The ongoing diplomatic row between Nigeria and Ghana, which dates back to the pre-independence era, calls for urgent interventions of the Federal Government, as distressed Nigerians in Ghana wait endlessly for help to salvage their businesses and recover their losses, OLALEYE ALUKO writes
Monday, August 10, 2020, began like a normal business day for Nigerian traders in Accra and Kumasi regions of Ghana, until a task force comprising armed security personnel started to identify and lock their shops.
The Ghanaian Inter-Ministerial Task Force carried out the order of locking shops till the following week, saying a 14-day ultimatum to the traders to pay $1m as business registration fees and taxes to the Ghana Investment Promotion Council was not met.
From that week, it appeared that the old rivalry and hostilities between the two West African countries resumed, with hundreds of Nigerian traders at the harsh receiving end of the diplomatic face-off.
The President of the Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana, Chukwuemeka Nnaji, said the livelihoods of hundreds of Nigerian traders were “being destroyed by Ghanaian authorities. This is not being perpetrated by a trade union but Ghanaian authorities”.
Worried that weeks after their shops were locked and it did not appear that the Federal Government was not taking any cogent steps, Nigerian traders in Ghana on August 22 expressed their frustration that they were ready to return home. The traders added that this was necessary since Ghana refused to honour the multilateral trade agreements of the Economic Community of West African States.
The leader of the Nigerian traders in Ghana, Nnaji, said, “The protocol of the rights of establishment says the citizen of any member-state who moves into another member-state should have the right to economic activities. You can set up a company and manage it. And the same legislation that is used for its own citizens should be applied to ECOWAS citizens.
“Therefore, if that protocol is followed, Nigerian traders in Ghana should not be asked to pay $1m, unless the same is being demanded of Ghanaian traders. Nigeria has a foreign policy when it comes to trade, but we have never applied it on Ghanaians because there is an agreement.
“That shouldn’t even be a matter for discussion, but if Ghanaians think they must apply their law in its fullness, we are ready to go home because we cannot fight with them over their law.”
As the anxiety raged in Ghana, a Nigerian trader in a viral video was seen harassed by Ghanaian officials and asked to pay the $1m registration fee. Though the victim showed them his business registration certificate and other documents, the enforcement team insisted on shutting his store.
Meanwhile, the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, among others, states under Article 3(2)(g) and 3(2)(i) that the community shall ensure “the adoption of measures for the integration of the private sectors, particularly the creation of an enabling environment to promote small and medium scale enterprises” and “the harmonisation of national investment codes leading to the adoption of a single community investment code”.
At the time, Nnaji noted that close to 200 Nigerian businesses had been closed in two weeks, though he did not give an estimate of the worth of businesses affected or losses incurred as a result of the mass closure.
The Head of the Transparency International, a global organisation, at its Nigeria office, Musa Rafsanjani, told our correspondent that the President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) must show leadership and take the country out of the diplomatic row with its most strategic West African neighbour – Ghana.
The Transparency International Head said, “It is absolutely necessary that the Nigerian President takes this crisis seriously; Nigeria cannot afford an economic crisis with its neighbours. Our foreign policy appears not to be in tandem with current day realities. We call on the President of Nigeria to provide leadership by taking an amicable resolution of the problem.
“Many Nigerians have been forced out of Nigeria because of the bad business environment to look for other places of engagement. The manner in which Nigerians and their businesses are treated in other countries brings double frustration. At home, the environment is poor due to multiple taxation and corruption; and then, overseas, there is hostility and harassment.
“It is imperative that the Nigerian government moves to save its citizens’ legitimate businesses in West African countries. The Nigerian President must be seen to be personally intervening in this situation. We need policy and legal frameworks to ensure that Nigerians are safe and can operate their businesses in Ghana and across other countries.”
Diplomatic hostilities between Nigeria and Ghana date as far back as the colonial era when in 1954, Ghana (then Gold Coast) deported other West African nationals, including Nigerians.
Another deportation from Ghana happened in 1969, and later in 1983, the frictions heightened with the “Ghana must go” saga in Nigeria. The then President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, issued an executive order mandating immigrants, mostly Ghanaians in this case, without proper immigration documents, to leave the country or be arrested, according to the law.
“Ghana must go” hence became a popular name given to a type of cheap woven bags believed to have been used by the migrants to take their belongings home at the time.
Fast-forward to 2020, Nigeria and Ghana have again in the last few months engaged in a diplomatic row, following a number of issues, including the seizure and demolition of a building in the Nigerian Embassy in Accra.
The Nigerian government, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on August 28, listed several atrocities committed by the Ghanaian authorities, warning that the government would no longer tolerate such aggression.
Mohammed talked about the seizure of the “Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 10, Barnes Road, Accra, which has been used as diplomatic premises by the Nigerian Government for almost 50 years; the demolition of the Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 19/21 Julius Nyerere Street, East Ridge, Accra, which constitutes another serious breach of the Vienna Convention.”
The Nigerian government also said “shops belonging to Nigerians; over 300 Nigerian shops were locked for four months in Kumasi in 2018; over 600 Nigerian shops were locked in 2019 and currently, over 250 Nigerians’ shops have been locked”.
Another major area of friction is the residency permit requirement, for which “Ghana Immigration Service has placed huge fees far higher than the fees charged by the Nigerian Immigration Service.”
In an expected game of trading blame, the Ghanaian government on August 30, 2020, responded to the allegations, while accusing the Nigerian government of being the aggressor.
In a statement, the Ghanaian Minister of Information, Oppong Nkrumah, a member of the parliament, stated that Nigeria first took a step of shutting its borders against other West African countries.
He said, “This statement (of seizure and demolition of Nigeria’s Mission House) is inaccurate. The transaction was a commercial arrangement between Thomas D. Hardy, a private citizen and the High Commission of Nigeria in Ghana on 23rd October 1959. The terms of the Commercial Lease expired 46 years ago, without any evidence of renewal by the High Commission of Nigeria in Ghana. The Government of Ghana was not involved in the transaction and has not seized the property in question.
“The government of Ghana does not, did not and never owned the land, and has not been involved in the seizure of any property of the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana. On the deportation of Nigerians, this statement is not factual. In 2019, 700 Nigerians, who were found to have been involved in criminal activities such as fraud, prostitution, armed robbery and so on, were deported.
“On the Residency Permit requirement, it must be noted that all foreigners, who apply for resident permit in Ghana, pay the same fees. These fees are not specific to Nigerians.
“On the closure of Nigerian shops, upon evidence that some individuals, including Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians, had been involved in various forms of trade, without complying with the laws and regulations of Ghana, several engagements and prior advice had been given to encourage compliance. In all cases, non-compliant shop owners are given adequate notice to regularise their documents, before action is taken to close any shop and business.”
A Professor of Economics, Prof Sheriffdeen Tella, told our correspondent in an interview that Ghana’s perceived aggression towards Nigeria could be interpreted from three perspectives.
He stated that President Buhari, however, needed to step in and save the situation.
Tella said, “Nigeria has closed its borders and of course, that is affecting so many businesses with its neighbours in West Africa. And if that is the case, there will definitely be some form of retaliation from those countries too. I think what is important is for the Nigerian government to meet the Ghanaian authorities to discuss.
“Three things may be happening; one is the effect of the closure of the border against our neighbours. Secondly, it could be a fallout from the relationship between Nigerians and Ghanaians – the way we do business in Ghana. Ghana may have found out that we are dominating their markets because we have more money to sell at cheaper rates and flood their markets.
“That may then be affecting their domestic sellers. Thirdly, we may talk about the recently agreed African Trade Protocol which is supposed to allow free trade among African countries and if Nigeria is violating it by closing its borders, there will be a reaction.
“More importantly, the Nigerian naira has devalued seriously and Ghana’s cedi has also been devalued. So the exchange rate could be a problem. If the Ghanaians don’t have enough foreign exchange to import, that will definitely affect the businesses of Nigerians.”
The economist noted that the governments of the two countries must tackle the row from a high diplomatic point of view and consider each other’s interests.
The National Assembly recently had also tried to wade into the frosty Nigeria-Ghana diplomatic relations in recent time, but it appears the weight of the Presidency is the most essential way forward for this time.
In December 2019, the Senate asked its Committees on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Investment to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the hostile policies against Nigerian traders in Ghana.
President Buhari had in August 2019 closed the country’s borders to its neighbours. The government had said that the action was to stop the flow of illicit goods and illegal weapons into the country.
According to a report by SB Morgen in August 2020, this step is believed not to augur well with Ghana, which is Nigeria’s top trading partner in West Africa.
The report read partly, “The United Nations database on international trade puts Nigeria exports to Ghana at about US$303.94m during 2018. Also in 2019, Ghana imports from Nigeria were United States $112.29m.”
The Socio-Economic Right and Accountability Project, a civil society, noted that President Buhari “must re-assess Nigeria’s big brother role in the West African region and move to protect first the interests of Nigerian citizens.”
The SERAP Director, Mumuni Adetokunbo, said, “It is not ideal that neighbours within the West African sub-region treat themselves in such manner. That notwithstanding, we have to start re-assessing this big brother role that we have taken upon ourselves. This is so that our citizens don’t get to suffer at the slightest provocation in the hands of our neighbours.
“It happened in South Africa not too long ago. So, I encourage the Nigerian President to call the Ghanaian authorities and let them know that the consistent victimisation and harassment of Nigerian economic and physical lives will not be tolerated.”
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