Politics
THE Nigeria Union of Traders Associations in Ghana (NUTAG) says 154 families comprising 752 Nigerians living in that country need urgent intervention by the Federal Government over locked shops owned by Nigerians since 2019.
The President of NUTAG, Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone on Tuesday.
He decried Ghanaian authorities’ refusal to open Nigerian traders’ shops in spite of the several meetings between top officials of both governments of Nigeria and Ghana.
He noted that the issue about their locked shops had lingered for almost one year since it started on Dec. 2, 2019, and therefore, called for intervention.
According to him, there is the need for assistance to enable affected traders start a new lease of life.
Nnaji said: “Their goods in the shops have to be released to them since they have very limited funds now, they need help from the Federal Government.
“We need urgent intervention because this is not the case as usual, we cannot continue to live while our goods are locked and our livelihood is stalled.
“Many families are affected, the first batch we are working on now is 154 families comprising 752 persons.
“This is the number of persons we have, we are still collating the ones from Ashanti region, as such, it is not easy to evacuate them immediately.’’
He explained that the association duly made its request known to the Nigeria High Commission in Ghana and is awaiting favourable response.
He said that payment of 500 dollars shareholders renewal work permit been charged Nigerians by Ghana authority to contribute to challenges faced by the traders.
More so, he said that a large population of Nigerians living in that country had problems renewing their documents, which often goes through delayed processes.
“A process that requires one month takes three months that is not due process; what we do when we have evidence on waiting document, is we publish it.
“I do not have problems with Ghanaians charging Nigerians 1,000 dollars, but it is a problem if Nigeria continues to charge N7,000 and we are paying 1,000 dollars.
“Nigerian government should put equal measure to Ghanaians who also live in our country
“Ghana is trying to make Nigeria look bad, so foreign investors can feel more comfortable doing business there,’’ he added.
He, however, urged Nigerians to always contribute their quota to make their fatherland attractive too, to achieve the country that they dream.
NAN
– Oct. 20, 2020 @ 13:47 GMT |
Tags: 154 families comprising 752 persons need urgent intervention says NUTAG
