Gbaja heading to Ghana over maltreatment of Nigerians

Femi Gbajabiamiala, speaker of the house of representatives, is set to meet lawmakers in Ghana over the recent crisis involving both countries.

In the past weeks, both countries have been at loggerheads over the “ill treatment” of Nigerians in Ghana.

In June, a part of the Nigerian mission building in Ghana was demolished. Some Nigerian traders in Ghana also accused the Ghanaian government of closing their shops over non-registration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC), which requires $1,000,000 minimum foreign equity.

Following the development, the federal government had told Ghana it would no longer tolerate the harassment.

Speaking with journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, Gbajabiamila said he has secured the blessing of the president to proceed to Ghana on what he called “legislative diplomacy”.

“One of the issues we discussed today, I’m leaving for Ghana tomorrow to meet with the speaker of the parliament in Ghana to look at the issues on ground, as it affects our citizens, and to try and calm things down and see if there’s a way forward,” he said.

“I’ll meet with the speaker tomorrow. I informed the president and he’s aware of every single step that we are taking all the way, and we hope that we’ll come to an amicable settlement one way or the other.

“It’s called legislative diplomacy. If you remember very well, I led the delegation to South Africa during the crisis there with Nigerians and we were able to accomplish quite a bit, to simmer things down at that time.

“No demands; we’re just going to discuss in the spirit of African parliaments and we’ll be looking at issues from time to time as they affect African countries and this is one of them.”

He said Nigeria is looking for amicable solutions, and while the Ghanaians have their take on what’s going on, Nigeria also has its position, and would see how both countries can come to a solution.

“We are two strong West African countries and there must be symbiosis; we must work together. You don’t get anything from working at cross purposes or knocking heads together. We must, at all times, as Africans, work as best as possible together and that’s what this my trip is about,” he added.