The Nigerian business community in Ghana is pushing for a waiver on the mandatory equity for foreign traders in the country.
Under the laws of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centr (GIPC), all foreign prospective traders who come into Ghana to do business must have equity of US$300,000 before they can operate.
But the Nigerians want that to be reviewed in their favour.
When a delegation of managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of Nigerian business community in the country paid a courtesy call on Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at the Flagstaff House last Friday, Acting Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Adekunbi Sonaike-Ayodeji pleaded, “In the spirit of economic integration that both Nigeria and Ghana are promoting, being active members of ECOWAS, we wish to solicit your kind intervention in the waiver of the US$300,000 mandatory equity for all prospective traders, particularly Nigerians as stipulated by the Ghana Investment Promotion Act.”
They however, pledged their commitment to comply with the laws of the country whiles expressing their willingness to push forward the ideals of ECOWAS for the benefit of the sub-region.
Commendation
Vice President Bawumia commended the delegation saying, “Your presence in terms of people doing business in Ghana and others only adds to this economy and so we are very grateful for that presence.”
He commended the presence of lots of Nigerian banks and businesses in the country which he said had expanded Ghana’s financial system and created jobs.
In that regard, he assured, “We don’t have a fear of opening up; I think that those interactions that we have between our economies only need to be deepened.”
For him, that cross-fertilization helps the economies of the two countries to grow.
“What we really need to do from what President Akufo-Addo’s vision is, is to really push the ECOWAS integration project a bit deeper; we are hoping that in our time we will try to make some strides in that direction,” he told his guests.
Determination
He reiterated government’s commitment to make Ghana the most business-friendly economy in Africa for which reason he said there’s expected to be friendly competition across all the countries [because] they all want to be business-friendly.
It was for this reason, he said, “We want to make sure that the tax environment is very conducive to businesses; we want to make sure the bureaucracy is taken away.”
That, he said, was part of reasons Ghana would be hosting a port conference sometime this week to make it one of the leading ports on the continent.
At the end of it all, the vice president indicated, “We believe that businesses in the private sector are what really keep the economy growing; if businesses are not making money, I don’t sleep well, it means there is unemployment coming.”
He advised, “So we want you to grow the economy to make your profits, pay your taxes, be good citizens and let’s all live happily, but make sure when we meet on the soccer field, you make us beat you,” throwing his guests into uncontrollable laughter.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent
