Ghana demands $1m from Nigerian traders after closure of shops

The President, Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana  Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji, on Saturday decried  the closure of shops owned by Nigerians doing business in the country  by the Ghanaian authorities’.

Nnaji said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the  matter  required  the intervention of the Federal Government.

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 last Monday 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.

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“Most of our members do not have the GIPC registration, because it requires $1million  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 lives in Ghana matter. This is 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 said.

“The humiliation of Nigerians is getting out of hand. We are calling on the Nigerian government to come to our aid.

”We have legally registered our businesses and we pay taxes,” Nnaji said.

Daily Times recalls that in June, Nigerian embassy in Accra was demolished by alleged private aggressors.