BEVERLY HILLS, December 18, (THEWILL) – The Senate has mandated its Committees on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Investments to interface with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the status of Nigerian businesses in Ghana.
This decision was reached on Tuesday during plenary following the consideration of a motion on “the need to investigate alleged ill-treatment and injustices suffered by Nigerian Traders and Businesses in Ghana”.
Senator Ifeanyi Ubah who sponsored the motion informed his colleagues that many Nigerian businesses were established in Ghana following the desire of the Ghanaian Government to promote trade relations with Nigeria under former President John Kufour.
According to him, the presence of Nigerian businesses created thousands of jobs and contributed to the growth of the Ghanaian economy.
The lawmaker said, “As at the end of 2010, Nigerian businesses accounted for 60 per cent of foreign investments in Ghana from the African continent.”
He added, “Of recent, the once flourishing economic relations between Nigeria and Ghana have come under repeated threats as a result of recent hostile posture of Ghanaian authorities and indigenous Ghanaian Traders Union towards Nigerian traders through the adoption of discriminatory regulations aimed at frustrating Nigerian traders and businesses such as the passage of the Ghana Investment Promotion Commission (GIPC) Act.”
The lawmaker noted the recent closure of over 600 shops and businesses belonging to Nigerians by the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) on December 2.
He explained that the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act 865 of 2013 prohibits ECOWAS citizens from engaging in Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (SMEs).
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said he believes the situation was another dimension of a lack of understanding or intervention and early engagement between the two countries.
He, therefore, stated that the time has come for Nigerian authorities to engage the Ghanaian government with a single mind of getting a solution to the problem.
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