By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Ghana has reopened a minimum of 600 shops and business offices belonging to Nigerian traders after six months of forced closure, ending a standoff that had locked Nigerian merchants out of their livelihoods since December 2019 following a disagreement between traders in the markets.
The development was disclosed on Tuesday, 18 August, 2026 in Abuja by the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders in Ghana, Dr. Ken Ukaoha, during a solidarity visit to the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
Ukaoha said the visit was specifically to commend Dabiri-Erewa for her untiring and unrelenting efforts in resolving the lockdown of Nigerian shops in Ghana, crediting her intervention as central to the eventual reopening of the shops after more than six months of closure.
He stressed that the ECOWAS Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services should be observed in the true spirit of brotherhood and diplomatic reciprocity a principle he said the forced closure of the Nigerian shops had clearly violated.
Ukaoha
Responding, Dabiri-Erewa said the commission’s intervention in securing the reopening of the shops was conducted at the highest level of diplomacy and bilateral relations between Ghana and Nigeria, underscoring the seriousness with which the Nigerian government approached the matter on behalf of its citizens abroad.
She urged Nigerian traders in Ghana to always adhere to the laws of their host nation and to conduct themselves with dignity and respect, counsel she said was essential to maintaining the goodwill necessary to protect Nigerian business interests in the West African country.
