Former President of Ghana, John Mahama, on Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government to open up the country’s borders for economic activities to resume in West Africa.
Nigeria’s borders have been closed for a while with the Federal Government insisting that neighbouring countries must do their bits to prevent smuggling of goods across borders.
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Mr Mahama pleaded with the government while delivering the 7th anniversary lecture of Realnews Online Magazine in Lagos.
He said that the total closure of, especially, the Benin border was having a significant toll on many small and medium businesses especially in Togo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire that relied on inter-country trade.
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“I am sure that businesses in Nigeria that rely on supplies from these countries are also suffering.
“With the signing of the joint border task force agreement between Nigeria and her neighbours, I will like to take this opportunity to appeal to Nigeria to open up her border so that economic activities can resume,” he said.
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Mahama said that as a former chairman of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), he had interest in the progress of ECOWAS and its peoples.
He noted that it was not by accident that Nigeria was home to the headquarters of ECOWAS and the largest economy in West Africa.
“Back home in Ghana, I also look forward to our government’s intervention that brings an immediate cessation to the forceful and illegal closure of shops of foreigners, especially Nigerians, by members of the local trade associations,” he added.
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In her welcome address, Publisher of Realnews Online Magazine, Maureen Chigbo, said the online medium had kept faith with its vision and mission statements in the past seven years.
Vice -President, Islamic Development Bank, Mansur Mahtar; and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, were among dignitaries who attended the event.
