Joseph Bakare
President Muhammadu Buhari and his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo met on Sunday night behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Bashir Ahmad, President Buhari’s Personal Assistant on New Media disclosed this known via his verified handle on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.
The meeting is not unconnected with the recent travails of Nigerians in Ghana.
Oriental News Nigeria, reports that the Ghanaian government had recently come up with some stringent regulations; many of which had affected Nigerian traders resident in Ghana. Among these was a $1m business capital requirement which had seen many of the affected traders cry out for help.
Also, many of them had had their shops shut down by the Ghanaian government.
Consequently, the closure of shops owned by Nigerian traders in Ghana had heightened tensions between the two countries; a situation which led the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama to summon Ghana’s Charge d’ Affaires to Nigeria; Ms Iva Denoo for discussions.
Also, Onyeama met with representatives of Nigerian traders in Ghana, led by Jasper Emenike; the National President of Progressive Ambassadors of Nigeria (PAN), and the organisation’s National Director, Ruth Ango over the matter.
Also, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had visited Ghana on September 2; with a view to seeing how the issues at stake could be resolved amicably.
Gbajabiamila held that the closure of the Nigerian shops in Ghana contravenes the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement of citizens of member states, and trade liberalisation scheme.