Ghanaian goods stuck in Benin after Nigeria border closure — AGI reveals

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has revealed that goods worth millions of cedis belonging to Ghanaian manufacturers are stuck at Benin’s border with Nigeria.

Nigeria which is Africa’s most populous country partially closed its borders with Benin in August this year in a move to curb the movement of illicit weapons and other smuggled goods.

Speaking to Citi Business News at a breakfast meeting organized by the Association for the Private sector on the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, Chief Executive Officer of the AGI, Seth Twum Akwaboah said the move is having a toll on Ghanaian industries.

“The closure of the borders is unfair to the spirit of ECOWAS, we have sent our complaints to the government. As we speak now, we have Ghanaian goods stuck at the Benin border, meanwhile Nigerian goods are entering our country,” the AGI CEO lamented.

Bu the Association of Ghana Industries is optimistic that the ongoing engagements will yield positive results.

“There was a trip to Abuja which AGI was invited to be part of to go and discuss with our Nigerian counterparts how this issue could be resolved. And they have given us the indication that we are not the target which is a good result although not positive yet because the borders are still closed,” Twum Akwaboah noted.

After a meeting between the Foreign Affairs ministers of the two countries in Abuja, Nigeria, both Ghana and Nigeria have agreed to set out modalities to allow for free movement of goods from Ghana to Nigeria.

There have been a series of meetings between officials from Ghana and Nigeria over the closure. The first was a meeting between the Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botwe and the Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana.