old. Nigeria in 1983 and 1985 forced Ghanaians in the hundreds of thousands resident in the country back to their homes. Earlier in 1969, Ghana had actually fired the first shot deporting over a million Nigerians resident in that country.

On the “tit-for-tat expulsions” between both countries, Shola Lawal, an independent filmmaker and freelance journalist, writes, “bad leaders in their failure to deliver, whip up nationalist sentiments and use foreigners as scapegoats, even though there is little evidence to suggest that the absence of foreigners leads to a healthier economy.”

Lawal notes further: “As Nigeria battles insurgents and a crumbling economy, present-day Ghana is stable — boosted by revenue from gold, cocoa and oil. Its electricity has attracted more foreign investors and more West Africans, including an estimated two million Nigerians (on the other hand, about 500,000 Ghanaians currently live in Nigeria).

“On almost every street is a store displaying Nigeria’s green and white flag, while markets in Makola and Kumasi vibrate with Yoruba and Igbo, Nigerian languages. But, like a song stuck on replay, anti-Nigerian sentiments are building up a second time.

“With Ghana’s elections just months away, it remains to be seen whether these sentiments would become aggravated.

“In politics, all issues are possible. And some of the political efforts of politicians might want to cash in on this current situation,” said Professor of Political Science at the Lagos State University Sylvester Odion.

  According to him, “The point is that Nigeria is not playing its leadership role properly and Nigeria has not had exemplary leadership at the level of governance in the last two decades to command respect within the sub-region.

“And so, that translates into the sufferings, the embarrassments that our nationals experience elsewhere, not just only in Ghana but also in South Africa, China, Europe and America.”

Odion explained that when countries face economic crises, they often look for scapegoats in order to divert attention.

“For the much I know about Ghana, it is not a rich country by any standards. And it has only managed to trudge on because of disciplined leadership, and corruption is not so overt the way it is in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Federal Govt chides clampdown on Nigerian businesses in Ghana

“So, they live under perpetual economic crisis and the tendency is always there to scapegoat and say foreigners or Nigerians who are doing well are depriving them of progress.

“But it is interesting to know how a political party can come out in the open and say that Nigerians are the problems of Ghanaians.”

Recalling the history of relations between both nations, Odion noted: “There is a simple perspective to it.

“Nigerians and Ghanaians in the past had always scapegoated each other. Shagari deported Ghanaians in the 80s. Ghana had done it much earlier before the Nigerian return match in 1983. It could be a replay of that historical hostility.”

Meanwhile, reacting to the trending video, a former presidential candidate and publisher of Ovation, Dele Momodu, tweeted on Sunday: “Just imagine the uproar that would have followed if what’s happening in Ghana right now happened in the US….I am so sad and repulsed watching these videos.”