Ghanaian govt chasing us out, lament Nigerian Bizmen

LAGOS—Nigerian businessmen operating in Ghana yesterday cried out to the Nigerian government to come to their rescue as Ghanaian authorities have commenced closing their shops for allegedly operating illegally.

The Nigerian traders said their shops were closed because they were said not to comply with the government policy which requires them to have an initial capital of $300,000 and employ 10 Ghanaians before they can start any business in Ghana regardless of the size of the business.

A market in Ghana

One of the affected Nigerians, Mr Ndukaku Mbanefo, who spoke to Vanguard on phone from Ghana said the Ghanaian authorities started closing shops belonging to Nigerians yesterday in Accra, the Ghanaian capital and vowed that the operation will be nationwide.

According to him, “the authorities in Ghana yesterday closed more than 40 shops belonging to Nigerians and they are still closing more. They closed our shops because they said we did not comply with the government policy that requires every foreigner who wants to start business in Ghana to have an initial capital of $300, 000 and must employ 10 Ghanaians to work with him regardless of the size of the business. Even if it is just a small restaurant or a barber shop you must employ 10 Ghanaians and show evidence that you have $300,000 before you can start.

“There are nationals of other West African countries like Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger, Cameroon who operate shops in Ghana like us but the Ghanaian authorities would not touch them. They target only Nigerians and I don’t know why. In spite of all we do to boost their economy and contribute to raise their standard of living, they don’t care, they just hate Nigerians and discriminate against us”.

He explained that “some Nigerian traders had to run away and locked up their shops when they saw the Ghanaian law enforcement agents coming but when the law enforcement agents got to the shops, they would relock the shops with their security padlocks. Their plan was to give out these shops abandoned by Nigerian businessmen to the Ghanaians”.

He therefore appealed to the Nigerian government to intervene and protect their businesses saying Nigerians who operate businesses in Ghana are law abiding and hard working, arguing that “we should be allowed to operate under the Ecowas trade treaty.

When the Foreign Affairs Ministry was contacted yesterday on the plight of Nigerian businessmen in Ghana, a source told Vanguard that the Ministry is aware of it and that the Federal Government has stepped into the matter. He said the Federal Government has reached out to its Ghanaian counterpart and that those affected should not rush to the ECOWAS court as they have threatened.

Ghanaian authorities have been embarking on hostile business practices against Nigerians who are predominantly in real estate, textile and garments, electronics, banking and telecommunication and tourism. The Ghanaian government had imposed high tariff on Nigerian movies and restricted Nigerian actors from shooting films in Ghana. Nigeria’s telecommunication giant, Globacom was caught up with the high cost of doing business which caused it to delay some crucial aspects of its operations last year. The presidential candidate of Labour Party Otunba Dele Momodu, said the attitude of Ghanaian government is a flagrant violation of the ECOWAS protocol and that the Nigerians who are doing business in Ghana hold the key to Ghana’s economic revival. He said Nigeria must stand up to the  maltreatment of Nigerian in Ghana because Nigeria has been too good to their West African neighbour.

Lagos state Government had said yesterday that Nigerians should stop empowering Ghanaians and other West Africa countries by taking businesses to those countries at the detriment of Nigeria. Sources said Ghanaians are very jittery about Nigerians especially those who are in real estate business who are buying out their Ghanaian counterparts. Nigeria supplies electricity to Ghana and under the Obasanjo administration Ghana got over One hundred million dollar loans from Nigeria.

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Posted: at 4-07-2012 09:53 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

President of Ghana Prof. John Evans Atta Mills should use his tongue to count his teeth by using his veto power in suppressing this law else his government will be put to shame. Africa hasn`t gotten to this stage we are taking it to. Such laws are meant for developed countries and not for developing countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya etc  No Nigerian petty trader with $300,000USD would choose to invest in Ghana if he had that amount of money.

The bottomline is that Ghanaians have always been envious of Nigerians, not only in Ghana, but anywhere in the world.
This unreasonable business guildline set even for a small business is obviously aimed at driving out Nigerians whom they perceive as dominating and controlling their economy.

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Posted: at 4-07-2012 10:31 AM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

passing ba 2 say hi

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Posted: at 4-07-2012 11:16 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

 

Posted: at 4-07-2012 11:29 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac

When burundian govt.is busy wooing nigerian investors!the FG should review our foreign policies.simple

Posted: at 4-07-2012 12:11 PM (12 years ago) | Newbie

it will definitely be a tit 4 tat

Posted: at 4-07-2012 12:31 PM (12 years ago) | Hero

I guess Ghanaians are just trying to replicate the ''Ghana Must Go'' incident that happened in the 80's. And i can't blame them for it, cos our blood-sucking government gave them the opportunity to disgrace the beautiful Nigerian people like this. It's a massive shame though, that millions of Nigerians have to suffer because of the greed and wickedness of just a few hundreds of Nigerians. Let's wake the hell up people and take back our destinies back into our hands!

Posted: at 4-07-2012 12:50 PM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

  walking by

Posted: at 4-07-2012 01:28 PM (12 years ago) | Upcoming

Hmmm, even Ghana must go?  na wa o

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Posted: at 4-07-2012 02:04 PM (12 years ago) | Hero

i feel for u guy, i hope the matter get settle quick enough for them to go back to their shops

Posted: at 4-07-2012 02:10 PM (12 years ago) | Hero