The federal government has said it would no longer tolerate the incessant harassments of its citizens in Ghana and the progressive acts of hostility towards the country by Ghanaian authorities.
In a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, the government stated that it was “urgently considering a number of options aimed at ameliorating the situation.”
The statement, signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated that the government had been documenting the acts of hostility towards its people and authorities.
According to the statement, such hostilities to include the seizure of the Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 10, Barnes Road, Accra, which the Nigerian Government had used as diplomatic premises for almost 50 years.
The minister said the government considered the action as a serious breach of the Vienna Convention, adding that the demolition of the Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 19/21 Julius Nyerere Street, East Ridge, Accra, was another serious breach of the Vienna Convention.
He said the government also frowned upon the aggressive and incessant deportation of Nigerians from Ghana, noting that between Jan. 2018 and February 2019, more than 825 Nigerians were deported from Ghana.
Mohammed said further that more than 300 Nigerian shops were locked for four months in Kumasi in 2018, while over 600 Nigerian shops were locked in 2019, and currently, over 250 Nigerian shops had been locked.
He said: “Residency Permit requirements for which the Ghana Immigration Service has placed huge fees, far higher than the fees charged by the Nigerian Immigration Service.
“These include the compulsory Non-citizen ID card (120 U.S.120 dollars, and 60 U.S. dollars for yearly renewal), Medical examinations, including for Covid-19 which is newly-introduced (about 120 U.S. dollars), and payment for residency permit (400 U.S dollars compared to the N7,000 being paid by Ghanaians for residency card in Nigeria).”
The minister also identified outrageous stipulations in the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act.
“When the Act was initially promulgated in 1994, a foreigner is required to invest at least 300 000 U.S. dollars by way of equity capital and also employ 10 Ghanaians.”
Mohammed said the government would like to put on record the fact that even though more than one million Ghanaians were resident in Nigeria, “they are not being subjected to the kind of hostility being meted out to Nigerians in Ghana.”
“But indications, especially in recent times, are that Nigeria’s stance is now being taken for granted and its citizens being made targets of harassment and objects of ridicule. This will no longer be tolerated under any guise.”
