Buhari And Akufo-Addo Meet In Aso Rock

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and his Ghanaian counterpart, Nana Akufo-Addo, met on Sunday in Aso Rock.

Buhari Sallau, Personal Assistant to the Nigerian president on Broadcast Media, made this known.

The PUNCH gathered that Akufo-Addo earlier addressed his countrymen in a nationwide broadcast on Sunday.

“President @MBuhari receives in audience Ghanian President H.E. @NAkufoAddo in State House on 20th Sep 2020,” the presidential aide tweeted attaching images of both presidents.

Details of the meeting are unknown as of the time of filing this report.

However, many shops belonging to Nigerian traders were recently shut in Ghana following a $1m levy imposed on them by the government of the West African country.

Nigeria and Ghana had also in the last few months engaged in a diplomatic row, following a number of issues, including the seizure and demolition of a building in the Nigerian Embassy in Accra.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, had last month met with the Speaker of Ghana’s parliament on the fate of Nigerians while on what he called “legislative diplomacy” trip to the country.

Also, issues arising from the $1m levy imposed by the Ghanian authorities on traders from Nigeria was part of the agenda when Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo held a meeting with representatives of the Nigerian community in the West African country on September 15.

The Nigerian government, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on August 28, listed several atrocities committed by the Ghanaian authorities, warning that the government would no longer tolerate such aggression.

Mohammed talked about the seizure of the “Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 10, Barnes Road, Accra, which has been used as diplomatic premises by the Nigerian Government for almost 50 years; the demolition of the Nigerian Mission’s property located at No. 19/21 Julius Nyerere Street, East Ridge, Accra, which constitutes another serious breach of the Vienna Convention.”

The Nigerian government also said “shops belonging to Nigerians; over 300 Nigerian shops were locked for four months in Kumasi in 2018; over 600 Nigerian shops were locked in 2019 and currently, over 250 Nigerians’ shops have been locked”.

Another major area of friction is the residency permit requirement, for which “Ghana Immigration Service has placed huge fees far higher than the fees charged by the Nigerian Immigration Service.”

In an expected game of trading blame, the Ghanaian government on August 30, 2020, responded to the allegations, while accusing the Nigerian government of being the aggressor.

In a statement, the Ghanaian Minister of Information, Oppong Nkrumah, a member of the parliament, stated that Nigeria first took a step of shutting its borders against other West African countries.