Following the outcry on the the closure of some shops owned by Nigerians based in Ghana, the Ghanaian authorities have now spoken.
The President of Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana Chukwuemeka Nnaji had raised the alarm, saying shops belonging to Nigerians in Accra were locked up by Ghanaian authorities who demanded evidence of their Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) registration.
The requirement for GIPC registration is $1 million minimum foreign equity, while registration fee is 31,500 cedis.
However, spokesman of Ghana’s trade ministry Boakye Boateng told a local news platform Starr FM that the traders, who have been served notice for over a year, were pardoned in December following the intervention of President Nana Akufo-Addo.
He said: “If you recall as far back as December last year, these shops were locked, the president intervened and we asked that the shops be re-opened because the very law that gives GUTA the right to be the sole traders in our market, that same law requires that a certain group of people are those who can go and do law enforcement and not you, so allow us to do our work.
They complied, the shops were opened. Since then we have given them an opportunity to regularise the document and submit it to us for verification, that has not been done. Now, this exercise started from Abossey-Okai on Monday. Because we have never been to Abossey-Okai for this exercise, when we went there we did not just start locking shops. We went there, we inspected the shops and we gave them notices that in 14-days they should ensure that all their necessary documentations be complete. These people have been served notices for over a year now.”
The incident comes months after a residential building under construction in the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana was demolished.
The Ghanaian government apologised for the demolition, saying it would fund the reconstruction of the building.