TheCable

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Ghana’s foreign and regional integration minister, has asked the federal government to allow goods from her country into Nigeria.

The Nigerian government has closed its borders since August for the purpose of checking smuggling.

Speaking on Tuesday during a meeting with Olufemi Abikoye, Nigeria’s high commissioner to Ghana, Botchwey said goods from Nigeria are entering Ghana.

She said the Ghanaian government will deploy all diplomatic channels to ensure that Nigeria reopens its borders to the subregion for free movement of goods.

The minister said Ghanaian traders have incurred huge losses because their goods have been detained for weeks at the Seme border.

“As we speak, Nigerian goods are entering Ghana without any problem and I think that we should find ways of isolating the issues and the countries that you have problems with so that Ghana’s exports can enter your market without being lumped up with all these issues that have emerged,” she said.

Abikoye assured the minister that Nigeria will collaborate with Ghana to find a lasting solution to the situation.

He said Ghana was not the target of the border closure, but that it was a move to help the Nigerian economy.