The plight of Nigerian traders in Ghana

GIVEN that Nigeria and Ghana gained independence from  Britain, their relations have been that of a roller coaster with the oscillation of interests. Nationals of these countries had in the past seen themselves as sisters with unbreakable ties, and moved to each other’s land for asylum. Surprisingly, what is straining the relationship amidst the mantra of a new Africa that would rule the world is something that brings palpable grief. The two countries occupy heavyweight positions in ECOWAS and yet  can not harness their resources to make the West African region and Africa at large an eldorado, ensuring the peaceful coexistence of their citizens. Many Nigerians  were deported from Ghana in the year 1969 over what was believed to be the intimidating rise in  population of Nigerians. And then came 1983 expulsion of Ghanaians from Nigeria on the basis of their population rise, which was claimed to be a threat to the security and means of livelihood of Nigerians.

Although there had  been various onslaughts on Nigerian traders in Ghana, the attack took a different dimension  sometime in November 2019 when the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) engineered the closure of over 600 shops belonging to Nigerian traders. The closure, according to them, was due to the inability of the traders to fulfill the section 27 & 28 of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre 2013(GIPC) Act 865. In consonance to the section 27(1) of the Act,  a person who is not a (Ghanaian) citizen or an enterprise, which is not wholly-owned by a citizen “shall not invest or participate in the sale of goods and services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place.” Section 28(1) provides that “foreigners may participate in an enterprise specified in section 27 if that person, in the case of a joint enterprise with a partner, who is a citizen, invests a foreign capital of not less than two hundred thousand United States Dollars in cash or capital goods relevant to the investment or a combination of both by way of equity participation in the joint enterprise.”

Although the ECOWAS treaty of free flow of persons, goods and services among member states is still valid, the treaty does not in any way invalidate domestic laws of member states. As a result, it might be difficult to tag the Ghana government hostile to foreign traders, especially Nigerians, since there is also Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission Act that promotes investments in the Nigeria economy.  However, it is necessary to look into the nitty gritty of the lingering fracas between Nigerian traders and that of  the Ghanaians. Based on reports, the Ghana Union of Traders Association  used the enforcement  of the Act to unleash their pent-up vexations on Nigerian traders over their alleged dominating traits. Unknown to them, the doggedness and productivity of Nigerian traders paved way for them in the Land of Gold. Nigerian traders have grown to become  an influential force in Ghana major markets. For this reason, they make more sales than their Ghanaian retail traders, which emboldens them to invite their financially struggling  friends from Nigeria to join them in trading. They are the delight of the shop owners because of their ability to pay the increased shop rents that remain a herculean tasks for the Ghanaian traders.

This point can be demonstrated by examining the response of an anonymous Ghanaian trader over the closure of Nigerian trader shops. She said, “Now the shops are very expensive because of (Nigerians) foreigners. Something we paid 110 cedis for two years ago, we pay 6 million cedis now. So ask yourself, how will a Ghanaian that just finished from secondary school  get this money? ”Also in his comment to the media, Osei Agyeman, deputy PRO GUTA, emphasised the need to enforce the closure of Nigerian shops because their government was not ready to do so. Following this, we can opine that the traders  persuaded the government to enforce sections 27 and 28 of the GIPC Act to give them full operations in their retail trading without competition from the Nigerian traders, as they know the $ 1 million worth of investments will be impossible for Nigerian retail traders to come by. Accordingly, the Ghana government needs to hearken to its citizens request, especially when the general election had been scheduled for December 7.

Even though the governments of the two countries publicly denied that Nigeria’s land borders closure was part of the immediate causes of the attacks on Nigerian traders, findings have shown that it greatly contributed to it. The Nigerian government announced its border closure sometime in August 2019, to stop smuggling and to protect local industries from imported goods, but failed to pre-inform its ECOWAS member states of the sudden move. This greatly angered the Ghanaian traders as they did not foresee it. Many of their goods were abandoned and became valueless at Nigeria’s land borders. In a reciprocal action, GUTA clamoured for the urgent implementation of the Act which birthed the full raid on Nigerian shops in November 2019, three months after Nigeria’s border closure. To establish this fact, Benjamin Yeboah, National Welfare Officer GUTA, while on a television programme, hinged the closure of Nigerian traders’ shops on the protection of Ghanaian traders, since the Nigerian government was protecting its citizens through border closure. In this situation, the lasting solution to the attack on Nigerian traders is for the Nigeria government to engage its Ghanaian counterpart on the amendment of Section 27 and 28 of the GIPC Act through mutual  negotiation, and open Nigeria’s land borders to facilitate the movement of goods, and ensure the supply of energy to Ghana. Lastly, good governance is also demanded from the Nigeria government to reduce  the emigration of Nigerians.

• Akamo writes in from Ile-Ife, Osun State.

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