Anthony Areh
The Market Traders Association of Nigeria (MATAN) has expressed delight on step taken by the Federal Government to address the plight of Nigerian traders in Ghana.
The President of the association, Alhaji Jamilu Abbas, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said the move was right step in the right direction.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday directed that a ministerial delegation be sent to Ghana to resolve the lingering conflict between Nigerian traders and Ghanaian authorities.
The delegation will be led by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, and other relevant stakeholders.
They will engage in further dialogue with Ghanaian authorities with a view to finding a lasting solution to the problem.
Reacting to the development, Abbas said the conflict between Nigerian traders and Ghanaian authorities had lingered for long hence the need to find a lasting solution to resolve it.
He noted that Nigerian traders in Ghana had faced serious challenges due to the conflict while so many of them incurred many losses to the crisis.
He however advised that Nigerians doing legitimate in Ghana should be allowed to do their businesses peacefully as Ghanaians in Nigeria were allowed to go on with their various engagements without any molestation.
The MATAN president said there had been different moves by various stakeholders in the past to address the problem, but could not resolve it.
He however urged the government’s delegation to ensure that the matter was addressed holistically with a view to finally putting it to rest in the interest of both countries.
