Latest: Nigerian Traders, Other Foreigners Must Pay $1m, Ghana Insists

The Ghanaian Ministry of Trades has rejected claims of unfair treatment by Nigerian and other foreign traders in the enforcement of the Ghana Investment Promotion Council regulations and insists foreigners must pay taxes and other fees imposed.

The requirement for GIPC registration is $1 million minimum foreign equity, while registration fee is 31,500 cedis.

Recall that a Nigerian trader whose shop was locked up by the Ghanaian security officials had recorded a video of the incident in which they asked him to pay $1m registration fee.

According to the Head of Communications, Ministry of Trade, Prince Boakye Boateng, Nigerian traders failed to honour an ultimatum to meet the requirements.

He said, “It cannot be that we’ve been insensitive; if that is what they’re saying, I’ll be disappointed because I’ll rather say they have rather been unfair to us as a regulatory body because we have given them more than enough time to the extent that even the Ghanaians thought that the ministry was not ready to enforce the law.”

He recalled that the shops were locked last December and later re-opened following the intervention of President Nana Akufo-Ado.

According to him, the traders complied but have not regularised their documents for verification.

This is happening despite the intervention of the presidents of Ghana and Nigeria through the Economic Community of West African States.