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Nigerian traders to drag Ghana’s investment centre to ECOWAS court
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This is one of the many options the traders are considering. The Nigerian retailers say their lawyer, Femi Falana, chairman of the West African Bar Association, is considering taking the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) to the sub-regional court to redress what they claimed as unjustified stoppage of their businesses.
After the closure, the traders complained to Nigeria’s Ministry of Trade and Commerce, which has been meeting with the GIPC and the Miniistry of Trade and Industry to settle the case amicably.
But when the chief executive officer of the GIPC, Robet Ahonka Lindsey, on Wednesday held a press conference in Accra and made it categorically clear that it would not bend the law in favour of the retailers.
Jasper Emenike, secretary of the Nigerian Traders Association, in an interview with Business Day, warned that they would be compelled to seek justice at the court since the ECOWAS trade liberalisation protocol supported their operations.
Under the GIPC ACT 478, foreign entrepreneurs are required to engage in the retail sector after paying a start-up capital of $300,000 to the GIPC. The centre closed down several Nigerian retail shops last November, and asserted that they were operating illegally because their owners had not paid the $300,000.
At the conference, Lindsey told journalists that the GIPC was not discriminating against nationals of any country, but enforcing the law to maintain sanity in the sector.
“We don’t have an issue with the Nigerian retailers. Since 19994, the law of this country has been absolutely clear about what the trading activities are.
“We have GUTA (Ghana Union Traders Association) very upset and many participants very upset with us that we have not as an agency been enforcing the law. So we start enforcing the law and we don’t enforce the law based on your ethnic origins. It is not Chinese, Indians or Nigerians alone, if you are disobeying the law, then we enforce the law,” he said.
On the contrary, Emenike believes that the GIPC is being punitive with the Nigerian traders for no good reason.
“The GIPC is punishing us unnecessarily without any justification. They have put their ugly and wicked step against us and brought disruption to our trade,” he debunked the allegations of Lindsey.
“Since the November 28 2007, many Nigerian, whose shops were closed, could no longer afford to take up the responsibilities of their families. A lot of them are jobless now, and will return home if the closure continues,” he intimated.
Some Ghanaians are afraid that if the tussle is not resolved fraternally and early enough, Nigerians may retaliate since there are small-scale Ghanaian entrepreneurs operating in Nigeria.
The GIPC boss said it was having “dialogue with the Nigerian committee.” Away from the closure crisis, Lindsey said the current restructuring exercise at the GIPC would succeed.
According to him, the structural changes are geared toward revamping the operations of the centre in a bid to make it meet international best practices, and become more competitive.
As part of the restructuring, he said some jobs have to be cut in order to induce efficiency. The re-organisation saw the retrenchment of 34 employees.
Meanwhile, the 2007 report of the GIPC indicated that investment in Ghana increased to $5.7 billion, compared to about $3.7 billion in 2006.
Jobs created jumped from 10,000 in 2006 to 25,000 last year.
The GIPC quarterly report also showed that over 300 new projects in agriculture, infrastructure, financial services, information and communication technology and tourism sectors were initiated.
After the closure, the traders complained to Nigeria’s Ministry of Trade and Commerce, which has been meeting with the GIPC and the Miniistry of Trade and Industry to settle the case amicably.
But when the chief executive officer of the GIPC, Robet Ahonka Lindsey, on Wednesday held a press conference in Accra and made it categorically clear that it would not bend the law in favour of the retailers.
Jasper Emenike, secretary of the Nigerian Traders Association, in an interview with Business Day, warned that they would be compelled to seek justice at the court since the ECOWAS trade liberalisation protocol supported their operations.
Under the GIPC ACT 478, foreign entrepreneurs are required to engage in the retail sector after paying a start-up capital of $300,000 to the GIPC. The centre closed down several Nigerian retail shops last November, and asserted that they were operating illegally because their owners had not paid the $300,000.
At the conference, Lindsey told journalists that the GIPC was not discriminating against nationals of any country, but enforcing the law to maintain sanity in the sector.
“We don’t have an issue with the Nigerian retailers. Since 19994, the law of this country has been absolutely clear about what the trading activities are.
“We have GUTA (Ghana Union Traders Association) very upset and many participants very upset with us that we have not as an agency been enforcing the law. So we start enforcing the law and we don’t enforce the law based on your ethnic origins. It is not Chinese, Indians or Nigerians alone, if you are disobeying the law, then we enforce the law,” he said.
On the contrary, Emenike believes that the GIPC is being punitive with the Nigerian traders for no good reason.
“The GIPC is punishing us unnecessarily without any justification. They have put their ugly and wicked step against us and brought disruption to our trade,” he debunked the allegations of Lindsey.
“Since the November 28 2007, many Nigerian, whose shops were closed, could no longer afford to take up the responsibilities of their families. A lot of them are jobless now, and will return home if the closure continues,” he intimated.
Some Ghanaians are afraid that if the tussle is not resolved fraternally and early enough, Nigerians may retaliate since there are small-scale Ghanaian entrepreneurs operating in Nigeria.
The GIPC boss said it was having “dialogue with the Nigerian committee.” Away from the closure crisis, Lindsey said the current restructuring exercise at the GIPC would succeed.
According to him, the structural changes are geared toward revamping the operations of the centre in a bid to make it meet international best practices, and become more competitive.
As part of the restructuring, he said some jobs have to be cut in order to induce efficiency. The re-organisation saw the retrenchment of 34 employees.
Meanwhile, the 2007 report of the GIPC indicated that investment in Ghana increased to $5.7 billion, compared to about $3.7 billion in 2006.
Jobs created jumped from 10,000 in 2006 to 25,000 last year.
The GIPC quarterly report also showed that over 300 new projects in agriculture, infrastructure, financial services, information and communication technology and tourism sectors were initiated.
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