President Buhari on Sunday night met behind closed doors with President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

A Nigerian presidential aide disclosed the visit on Sunday night, but did not elaborate on the agenda of the talks between the two leaders. 

Relationship between Nigeria and Ghana has been strained since the Nigerian government shut its end of Seme-Krake border in August 2019. 
Ghana does not share a common border with Nigeria, but it is one of Nigeria’s top trading partners via Benin Republic.

The tension escalated in August when the Ghanaian government imposed a $1 million levy on foreign companies, affecting hundreds of Nigerian businesses.

On September 2, House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila visited Ghana to mediate in the dispute. 

Mr. Gbajabiamila said the closure of the Nigerian shops in Ghana contravened the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol on free movement of citizens of member states and trade liberalisation scheme.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) adopted in 1979 with an agreement on agricultural, artisanal handicrafts and unprocessed products, and extended to industrial products in 1990, is the main framework for trade and market integration in ECOWAS as it addresses protocols on the free movement of goods, persons and transportation.

The scheme’s main pursuit of consolidating the free trade area is guided by an approval panel that informs the member states.

Similarly, Article (3) of the revised treaty of ECOWAS on trade and market integration stipulates the removal of trade barriers and harmonisation of trade policies for the establishment of a Free Trade Area, a customs union, a common market and an eventual culmination into a Monetary and Economic Union in West Africa.

Hundreds of Nigerians have been forcibly removed from Ghana since last August; while scores Nigerian businesses were also reported to have been targeted in a crackdown by Ghanaian law enforcement over taxes and other levies. 

Last month, a property Nigeria has occupied in Accra since 1960s was repossessed by a Ghanaian. 

Ghana strongly denied the allegations of targeting Nigerians and their businesses, saying Nigerians have always felt at home across the country. 
It also downplayed the seriousness of evicting Nigerian diplomats from a property after many decades with claims that it belonged to a private owner who took action to retake his property after Nigeria defaulted on rent charges for many years. 

Still, Ghana said it would find a way to put the property back in service for Nigeria. 

Prior to Sunday’s talk in Abuja, Ghanaian authorities had suggested there was a need for talks with their Nigerian counterparts to scale down tensions on both sides, NAN reported. 
(NAN)