Somtochukwu

Nigeria Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG) on Monday decried Ghanaian authorities’ refusal to open shops owned by Nigerians, even after several meetings between top officials of both governments.

President of NUTAG, Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji disclosed this in a telephone interview in Abuja.

According to him, it is unfortunate that Nigerian traders’ shops have remained locked even after visits by Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of House of Representatives and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to Ghana.

“The locking of shops belonging to Nigerians by Ghanaian authorities hinders our doing business lawfully.

The Ghanaian government should have as a matter of bilateral relations paid attention to us by being open in its decision to tackle our trade difficulties in the host country.

“I think every plea from the Nigerian government has fallen on deaf ears of the Ghanaian authorities, which is ready to destabilise and destroy our businesses to favour their citizens.

“Our shops are still shut down; most shops shut down since Dec. 2, 2019 were only opened to give tax assessment for the current year by Ghana revenue authorities.

I am aware most of our members complied; all the documents on Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) presented are original not fake,” he said.

Nnaji said it was not true that Nigerian traders did not have genuine documents for the shops.

“I think the Ghanaian government is working on an agenda aimed at discouraging the influx of Nigerians to Ghana and the growth of Nigerian businesses in their country.

I wish that our government would take this Ghanaian agenda very serious to stop Nigerians from losing all their life earnings in Ghana,” he said.

Nnaji said many Nigerian traders had already returned home with their families following the closure of their shops.

He also said that those who could not relocate to Nigeria before their shops were shut down “are now stuck in Ghana with little or no money to be able to survive.”

Nnaji said that the association had begun the compilation of names of people severely affected by the action of the Ghanaian authorities for evacuation by the Federal Government.

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