WHAT is it about Nigerians that makes them attract so much hostility wherever they settle? That may well be the welling question in the mind of many observers or victims of what is currently playing out across Ghana. Non-Ghanaian-owned shops, which incidentally belong majorly to sojourning Nigerians in that country, are being shut down on account of their owners’ inability to meet up with the $1million investment registration fee/levy placed on foreign businesses.

At the last count, well over 300 Nigerian businesses- that’s according to Chukwuemeka Nnaji, President, Nigerian Traders Union in Ghana – have been shut across Ghana. Some other sources put the number at more than 400. Even as this interview went on Tuesday evening, Nnaji was quick to add for emphasis that: “As we speak, they are locking up shops in Ashanti Region and the exercise will continue tomorrow.”

Like have happened in South Africa over the past decade, Nigerian residents in that English-speaking West African country have been on the receiving end of what they have variously described as ‘economic strangulation’, ‘annihilation’ and ‘xenophobia in another form;’ and it seems that brotherly affiliation that both nationals are wont to flaunt is currently non-existent – or perhaps, never counted for much.

In a video that has gone viral, a Ghanaian shop owner could be seen pointing out Nigerian-owned shops to members of the task force in a market complex and insisting that they be locked.

In another, even Ghanaian shop owners suspected to be fronting for Nigerian businesses are being harassed and made to show proof of ownership of the business or face immediate action.

According to Chukwudi, who runs a phone accessories shop in Tiptoe Lane at Kwame Nkruma Circle, Accra, “The new law is like a sentence to hunger and death. Yes, you may say they are not attacking us physically, but is there anything that kills faster than hunger and poverty? As I speak, my shop is under lock and key and this is coming right after Covid -19 lockdown. If they want us to leave their country, they should be bold and say it outright. Where do they expect me to raise one million dollars from? Who’s going to lend me that kind of money?”

To cap it up, Chukwudi said his two relatives in the country, one in the same Tiptoe Lane complex and another in Kumasi, who may come to his aid, have also had their shops locked. Even his friend and neighbour, who operates a salon in a nearby corner street is also out of work.

According to Evaristus Nwankwo, Secretary, Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG), “The situation is very tense and a lot of people are in a quandary. I don’t know how they expect small businesses like ours to raise one million dollars. As far as I am concerned, it is an impossible task. In fact, it is a way of saying ‘We don’t want you here anymore, go home.’”

He also said the law is sweeping. “There is no exception –whether you operate a corner shop, a grocery store, small salon, food store, or even a taxi business. For a taxi business, you are required to have five taxi cabs or more to be able to operate – because the law says the retail business is reserved for the citizens. It’s such a suffocating law, and this is irrespective of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) protocol, which Ghana is a signatory to and which grants citizens of member nations the right to go into member countries and manage enterprises.

“As we speak, Ghana is practically reneging on that agreement. In fact when this whole clampdown started, the president, Nana Akufo-Addo openly said the law is on the people’s side, even though he cautioned that they must not take the law into their hands. But he never ordered that the illegally locked shops be reopened. As I speak with you, shops are being locked in the motor parts market in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. The secretary of our traders union there just called to inform me.”

Isaac Osahon Ekhator, National Secretary, All Nigeria Community (ANC) in Ghana, said, “The problem stems from the implementation of sections 27 and 28 of the local GIPC (Ghana Investment Promotion Council) law. Section 27 stipulates the activities and businesses that are reserved for nationals; while section 28 stipulates the amount you’re supposed to come in with to embark on retail business as a non-Ghanaian, along with other provisions. The law states that if you are not a Ghanaian and wish to engage in trading and retail business, you come in with an amount not less than one million US dollars or its equivalent in equity – if the business is going to be fully owned by you.

“However, because most Nigerian businesses here are the traditional enterprise and sole proprietorship, this has constituted a big problem for our people, as the one million dollars requirement is way beyond their reach.”

Ekhator, a Banking and Finance graduate, who is into financial forecasting, technical and fundamental analysis for enterprise businesses in Accra, however said the onslaught is not new.

“In 2007, Nigerian shops were locked at Kumasi and other places. In December last year, some shops were locked around the Circle Area in Accra and they remained locked for 7 to 8 months. Unfortunately, the Lebanese, Indians and Chinese are here going about their businesses, although I’m not able to confirm if they are also paying this kind of money. If the focus is on those dominating the retail sector, then those should be the first target and not Nigerian enterprises. Clearly the law says foreign nationals, but it seems the targets are Nigerian-owned businesses.”

Ekhator conceded, though, that this might seem so “because Nigerians have businesses everywhere.”

He also submitted that the contentious law is not in tandem with the spirit of ECOWAS.

Is the situation so bad that Ghanaians are not able to do business?

Nwankwo answers in the negative. “One thing you guys back home in Nigeria need to know is that these people don’t love us, even though we deceive ourselves with the brother tag. A lot of Ghanaians are really doing well and prospering; I mean, you go to a complex of about 4,000 shops and you find only 100 shops or businesses owned by Nigerians. The other time, the agitators went to an electrical appliances complex to shut foreign-owned shops and we could only count 31 Nigerian-owned shops, out of over 3000 shops. And some of these 31 could not even qualify for shops, as they were under staircases and on top of two-storey buildings. The question you’re therefore forced to ask, is: Where is the threat? So if you ask me, I’d say they just don’t want us around anymore.”

Alternatively, you ask. “Is it that Nigerians have exported their excessive flamboyance to that country and are outshining the indigenes and taking over their girlfriends and wives?

But Nwankwo again answered: “No, no, no. Those are minor issues and far from the truth.”

How about having a meeting with the authorities to negotiate?

To this, he gave a cynical reply: “Maybe if you’re resident here, you would understand what we’re talking about. These people don’t even regard us as humans, let alone consider us worthy of such invitation or negotiation. The only time that ever happened was when they wrote to our High Commission in Ghana that they were going to embark on an exercise and the High Commissioner went with us to meet with the deputy minister.”