The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has urged the Nigerian government to review its decision to block the import of some Ghanaian commodities to their country.
Addressing Members of the House of Representatives of Nigeria in Abuja, the Speaker said the time is ripe for the two countries to end the trade war between them, and pledged his commitment to assist in that direction.
“That is always the way to go if we are interested in the peace and development of our countries. I am confident that the intervention of our two legislatures in this effort will yield results,” Speaker Bagbin stated, and added that “only peace between equals can last.”
Ghana and Nigeria have policies banning the importation of specific goods into their respective countries, and the move has heightened the ‘dispute’ between the West Africa neighbours.
But Mr. Bagbin indicated that he had no doubt, under “sterling leadership” his colleague Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, “an institution of measureless might and majesty, Nigeria can fine tune the prohibition list to align with contemporary international trade practices.”
He pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area and said the two countries ought to open themselves up for mutually beneficial investments, indicating that Africa’s prosperity depended largely on intra African trade.
“Increase in trade volumes is the surest way to deepen regional integration in Africa. The low levels of trade among African countries as compared to trade with other parts of the world constitute one of the defining characteristics of our continued poverty.
“Data available from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) indicates that in 2019 Africa’s total volume of trade was about US$460billion, however only US$69billion of this huge volume of trade was transacted among African nations,” Speaker Bagbin said.
For him, what is even more worrying is that most of these imports traded can be produced and procured in Africa, and continued that this unfortunate trend “hinders prospects of bringing the needed prosperity to our people.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu