The Ghanaian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirley Botchwey, has urged the Federal Government to urgently review its decision to close its borders with Benin.
The minister said the border closure has severely affected Ghanaian traders, noting that it could lead to political tension in countries impacted by the decision.
Botchwey, who stated this during a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in Abuja on Wednesday, was accompanied by her counterparts, Minister of Trade, Allan Kyerematen and the acting High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mrs Iva Denoo.
“The closure of the borders has had considerable disruptions to trade in the sub-region, with grave consequential economic effects on Ghanaian traders,” she said.
Onyeama explained the reasons for the closure of the borders, noting that it was done to protect the nation’s economy from smugglers, traffickers and illegal migrants.
The meeting followed calls by Ghana Union of Traders Associations on the minister to intervene in the matter.
Botchwey had assured that the government would exhaust all diplomatic avenues to get Nigeria to re-open its western borders for the free flow of goods from Ghana to the sub-region.
She said truckloads of goods from Ghana had been detained at the Seme border between Benin and Nigeria for weeks, adding that returning the consignment to the seaports would be a major problem as the traders had already lost millions of cedis within the last few weeks.
