Diplomatique: ‘We’re afraid things could get out of hand’
Comrade Evaristus Nwankwo, the current president of the Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG) spoke with Weekend Trust, following recent protests against Nigerians in some parts of Ghana. He also said there were rumours of more protests in the coming days. What business are you into in Ghana? I’m into salon accessories’ […]
Comrade Evaristus Nwankwo
Comrade Evaristus Nwankwo, the current president of the Nigerian Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG) spoke with Weekend Trust, following recent protests against Nigerians in some parts of Ghana. He also said there were rumours of more protests in the coming days.
What business are you into in Ghana?
I’m into salon accessories’ assembling and distribution. We bring in salon accessories, equipment and then we distribute them.
How long have you been in Ghana?
I’ve been in Ghana for 22 years now, since December 22, 2002.
What’s your take on the recent protest calling for the deportation of Nigerians from Ghana?
Well, it’s a bit surprising for us to be witnessing all these things, but it’s not entirely new because of the historical antecedents to all these happenings.
When the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was established, we thought that it would take us away from all the things that had happened in the past. That we are going to build a kind of European Union prototype here in Africa and even improve on it. But alas, the reverse is now the case because we still see many ECOWAS countries holding on to their individual interests.
They are not doing much to improve the protocol that was signed. It was supposed to be an all-inclusive community, but now exclusivity is the order of the day.
They started this issue of exclusivity in trading and all those kinds of things. They also remembered that they have a law that preserves certain things for citizens; even though the ECOWAS protocol has sort of abolished that kind of exclusivity. We have been on it since 2017.
Of course, it’s a social media war. Some people went on social media to incite citizens of Ghana against Nigerian nationals who are here for one reason or another.
On the placards, they accused Nigerians of different crimes; what is your take on this?
Some of our nationals are not behaving very well here in Ghana. They are into prostitution, and some of them are street boys.
To me, if Ghana authorities want to sanitise the country, they should focus on those people who are causing problems not genuine traders or other people who are into genuine activities. All of us have now been locked in one box.
I assume that after 22 years in Ghana, you must have investments…
Many of us have a lot of investments here because we’ve been here for a long time. There are some particular areas of Accra, that you will go to and think that you are in Lagos. This is because of the type of houses that people have built there. If you go there, you will see that many mansions have been built by Nigerians.
Some Ghanaians, not all, are now saying Nigerians are taking over their country. These are buildings, immovable assets that, no matter what you do, you can never move them.
Dubai is Dubai today because foreigners from all over the world went there to invest.
Do you have fears that your life or your property would be attacked?
Well, as humans, we have this fear that maybe if things go wrong, if these guys are not checked, things could get out of hand.
You know, protests in Africa sometimes, most of the time, don’t end well. It may start well, but sometimes some people take advantage of it, and then they have another plan and motive.
And then before you know it, it will get out of hand, and then lives and properties will be destroyed.
That’s the only fear we are entertaining. But for now, you know, Ghana being what it is, I can still say that Ghana is a very peaceful country, and we have to do everything to sustain it and make it continue to be that.
I appeal to Ghanaians not to buy into the idea of a few disgruntled people whose line of thinking is not progressive at all. The few of them who are conversing about this thing on social media, I urge the government to check them and invite them for questioning.
The Ghanian government has downplayed the protest, saying it’s of no significance. Do you agree with that position?
Yes, I agree because the last protest they did, I was in Accra and drove past the place they did the protest and didn’t see anything that morning.
I didn’t see any protest. It was late at night on that day that I saw some videos on social media. And you could see that there were very few people out there, very few of them.
Accra has a population of over 3.7 million people. If it’s a serious protest, at least you would get people in the thousands. I know Ghanaians; when they are protesting, normally, even against their government, you will see the streets filled up. So why is it that this one, they didn’t see anybody?
The president said all issues have been resolved, but you mentioned earlier that you heard about a planned protest for tomorrow. Can you elaborate on that?
I heard it first from the man who started the whole thing, calling people to come out so that they could protest. He said that he wanted them to be orderly; he wanted them to be peaceful and he wanted them to focus their protest on immigration and the police, inciting thoseinstitutions to go after Nigerians who are doing business in Ghana.
Who is this man?
I can’t remember his name now. When he started, I thought it was a joke, I thought it was a tease, that he was teasing us about not having enough energy to power our economy, that’s why our people are moving to Ghana.
What influenced your decision to relocate to Ghana?
It’s energy; because energy is a very big business. And up till today, it baffles me that Nigeria, of all nations, cannot have adequate energy. I don’t know why our country has continued to lag in the area of providing electricity to the common people. If there is electricity in Nigeria, I bet you all these things will disappear. This is because people will be very busy in their businesses, producing, inventing one thing or the other.
There is a rumour that a former presidential candidate was actually behind this protest. Is it true?
Yeah, I think he wanted to use it to popularise himself. He wanted publicity. But when we say presidential candidate, it’s laughable. A man who couldn’t get up to one per cent of the votes.
You know, when the APC won power in 2015 in Nigeria, he quickly formed a party in Ghana. He called it APC. He may be trying to replicate that kind of good showing that the APC has in Nigeria.
Unfortunately, we have seen his mindset. He did say in one of the videos that if he becomes president of Ghana, no foreigner will have property in Ghana. You wonder what kind of government that sort of person would give to his country, where no foreigner would be allowed to own property.
The man has to be brought to order. He has to be called to order because, before you know it, some people will buy into that idea and begin to cause mayhem. That’s the only worry that I have.