Some Nigerians illegally engaged in retail business in the Ashanti Region are using crafty means to continue their trade despite the government closing down a number of their operations in October 2020.
According to the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Union of Traders Association, GUTA, these Nigerians are now displaying their wares in front of the closed shops, whiles others are going around on motorbikes distributing their wares.
Anthony Oppong has thus called on the presidential task force that oversaw the closure of illegal foreign retail outlets to start phase two of their task.
Speaking at a press conference earlier this week, he said: “We are, by this press conference, calling on government – we mean the Presidential Committee on Foreigners in Retail Trade – to start the second phase of the exercise as soon as possible because we’ve waited for [too] long.
"The first phase ended somewhere in October 2020 and by then we were heading towards elections, so the general view was that we should exercise some patience for the elections to be over.
“After the election, there was a court case, then the president started constituting his government. But it looks as if these people [foreign traders] are taking us for a ride.
"As I am speaking now, if you go to Akyamfour market, Alabar, and Yaa Achiaa school, you will see them displaying their goods in front of the locked-up shops. If Chief Onyeagolu says I am lying, he should come right now with me and the media and we will point to those operating now.
"Some are operating on motorbikes, some are going round distributing goods in vans to areas as far as villages. So they shouldn’t let Ghana look bad in the eyes of the international community.”
The Nigerian business community recently asked the government to review its stance on the matter, a request that the regional GUTA president slammed as 'an insult'.
“The call for the president to review the exercise is an insult to the president and the people. It [makes it] look as if that’s the way we want to go, despite the fact that we are associated with so many international bodies.
"Our law, the constitution of this country, takes precedence over all those laws and treaties that they’ve signed on to, so they can’t dictate to us what Ghana must do with our laws.”
At their own press conference, the Nigerian Community stressed how the closure of shops owned by their members is taking a toll on their livelihoods.
“They [the taskforce] did not close any other shops apart from Nigerians,” …said Chief Tony Onyeagolu, a former leader of the Nigerian Community in Kumasi.
“For those of us living in Ashanti, things are getting worst, our members are dying and you know some people’s life savings are in the shops. We are pleading with the President to get the shops reopened,” he added.
In October 2020, shops of Nigerians in retail trade were shut in parts of Ashanti Region