FG Warns Ghana Over Incessant Harassment Of Nigerians

Lai Mohammed

The Federal Government has warned Ghana against further harassment of Nigerians, noting that it would no longer tolerate such act.

The government said it was deeply concerned by the incessant harassment of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities.

This is coming against the backdrop of the imposition of $1 million trade levy on Nigerian traders in Ghana and the shut down of their business premises by the Ghanaian authorities.

Ghana’s Ministry of Trade had also given the traders a 14-day ultimatum to pay the fee failing which it would close their shops.

But reacting to the development on Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the FG is urgently considering a number of options aimed at ameliorating the situation.

He listed various acts of hostility carried out against Nigeria by Accra, including the seizure of the Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 10, Barnes road, Accra, which had been used as diplomatic premises for almost 50 years, stating that this was a breach of the Vienna Convention.

The minister also mentioned the demolition of the Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 19/21 Julius Nyerere Street, East Ridge, Accra, and the incessant deportation of Nigerians from Ghana, adding that “825 Nigerians were deported from Ghana between January 2018 and February 2019”.

Other hostile action was the locking of over 300 Nigerians’ shops for four months in Kumasi in 2018, including the seal up of over 600 Nigerian shops in 2019 and, currently, over 250 Nigerians shops have been locked.

Mohammed stated, “The Federal Government will like to put on record the fact that even though, over one million Ghanaians are resident in Nigeria, they are not being subjected to the kind of hostility being meted out to Nigerians in Ghana.

“Also, even though, the main reason given for the seizure of Federal Government property at No. 10, Barnes Road in Accra is the non-renewal of the lease after expiration, the Ghanaian authorities did not give Nigeria the right of first refusal or the notice to renew the lease.”

“By contrast, the lease on some of the properties occupied by the Ghanaian Mission in Nigeria has long expired, yet such properties have not been seized,” the minister said.