General News of Saturday, 19 October 2019
Source: adomonline.com
2019-10-19
President of the Ghana Union of Trade Association, Dr. Joseph Obeng
The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) is calling for a total boycott of all Nigerian products imported to Ghana.
The move, the traders union believes, will force the Nigerian government to open up its borders for foreign goods.
The Nigerian government in its Prohibited and Restricted Imports list banned the importation of some 43 products including rice, cement, textile products, cocoa butter and other products it currently manufactures.
Nigerian President, Mahamudu Buhari in August 2019 ordered a partial closure of the Togo-Benin border to check the smuggling of cheap goods into Nigeria.
Following that directive, Nigeria’s borders were completely shut down in September 2019.
Reacting to this, the Greater Accra Regional Secretary of GUTA, David Kwadwo Amoateng on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Friday said the Nigerian government has not been fair to foreign traders.
In return, he expects the Ghana government to prevent Nigerian traders from importing goods into Ghana but that plea has fallen on deaf ears.
“Either somebody’s bread has been buttered or we are cowards. Government is not being fair to us,” he fumed.
Mr Amoateng cited how Dangote cement had taken over the market while local ones from GHACEM are suffering.
“Let’s boycott Nigerian products as payback to their government’s action. How can we be slaves in our own country?” he said.
Mr Amoateng argued that the issue, if not checked, could hamper the Continental Free Trade Area.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has appealed to Ghanaian traders to remain calm as it works with the Nigerian authority to ease its ban on the exportation of Non-Tradition products.
