The President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr. Joseph Obeng has spoken that the action of the Ashanti Regional Branch to lock up some shops belonging to foreign traders was a good gesture for the government to protect its citizens and the economy.

“Our people are currently doing so out of frustration. Just imagine the situation where someone whose goods have been locked up in Nigeria and his capital getting lost comes back to Ghana and sits next to a shop belonging to someone from the same country where his goods are stranded, and such a person is even flouting the laws. It is worrying,” he said.

According to GUTA, foreign retailers flout section 27 of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act 865 which stipulates that the sale of goods or provision of services in a market, petty trading or hawking or selling of goods in a stall at any place must be reserved for Ghanaians yet foreigners have acquired for themselves shops and dictates the pace of the Ghanaian trade.

The closure of Nigeria’s western boarder has stimulated the Ashanti Regional branch to lock retail shops after months of Ghanaian traders stranded in Nigeria and unable to transport their goods home for commerce with traders who took loans for business counting on losses. According to report, about 100 trucks of goods belonging to Ghanaians have been locked up in Nigeria following the economic decisions.

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The Ghanaian government has taken steps including sending a high-powered delegation to Nigeria for discussion yet nothing seem to have effected a change.

He further pointed out that the action taken by Nigeria must be a wake-up call for Ghana to take in order to protect its traders and the economy.

“Ghana must learn the positive lessons in the Nigerian border closure and also take steps to protect its citizens. The problems that Nigeria faces such as porous borders, smuggling of uncustomed goods and ammunition, as well as migration of criminals across borders are also common among other countries in the sub-region,” he observed.

Dr Joseph Obeng finally appealed to the Ghanaian government to help negotiate for the reopening of the Nigerian border to help traders who have been stucked for the last three months to recover their products.

“Our traders bought goods from Nigeria but for the past three months, they cannot bring them home to sell and get back their capital because their trucks are stranded. The perishable goods have gone bad and the goods that have been returned to warehouses in Nigeria are incurring more costs because of rent,” the President of GUTA, Dr Joseph Obeng said in an interview with Daily Graphic.