Nigerians living and working in Ghana under the auspices of Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana, NUTAG, have presented a Save-Our-Soul letter to the Nigeria government requesting to be evacuated from Ghana.
The letter was presented to the chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa in Abuja.
The delegation was led by the President, National Association of Nigerian Traders, NANTS, Dr. Ken Ukoaha alongside the president of NUTAG, and other members of the association.
Their request, among others, is to secure a peaceful and secure evacuation of Nigerians in Ghana back home to Nigeria.
The letter has names of 753 members who signed to be supported to return home.
They explained that the evacuation had become necessary because of the constant and consistent harassment, intimidation, torture and threat to life as well as a total lockdown of their means of livelihood, as their shops had been locked for almost one year by the Ghanaian authorities.
They said since all diplomatic niceties at the highest level between Nigeria and Ghana had not yielded positive results, they were left with no choice but to ask for evacuation.
“Now, landlords are coming to ask us for rent. How do we pay with our shops locked up for so long? We are dying here,” they lamented.
However, Dabiri-Erewa once again called for peace, stressing that all relevant stakeholders would continually be engaged.
She said it was indeed sad that their shops had not been reopened for almost one year citing draconian conditions which were against ECOWAS Protocols of Free Trade and movement of goods and services.
The NIDCOM boss pleaded again with the traders not to allow tempers rise as she would convey their message for support to relocate back home to the appropriate authorities for further consideration and to speed up the process with strategic ministries and agencies to bring a lasting solution to the issues.
Dabiri-Erewa also said Nigeria would not hesitate to gladly and safely welcome her citizens back to the country.
