Janet Ogundepo writes about the life and business of Nigerians living in Ghana and how they fare amid government’s policies.
It was a beautiful evening at the popular Nkrumah Circle, Greater Accra Region, Accra, when the feet of this reporter graced the ever-busy area renowned for sales and repairs of gadgets.
Nkrumah Circle is one of the six traffic interchanges in Accra and it is named after Ghana’s first president and leading figure in the country’s fight for independence from Britain, Kwame Nkrumah.
A huge statue of Nkrumah with a hand raised as a symbol of solidarity is seated in an elaborate water fountain park. This place is known to be the central point in Accra known for its everyday hustle and bustle.
Circle, as it is known for short, is touted to be the hub for the sale and repair of phones, laptops, and other communication accessories.
This place is likened to Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos State. It is also likely the first place one would be told to see a cluster of Nigerian traders.
Nigerians, as this correspondent learnt, were also found in several popular markets in Accra as the Madina Market, Makola, and Tema, among others.
A narrowed-down search of the stalls of Nigerians led this correspondent to a busy lane called Odo Rice and a street with the name, Tip Toe Lane. Several pockets of shops with several signs and displays of phone and laptop accessories were rife in this area. But none was seen with a name synonymous with a Nigerian.
A cluster of three men conversing in Igbo language in one of the complexes at the far end of Tip Toe Lane brought the long walk and frequent requests to an end.
An importer and retailer of phone and laptop gadgets, Mr Innocent Benjamin, an indigene of Ebonyi State, sat on a plastic stool in front of his office at Tip Toe Lane, Odo Rice, Nkrumah Circle, Accra, conversing in Igbo language with his three other colleagues.
Benjamin, who is married to a Ghanaian, stated that he left Akure, Ondo State, where he lived and worked for 14 years as a trader in nylon and stationeries, to Ghana when the Chinese company he worked for as a wholesaler left Nigeria for Ghana.
“I’ve been in Ghana since 2016. I came in seven days to the 2016 presidential election,” he gently declared.
On his experience living in Ghana, the phone dealer stated that he experienced “weather, security and business comfort.”
He further noted that asides from the challenges faced during the implementation of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre Act, Nigerian traders who traded legally and paid their taxes and necessary dues were not harassed or disturbed by trade unions or government officials.
Benjamin added, “Some shops owned by Nigerians were locked for a year and three months. In December last year, some shops were also locked. But some of the shops were reopened when the shop owners took their documents to the Ministry of Trade. We are closely working with the government so that such does not happen anymore.”
Price and market competition were reportedly the reason for the miff between Nigerian and Ghanaian traders.
Benjamin noted that because Nigerian traders bought their goods in large quantities, they sold them at a reduced price than their Ghanaian counterparts.
He said, “Another problem, although not limited to Ghana, is that when business persons conduct their businesses peacefully and pay tax to the government, the government does not support you during a business crisis. For example, when there is a fire incident or flooding.”
He lamented the destruction of his and other traders’ shops and unsold gadgets in an unexpected flood in 2022 without any aid from the government.
“The goods here are currently got on a loan. I hate when I do my business and I have to keep paying interest to someone. I was not the only one affected by the flood but since we pay tax to the government, we are supposed to receive support from the government during a crisis,” he stated.
“We are happy to escape!” were the first few words a Nigerian retailer in computer accessories, identified only as Onyeaka, uttered when he met with our correspondent.
Onyeaka said he came to Ghana to study at the Zenith University, Labadi, Accra, in 2015, but dropped out due to lack of funds.
“There was no support. I was the one paying my school fees, but due to the stress, I had to drop out. Combining study and business here is difficult,” he stated.
Onyeaka, further corroborating Bejamin’s claim, stated that though Nigeria had been exempted from the GIPC Act, the Ghanaian traders did not accept the verdict, which generated a lot of controversies.
“I know of some persons whose shops were closed in December 2020 and some of them, after their documents were assessed and found to be complete, had their shops reopened in November 2022.
“As a result, Nigerian traders are no longer as many and strong as before in the market. Now, we don’t know where we are standing because the government has announced that Nigerians have been exempted but some of the time, traders are still being disturbed,” he added.
The worry lines on Onyeaka remained as he recalled the tales of events such as the 2020 incident that happened to Nigerian traders in the country.
He stated that some shops that had been locked since 2020 were yet to be reopened.
