For some years now, the situation of Nigerian traders living in Ghana
could be likened to a mnemonic for the title of one of the late Chinua
Achebe’s novels;
No longer at ease. On Monday, October 28,
2013; many Nigerian traders were summond to an emergency meeting in the
ancient Ghanaian city of Kumasi.
In the same vein, dozens of Nigerian traders, who are members of the
Nigerian Union of Traders in Ghana (NUTAG), the umbrella body for
Nigerian traders in the former Gold Coast; also had cause to gather at a
hotel in the Dansoman neighbourhood of the Ghanaian capital, Accra on
Thursday, October 24, 2013.
At either conference, their meeting dragged for about three hours as
NUTAG members pondered their situation. Apart from NUTAG National
President, Deacon John Igwe Ukala; and, National Vice President, Hon.
Joseph Obi; others at the October 24 summit; included Tamale Chapter
Chairman, Sir Hycinth Nwoko; Eastern Region Chairman, Sir Linus
Okoroigwe; NUTAG PRO, Chief Ikechukwu Obiora; and, Tema Chapter
Chairman, Sir Kingsley Eboh.
The importance of their sitting could be gleaned from the fact that,
apart from those who happened to be out of town on that day, every other
NUTAG executive member was in attendance. Furthermore, many of these
merchants were sighted at Nigerian High Commission Accra on Wednesday,
October 23.
Reliable sources revealed these Nigerians came to brief their
country’s diplomatic mission of their predicament as well as to find out
what what being done at the governments’ level to resolve an issue that
has lingered for some six years. In many instances, Nigerian traders
did not just have to be absent at their malls, some had to travel over
hundreds of kilometres from regional capitals to venues, where meeting
had been called.
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