BEVERLY HILLS, August 15, (THEWILL) – Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana has decried the closure of shops owned by Nigerians doing business in the country by the Ghanaian authorities.
Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji, the president of the Union appealed to the Federal Government of Nigeria to intervene in the matter.
Nnaji said that shops belonging to Nigerian traders in Accra were locked up by Ghanaian authorities who demanded cash payment of one million dollars from Nigerian traders before their shops would be opened.
According to him, an inter-ministerial task force went round on Aug. 10 to identify shops owned by Nigerian traders, requesting for registration of business, taxes, resident permit, standard control and Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration.
“Most of our members do not have the GIPC registration, because it requires one million dollars 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 life in Ghana matters. 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 added.
