The Member of Parliament for the Odododiodoo constituency, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye says it is high-time Ghana retaliated to Nigeria’s border closure.
The government of Nigeria in August said it is time to end rampant smuggling of food across the porous frontiers.
The decision is aimed at preventing weapons and drugs from entering the country and not just to stop food smuggling, Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed has said.
The border closure has rendered many stranded and has received widespread criticism from across the sub-region. The move violates the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol.
Reacting to the closure, the former Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry on the erstwhile Mahama government said, the government of Ghana must retaliate to the move by her Nigerian counterpart.
“I had a little chat with some spare parts dealers at Abossey Okai and their plight is, they are unable to bring their goods into Ghana because of the border closure and their trade partners; those they bought the goods from are also refusing to take back the goods, so now they can’t sell the goods either can they get their monies back; tell me,how will they pay their creditors, I believe Nana Addo must give the Nigerian President an ultimatum to reverse his decision if not, then Ghana must retaliate”
“Sometimes it is better to do the wrong things for the right reasons, Ghana must also close it borders and let see how the ECOWAS treaty will handle this” he said.
According to him, he has also expected Nigeria, being the country with the biggest land size and population in West Africa, to take certain positive decision to encourage the other small West African countries in terms of trade but surprisingly, Nigeria has always been selfish.
“We will all agree that trading amongst ourselves as West African countries gives us more profit then trading on the international market, so why would Nigeria take certain selfish decisions at the detriment of the other ECOWAS states” he quizzed.
The Executive Secretary of exporters and Importers Association, Sampson Asaki Awingobit has also asked the government of Ghana to retaliate by closing its borders
“It seems we are the only country that obeys international treaties and orders, GUTA will give its full support to the government of Ghana,we want to see the government take a bold decision on this” he said.