The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) on Monday, November 11, has shutdown fifteen more shops belonging to Nigerians at Opera Square in Accra, bringing the number of shops to about 70.
The latest showdown is part of GUTA’s plan to cripple Nigerian businesses in the nation’s capital.
Nigerian businesses at the Tip Toe Lane at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle are believed to be the next in line, as it was gathered that GUTA plans to lock up the Nigerian shops in the area today.
The national president of the Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG), Chukwuemeka Nnaji, has advised his members to close their shops today to avoid destruction of their goods and businesses.
Meanwhile, the timely intervention of police officers and the Nigerian Mission in Ghana averted a major clash between members of GUTA and NUTAG on Monday.
Newsflash247 had earlier reported that on October 31, the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) have gone on rampage closing shops belonging to foreigners in commercial hubs in the Ghana’s second largest city, Kumasi in the Ashanti region.
The closure that begun from Alarbar spread to Adhye and Kejetia Wednesday.
The Ashanti Regional President of the Nigerian Association of Traders Union told Newsmen he has asked his nationals not to retaliate when the errant people beseech their shops.
He pointed out that the faces of the GUTA members do not look familiar and wondered why they all refused to show any identity.
He told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, “as we speak now, there are some of the guys here at magazine closing shops belonging to foreigners.”
He however indicated that the Manhyia Divisional Commander ACP Kwaku Boah had deployed some police personnel who had come to break the padlocks of some of the locked shops.
The executive of the Ashanti Region chapter of the Ghana Union of Traders Association who were contacted insisted they will not speak to the media until they were done with a meeting they had convened.
It is the sixth time this year that shops belonging to Nigerians have been locked by Ghanaian traders.
September, more than 30 Nigerian-owned shops were locked by unidentified individuals in Ghana’s second largest city, Kumasi.
Recently, local traders in Accra said on a radio show that the locks are a warning to the government to enforce the law that bars foreigners from participating in the retail market.
The president of the Nigerian traders union in Ghana, Chukwuemeka Nnaji, told BBC Pidgin that “the Ecowas protocol gives all citizens of member states equal rights to do business, reside and establish a business in each member state”.
“We Nigerians in Ghana have the right to trade here in any kind of business, the law they are quoting is not applicable to Nigerians”, Mr Nnaji added.
But Ghanaian traders insist they want the government to enforce a 2013 law, which they say limits retailing in the country only to Ghanaians.
The shops in the capital remain locked and police have met with Ghanaian and Nigerian traders to resolve the situation.
