The anti-Nigerian business stance of Ghana is taking a huge toll on Nigerian businesses in that country as no fewer than 83 shops belonging to Nigerian traders have been shut down by the authorities in the past seven months, while 550 others will follow soon, BusinessDay can now reveal.

Under the instructions of the Ghana’s Ministry of Trade and Industries in tandem with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), on April 29 a task force shut 44 shops belonging to Nigerians on the ground that the businesses were not duly registered as required by the host country’s laws.

Against the ECOWAS protocol on free trade and movement of people, Ghanaian authorities see Nigerians and their businesses as foreigners and should register their business with a minimum of $300,000. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s foremost telecom operator, Globacom, confirmed to BusinessDay in Accra yesterday it planned to leave the country if the authorities could no longer guarantee the safety of its installations and equipment.

Jasper Emenike, secretary general, Nigeria Union of Traders Association, Ghana (NUTAG), told BusinessDay on telephone from Accra that 1,000 Nigerian businesses in Ghana are threatened as the authorities are planning to shut them down in the coming weeks.

“If the rumour we are gathering is anything to go by, not less than 550 new Nigerian shops will be closed nationwide next week, then the upper week will complete the first phase of the closing exercise to bring the
John Attah Mills, President, Ghana
number to 1,000 shops nationwide”, Emenike told BusinessDay.
John Attah Mills, President, Ghana

A breakdown of number of the shops shut, according to Emenike, is as follows: Tamale in the Northern region 21 shops; Kumasi in the Ashanti region 19 shops; and Accra in the Greater region four shops. This brings the number to 44 shops. This is in addition to the 40 others shut down on November 28, last year.

Though a top level Nigerian delegation led by Odein Ajumogobia, minister of foreign affairs, and Josephine Tapgun, minister of state for commerce and industry, was in Accra on Monday to see the Ghanaian authorities on the issue and work out an amicable solution, a source close to the meeting told BusinessDay last night that not much may come out of the parley. “I don’t see anything meaningful and helpful to our cause coming out of the visit,” the source said.

Emenike also confirmed to BusinessDay that besides the $300,000 required by law for registration of businesses by foreigners under which Nigeria has been classified, “there is the allegation that Nigerian security agencies extort money from Ghanaian traders who come to Nigeria to do business. While we are not in a position to dispute this claim the traders are appealing to the governments of both countries to bury their differences in the interest of regional integration and the traders”.

In a related development, a senior executive of Glo Mobile Ghana has confirmed that if the frustrating challenges that the telecom operator is facing since it embarked on its infrastructural construction and deployment continues, it would consider the option of pulling out of Ghana. Derek Obuobi, a Ghanaian and Globacom executive in the country who spoke to BusinessDay on phone after the story broke early this week, said that the “frustrating” development had gotten to that level that requires a review of the company’s venture in the country.

After series of difficulties which started right from the unusual long delay in receiving its mast construction permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2009, to the recent ban on further mounting of masts by the Ministry of Environment and the accompanying vandalism and destruction of the company’s spectacular and environmentally beautifying Glo light boxes mounted at strategic points on the streets of Accra, Derek said that they could not help but feel frustrated at the developments.

“Indeed, the best word that could describe what we feel is frustration,” Obuobi told BusinessDay. “The vandalism of our Glo boxes and other properties has happened on too many occasions and we fell this should not continue to happen. We had made reports to the police but nothing was done to protect our properties.” Following media reports and the subsequent tinge the story took, which included accusations of sabotage by highly placed interests, the Ministry of Environment yesterday in a statement signed by Omane Boamah, deputy minister, distanced itself from any such perceived sabotage.

The ministry dismissed suggestions that the temporary ban on the construction of masts was targeted at Glo Mobile. Rather, the statement went on, “government would not hesitate to take decisions aimed at protecting the citizenry from the hazards of indiscriminate and poorly constructed telecom masts”. A source told BusinessDay last night the Ghana’s top government officials including five ministers have intervened and held series of meetings with Globacom officials persuading the telecom operator not to leave their country. “The officials include five cabinet ministers, head of the police and other top security officials”, the source told BusinessDay.

Reacting to the Ministry’s press release, Derek Obuobi said: “I am a Ghanaian and nothing would please us most to give Ghanaians the best of telecom experience. However, quitting is an option being considered because we were being led to think that the environment is not good enough for us. But since we have been told that the ban will soon be lifted, we are hoping for the best.”

As a build-up to their eventual simultaneous national launch, Glo mobile has beautified the streets of Accra and other major cities with billboards of various types and sizes with images of leading Ghanaian artists adorning them. The general public’s expectation of the commencement of Glo’s operations has been so high that it was with a palpable sad feeling that Ghanaians received the news of Glo’s possible pull-out.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11368:ghana-in-tacit-anti-nigerian-business-stance&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

Time for Ghanians to say [b][b]'' Nigeria must go''[/b][/b]

well, Nigeria seems to be lagging in this area of creating an environment where business thrives, so they cant allow us to choke their economy, thats why you have all those stiff legislation.