The delegation will be led by the Minister of Trade, Niyi Adebayo, and comprised of other private stakeholders.
The Nigerian Government will send a delegation led by the Minister of Trade, Niyi Adebayo, to Ghana to end the crisis between Nigerian traders in Ghana and local authorities—an issue that started last year before the Ghanaian Presidential elections.
The delegation was ordered by the Presidency as disclosed in a statement by the trade ministry on Monday evening.
The statement revealed that the delegation would be comprised of private stakeholders also who would be sent to dialogue with Ghanaian trade authorities to find a solution to the crisis.
The meeting between both parties will be held between May 31 and June 1, 2021.
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It was reported last year that Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said that Nigeria’s border closure in 2019 hurt Ghanaians and nearly bankrupted many Ghanaian export businesses after their goods were stuck at the Seme Border for months, reacting to the shutdown of Nigerian-owned shops by Ghanaian authorities last year.
It is earlier reported that Nigerian traders are accusing local authorities in Ghana of discrimination after many had their shops closed in the thick of the Covid-19 pandemic that sees a year-long trade war being waged between Ghanaian natives and foreign business owners over the control of the local retail trade in the capital city, Accra.
Chizoba Okechukwu, the owner of a shop closed by Ghanaian authorities, expressed his frustrations, “We have family here, we pay our taxes here, we pay house rent, we take care of our family. Ok, now the shops are closed, how do you expect us to take care of our responsibilities? I don’t know what is the problem, what have we done to them? The problem we have is that we are Nigerians, other foreigners are here doing their business success.”
