GUTA warns govt on Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Act proposal

President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr. Joseph Obeng has raised concerns on the need for government to be circumspect with the proposed Friendship Act with Nigeria so Ghanaians are not disadvantaged.

The GUTA boss is however, questioning the rationale behind Ghana relaxing its trade laws to accommodate Nigerians.

“I think we have to tread cautiously. What do we seek to gain in relaxing our trade laws for a population of over 200 million? We have been overtaken by events. The coming of the AfCFTA takes care of trade issues and that is where Nigeria must head towards,” he argued.

Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila on a visit to Ghana over a trade row between Ghana and Nigeria, called for a review of Ghana’s GIPC ACT that requires a capital base of $1,000,000 from foreign investors.

This call, Dr. Obeng insists, can only be reviewed per national referendum.

According to him, “the laws of a country are revised based on the demands of the citizens and not the demands of a foreigner.”

Ghana and Nigeria have agreed to establish a “Friendship Act” for improved trade relations. This move is aimed at finding a lasting solution to trade hostilities between nationals of the two countries.

The deal was reached following a two-day bilateral meeting between the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nigeria on Thursday.

A joint communiqué of the discussions said, “a joint committee will be established to compose of members of both legislations to explore the possible passage of reciprocal legislation which could potentially be called the Ghana-Nigeria Friendship Act, which shall propose the Ghana-Nigeria Business Council to provide a legal framework to sustain the friendship and benefits of the two nations.”

GUTA maintains that per the ECOWAS rule of origin, foreign traders from the ECOWAS sub region are only permitted to trade in goods that are manufactured in their respective countries.

"And any other attempt to trade in goods that are not manufactured from one’s respective country will demand that the trader satisfies the GIPC conditions on retail trade in the country," GUTA noted.