Ghana summons Nigerian Ambassador over criticisms trailing closure of shops
Following the recent closure of over 200 foreign-owned shops, mostly belonging to Nigerians by authorities in Ghana, the Ghanaian Government, on Tuesday, summoned Nigeria’s Chargé d’Affaires to Ghana, Esther Adebola Arewa, over the criticism that had trailed the decision.
As contained in a tweet, Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey alleged that her counterpart in Nigeria, Geoffrey Onyeama said the crackdown on illegal foreign retail business in the country was for political gains.
While describing the comment as ‘most unfortunate’, she noted that the Ghanaian government was not targeting any particular nationality in this exercise.
She said that countries sometimes take tough decisions in order to enforce their laws just as Nigeria took a decision to shut its borders last year to fight smuggling, despite its impact on ECOWAS member countries.
According to her, Ghanaian laws bar foreigners from engaging in retail business, especially in the market areas and local business owners are putting pressure on the authorities to enforce them.
It will be recalled that diplomatic relations between the two countries have strained in recent months, following the trade tensions and the demolition of a building belonging to the Nigerian High Commission by unidentified gunmen in Accra. (Nigerian Tribune)
