Nigerians free to do business in Ghana — President Akufo-Addo

Ghanaian President Nana AkufoAddo has assured Nigerians and other ECOWAS citizens in Ghana of their freedom to operate their businesses with ease.

President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance when he received Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama in his presidential office in Accra, Ghana.

Onyeama was in Ghana as the special envoy of President Muhammadu Buhari, the chair of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.

The minister, in a series of tweets on his verified Twitter handle, @ GeoffreyOnyeama, quoted the Ghanaian president as assuring that the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) Act would never be applicable to ECOWAS citizens.

Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industry had ordered foreigners to vacate the country’s markets on July 27 as the country’s law reserves the retail businesses for citizens only.

In pursuance of the eviction order, over 400 shops and businesses belonging Nigerians were shut, sparking protests by the traders both in Nigeria and Ghana.

Onyeama noted that the process of addressing the trade dispute had been on-going right from the moment the problem broke out.

Those shops and businesses were reopened after the intervention of the President Buhari, who met with his Ghanaian counterpart, in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.