An official says said the Nigerian government will gladly welcome the traders back home from Ghana.
Nigerian traders in
Ghana on Wednesday called on the Nigerian government to evacuate them from
Ghana.
The traders, in a
Save-Our-Soul letter delivered to the Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora
Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said they were seeking a secure and
peaceful return to Nigeria.
In a statement signed
by Gabriel Odu, NiDCOM’s Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit, said the
traders belonged to two associations in Ghana, the Nigerian Union of Traders
Association in Ghana (NUTAG) and the National Association of Nigerian Traders
(NANTS).
According to Mr Odu,
the evacuation letter, endorsed by 753 traders in the two associations, was
delivered by a delegation led by the President of NANTS, Ken Ukoaha.
In the letter, the
traders explained that their evacuation had become necessary because of the
constant and consistent harassments, intimidation, torture, threat to their
lives and the total lockdown of their means of livelihood in Ghana.
They said that their
shops had been locked up for almost one year by Ghanaian authorities.
“Diplomatic niceties
at the highest level between Nigeria and Ghana have not yielded positive
results.
“Landlords are coming
to ask us for rent. How do we pay with our shops locked up for so long? We are
dying here,” the traders lamented in the letter.
Receiving the
delegation, Mrs Dabiri-Erewa called for peace, stressing the need for all
relevant stakeholders to continually engage in peace talks.
She said it was indeed
sad that the traders` shops have not been reopened for almost a year, citing
Ghana’s draconian regulations which breached ECOWAS Protocols on Free Trade and
the Movement of Goods and Services.
The NiDCOM boss
pleaded with the traders not to allow tempers to rise as she would convey their
message to the appropriate Nigerian authorities.
She said that the
Nigerian government would gladly welcome the traders back home.
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