Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola
By Omeiza Ajayi
The Federal Government has asked Nigerian traders facing tough times in Ghana not to leave the country, but to exercise patience as it continues to engage the Ghanaian authorities and other relevant stakeholders with a view to addressing their challenges.
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola gave the advice Tuesday in his office when he received a delegation of the Nigerian Traders Association in Ghana, an Affiliate of the Nigerian Traders Association, led by its National President, Barr. Ken Ukaoha.
Aregbesola assured that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will continue to engage Ghanaian Authorities to ensure that the challenges faced by Nigerians are amicably resolved.
Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Mohammed Manga in a statement said the Nigerian Government is pained by the condition under which Nigerian Traders in Ghana have been made to operate in recent times and thus, assured that government will not abandon them.
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“Your pains cannot endure, we will not abandon you, no stone is being left unturned to remove the pains you are passing through in Ghana,” Aregbesola assured.
The Minister stressed that the Nigerian Government is not resting on the matter but that it was doing everything possible to make life better for its citizens in Ghana and other countries of the world.
“He urged the traders not to leave Ghana but rather contribute their own quota to the political development of that country, as the Nigerian Government will continue to engage relevant authorities to arrest the situation”, Manga stated.
Earlier, National President, Association of Nigerian Traders, Barr. Ken Ukaoha referred to the agony, humiliation and torture of Nigerian Traders in Ghana, as a result of the Ghanaian Government’s decision to raise the capital base of any foreign trader doing business in the country to $1million, and the subsequent locking up of many Nigerian traders’ shops since 2019.
He added that in spite of various interventions by representatives of the Nigerian Government, nothing significant had been done by the Ghanaian Government to reverse the trend.
Ukaoha who further expressed the frustrations of many Nigerians, who are doing business in Ghana, noted that about 753 citizens of Nigeria are ready to leave Ghana.
“If we react proportionately to the way we have been treated in Ghana, it might lead to a serious crisis,” he stressed.
Ukaoha, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government and ECOWAS to take urgent steps against the Ghanaian Government to assuage the sufferings of the Nigerian Traders in that country.
