The Nigerian government has said it may be compelled to report Ghana to the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court), if it’s found to have breached of the sub-regions Protocol of free movement of peoples, in closing shops belonging to Nigerians resident in that country.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama declared this when he received a delegation of the Progressive Ambassadors of Nigerian (PAN). The group said it came to brief the minister on the developments and the need for the Nigerian government to take urgent steps to address the issue.
There were reports that the closure of the shops angered members of the National Association of Nigerian Traders in Ghana (NANT) who cried for help to the Nigerian government, accusing the Ghanaian authorities of discrimination as shops belonging to Nigerians in Accra were locked up by government officials, who demanded evidence of their registration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC).
Ghana is asking for $1 million minimum foreign equity for registration with the GIPC, while the registration fee is 31,500 cedis.
Onyeama said Nigeria had reached an agreement with Ghana over the GIPC more than a year ago and expressed concerns that the matter was being raised again.
He added that the Ghanaian Code that stipulates that retail trade is the exclusive preserve of Ghanaians appears in conflict with the ECOWAS Protocol.
“What is the point of having an economic community if, at the end of the day, each country will make laws and regulations that are in contradiction with the protocol? That is an issue that needs to be addressed.
“The first step we want to take is to be sure about all the facts. Our Minister of Trade is going to engage his counterpart from Ghana. We have summoned the Ghanaian High Commissioner, who has given us information; we have the intention of calling our Charge’ D Affairs in Ghana for consultation and again to get to the fact.
“And we are also going to get in touch with ECOWAS to understand clearly what the ECOWAS perspective of this is and if this law is in contravention of the ECOWAS Protocol. So, once we have all the facts then we consider all our options with the Ghanaian authorities
“We don’t want to anticipate what our actions would be but we will consider all the options depending on the facts. Clearly, if it is contravening ECOWAS Protocol, then we would have to look at solution including the ECOWAS Court as the final arbiter.,” the minister said
“We will also consider the issue of reciprocity in terms of the concrete measures that will be applied.
“We are following the matter very closely and we want the matter to be addressed within the shortest possible time,” he said.
ECOWAS protocol relating to the Free Movement of Persons, Residence and Establishment provides for the right of ECOWAS citizens to enter, reside and establish economic activities in the territory of other member states and offers a three-step roadmap of five years each to achieve freedom of movement of persons after fifteen years.
The Ghana, through the spokesman of the Minister of Trade, Boakye Boateng however, dismissed the claim of discrimination.
He said the Nigerian traders had been served notices more than a year ago, and were pardoned in December, after the intervention of President Nana Akufo-Addo.
“It cannot be that we’ve been insensitive. If that is what they’re saying, I’ll be disappointed because I’ll rather say they have rather been unfair to us as a regulatory body because we have given them more time than enough to the extent even the Ghanaians thought that the ministry was not on their side or the ministry wasn’t ready to even enforce the law,” Boateng said.
“So, it’s very surprising to me for them to say that we’ve not given them enough time. If you recall as far back as December last year, these shops were locked, the president intervened and we asked that the shops be re-opened because the very law that gives GUTA the right to be the sole traders in our market, that same law requires that a certain group of people are those who can go and do law enforcement and not you, so allow us to do our work.
“They complied, the shops were opened. Since then we have given them an opportunity to regularise the document and submit it to us for verification, which has not been done. Now, this exercise started at Abossey-Okai on Monday. Because we have never been to Abossey-Okai for this exercise, when we went there we did not just start locking shops,” he said.
“We went there, we inspected the shops and we gave them notices that in 14-days they should ensure that all their necessary documentation be complete. These people have been served notices for over a year now,” he added.