The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the alleged clampdown on Nigerians, especially traders in Ghana, even as the rights group has called for the reinventing of Nigeria’s foreign policy with emphasis on the core existential interests of the country and people.
The association also called on the Nigerian government to mandate Ghanaian traders in Nigeria to pay $5 million as licensing fee to continue trading in the country since Nigerian traders in Ghana were asked to pay $1 million.
HURIWA made the call in a press statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the Director, National Media Affairs, Ms. Zainab Yusuf, Monday in Abuja.
The group stated that: “The cases of breaches of both the diplomatic immunities of Nigerian Embassies and the universal human rights of Nigerian traders some of whom have valid papers to live in Ghana is an inconvenient truth to the Nigerian authorities; a phenomenon that reflects how low the country’s image abroad has sunk.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this act of naked aggression of the Ghanaian political authority on Nigeria and charge the Nigerian government to wake up to her responsibility to her citizens by defending them from the unwarranted attacks by the Ghanaian government.
“More so, we demand that Nigeria takes immediate retaliatory action against these evil actions against Nigerians in Ghana by making a law mandating Ghanaian traders in Nigeria to henceforth pay $5 million per trader as licensing fee to continue trading in Nigeria since Nigerian traders in Ghana are asked to pay $1 million.”
According to the rights group, Nigeria needed to be more pro-active in protecting her citizens in foreign jurisprudence, starting with the case in Ghana, by demanding that the Nigerian traders be allowed to legally do their legitimate businesses in Ghana or their citizens in Nigeria would be shown the way out.
“Nigeria’s diplomatic ties with other countries cannot be said to be sound when its citizens abroad, with legitimate rights of residence or visit are gratuitously harassed, killed and their property destroyed.”
The group maintained that: “Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who heads the Diaspora Commission should not pick and choose which set of Nigerians living abroad her commission will speak for on the basis of whether they are Yoruba or Igbo. Her office and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of State must wake up and speak for Nigerians in Ghana.”
