Nigeria, Ghana Get Trade Dispute Settlement Committee

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Adeniyi Adebayo has inaugurated an inter-Ministerial Committee for the implementation of the signed joint statement between Nigeria and Ghana.

The joint statement and the inter-ministerial committee are the outcome of a high-level bilateral meeting between the Nigeria delegation led by the minister and representatives of Ghanaian government led by that country’s Minister of trade held between May 31 and June 2.

This is contained in statement issued by the minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr Ifedayo Sayo, in Abuja.

Inaugurating the committee headed by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Evelyn Ngige, the Minister noted that the Federal Government approved a delegation to engage and find solution to the crisis.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the constitution of a delegation to Ghana in order to engage and effectively find a lasting solution to the recurring dispute between Nigerian traders and their Ghanaian counterparts through a bilateral engagement.

“The dispute between the two countries worsened with the eviction of Nigerian traders in 2007 and the closing of over 300 Nigerian traders’ shops in 2018.

“You may recall that in 2018, the problem was aggravated by the country’s efforts to enforce the GIPC Trade Act which requires non- Ghanaian traders to have an investment portfolio of One Million Dollars to engage in any retail business in Ghana.

“During the visit, the Nigerian delegation held consultations with all the stakeholders from Nigeria in Ghana including professional groups and traders.

“The general concern especially from the traders was that the Ghanaian authorities have adopted discriminatory practices against Nigerians and other foreigners,” he said.

The bilateral consultation between the two countries, he added, resulted in signing the joint statement that seeks to address the challenges,.

He stressed that the President approved the establishment of this Inter-Ministerial Committee to handle the implementation of the outcome of the Joint Statement, formalise trade and investment relations and address other critical issues between the two countries.

Members of the committee also include representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

Others are the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON); Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Finance, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Others are the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, the National Association of Nigerian Traders and Progressive Ambassadors of Nigeria”.

He urged members of the committee to handle the assignment with the importance it required in order to find lasting solutions to the lingering problem.