The Nigerian government says it is taking steps to ensure it ends the ongoing retail trade feud with Ghana.
This follows the closure of retail shops owned by foreigners by a task force put together by the Trade Ministry.
The PRO of the Ministry had said it is against the laws of Ghana for foreigners to own retail shops in the country.
Talking to Nigerian traders at a meeting, the Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said that his team is taking the issue up with the regional body, ECOWAS.
He stated that they want ECOWAS to investigate the issue and secure the shops of these Nigerian traders.
Mr Onyeama claimed that the clammed down of retail shops were in contradiction with the ECOWAS protocols.
“We want this matter to be addressed at the shortest time possible. What is the point of having an economic community, if, at the end of the day, each country will just make a law and regulations that are in contradiction of that,” he added.
However, the leader of the Nigerian traders believes the recent closure of the shops might be politically fuelled.
“This is the resurgence of what we call harassment. From the way things are playing out we may also start seeing xenophobic attacks of our citizens in Ghana,” he stated.
He alleged that some of his traders were attacked during the closure of shops by the tasks force but they are ensuring that these traders do not take the law into their hands and retaliate.
The Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Onyeame assured the traders their government is working to secure their safety.
“As we have this matter addressed, we know that there are upcoming elections but we will certainly hope that Nigerians will not be pawns in the electoral game.”
Meanwhile, Ghanaian traders say the government is only doing its job adding that the Ghanaian traders cannot buy from foreign wholesalers and still compete with the same wholesalers in retail.
“We are saying that it is preserved for the indigenous Ghanaians. Leave the retail market for us. We are not asking them to leave, it is the law. If there are Ghanaians who are doing illegal business that is up to them,” one trader stated.
Source: MyJoyOnline
