On Monday 28th March 2022, Ghana officially opened its road borders after 2 years of closure due to COVID-19. Many are lauding President Nana Akufo-Addo for this move as many traders and ECOWAS based businesses were suffering from the border closure.
Trade between Ghana and Nigeria experienced its sharpest decline in 2020 when the export of Non-Traditional Export (NTE’S) fell from $60m in 2019 to $31m in 2020 (source: Ghana Export Promotion Authority). The border closure was said to be the main attribution to this decline along with COVID-19 and its effects on the global economy.
Despite the opening of the borders, there are still bottlenecks that make road trade between Ghana and Nigeria a challenge, mainly non-adherence by Benin Customs to Ecowas Trade Liberation Scheme (ETLS) protocols to allow Ghanaian products to transit through to Nigeria.
As a result of this ongoing issue, some exporters are resulting to change their home of origin from Ghana to Togo ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted transition from Ghana to Nigeria or alternatively being required to pay customs taxes at the Benin border.
“It is great news that our government has opened. The border, we look forward to seeing trade increase between the two nations again, which will inevitably positively impact our bottom line and contribute to building our economy’ stated Mr. Reginald Laryea Chairman of the Ghana Nigeria Business Council.
Ms. Nadia Takyiwaa-Mensah, Executive Secretary of the council further stated ‘At the Ghana Nigeria Business Council the border opening is a relief for many of our members, and whilst some of them are able to resuscitate their business and commence export, we still have key impediments such as the Benin Customs
non-adherence, which makes it counterproductive for us, as a continent to promote intra-Africa trade and sign agreements if we are not going to adhere to them.
We recently went on a trade mission to Nigeria with key Government stakeholders and the Benin Customs were one of the key issues which are contributing to the slow down of trade, not allowing us to realize our potential.”
Ms. Takyiwaa-Mensah went on further to say, “According to the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, in 2016, trade of NTEs between Ghana to Nigeria was recorded at $142m. Over the years new and innovative products have been developed within our local markets along with businesses that have scaled up and are in need of off-takers.
Now that we have been able to get over the border closures from both Ghana and Nigeria, I think it is imperative that we look into the customs issue and put pressure on the Benin Government to review and act immediately to ensure we are upholding the agreements for the betterment of our region. Government, ECOWAS, and key government stakeholders have been working diligently over the years to resolve the ongoing challenge, so by adding our voice we are acting on behalf of our members and export businesses as a whole. We would love to hear from more export businesses who move between Ghana and Nigeria so we can continue to provide support and insight on developments as we progress.”
The Ghana Nigeria Business Council is a not-for-profit, non-partisan business council that has been in existence since 2015. which seeks to promote trade between Ghana and Nigeria, encourage a smooth transition, and provide the necessary support for interested parties to set up trade in Ghana. We also have a sister organization located in Lagos, Nigeria which is the Nigeria Ghana Business Council.
As a membership organization, we boast clientele from across SMEs, and Corporates in both Ghana and Nigeria. To find out more information about the council visit www.thegnbc.com.
Source: Ghana Web