Gbajabiamila to visit Ghana Wednesday over Traders crisis
Following the ongoing traders crisis in Ghana, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, will travel to Ghana on Wednesday, September 2 to resolve issues.
Daily Times recalls that $1m levy was imposed by the West African countries on traders from Nigeria.
The President, Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji,in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria last month, decried the closure of shops owned by Nigerians doing business in the country by the Ghanaian authorities’.
He said that shops belonging to Nigerian traders in Accra were locked up by Ghanaian authorities who demanded cash payment of $1million from them before the shops would be opened.
According to him, an inter-ministerial Tasktask force went round to identify shops owned by Nigerian traders ,and requested the documents on registration of business ,taxes, resident permit, standard control and Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration.
READ ALSO: Ghana demands $1m from Nigerian traders after closure of shops
Gbajabiamila told State House correspondents at the end of a meeting he had with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), that he would be embarking on what he called “legislative diplomacy” trip to Ghana.
He said the purpose was for him to meet with his Ghanaian counterpart with a view to resolving the matter.
Gbajabiamila said, “I am leaving for Ghana tomorrow (Wednesday) to meet with the Speaker of the parliament in Ghana to look at the issues on ground as they affect our citizens and to try and calm things down and see if there is a way forward.
“I will meet with the Speaker tomorrow (Wednesday).
“I informed the President and he is aware of every single step that we are taking, all the way and we hope that we will come to an amicable settlement one way or the other.
“It is called legislative diplomacy. If you remember very well, during the days when I was Leader of the House, I led the delegation to South Africa during the crisis there with Nigerians and we were able to accomplish quite a bit, to simmer things down at that time.”
“No demands, we are just going to discuss in the spirit of African parliaments and we will be looking at issues from time to time as they affect African countries, and this is one of them.
“I don’t want to make any statement at this time so that we don’t exacerbate matters.
“Like I said, we are looking for amicable solutions. The Ghanaians have their take on what is going on, we have our own take. We will see how we can marry the two takes and come to a solution.
“We are two strong West African countries and there must be symbiosis, we must work together. You don’t get anything from working at cross purposes or knocking heads together. We must, at all times, as Africans, work as best as possible together and that’s what this my trip is about.”
