Chamber Of Commerce For Ghana, Nigeria

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Ghana and Nigeria will soon establish a chamber of commerce to serve the business interests of the two countries. The High Commissioner of Nigeria to Ghana, Senator Muhammed Musiliu Obanikoro, announced this when he paid a courtesy call on the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd. (GCGL), Mr Ibrahim Awal.

Senator Obanikoro said discussions between Nigeria and the Ghana High Commission in Nigeria had reached an advanced stage.

He said there would be two launching events to introduce the long overdue Ghana-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce in both countries.

Ghana and Nigeria have many business interests, with Nigerian investments in Ghana leading the foreign direct investment inflows from the West African sub-region.

Business entities from Ghana also see the over 140 million population of Nigeria as a good business opening and have on many occasions taken advantage of it by exporting many items, from industrial goods to artefacts, there.

Senator Obanikoro said the fact that there was a deepening business and trade relationship between Ghana and Nigeria underscored the need for the chamber.

The Nigerian High Commissioner further called on Ghana and Nigeria to speed up the integration of the West African sub-region to make the region an important power bloc.

Senator Obanikoro, whose tenure started in April this year, said it was important for the two countries to focus and build on what their past and present leaders had achieved politically, socially and economically, particularly regional integration, and not allow a few bad nuts to mar the unsung heroism.

He stated that the two countries shared a common economic, political and social history and remained the surest countries to move the regional integration agenda forward for the region to assume its real economic clout.

“We believe in the unity of the sub-region and if it will become a reality Nigeria and Ghana must rise up to make it so,” Senator Obanikoro stated.

He also called for the media's assistance in checking the unscrupulous behaviour of some Nigerian individuals in Ghana that dented the relationship between both countries.

Mr Awal welcomed the idea of a chamber of commerce for the two countries which he said shared a lot of business interests and commonalities.

He intimated that the Graphic Group would next month come out with a business newspaper to respond to the needs of the business community in the West African sub-region.

“We are doing this because the economy of Ghana is expanding and there are a lot of businesses which need such a platform,” he said, adding that the paper would also help to facilitate the integration efforts of the sub-region.

Mr Awal also agreed with the view that the two countries played a lead role in the ECOWAS integration efforts, saying, “We think that integration is indeed key and by your tenure it should be deepened, as you count on the support of the Graphic Group.”

He recounted that to deepen democracy and governance in the West African sub-region, the Graphic Group had been organising the Daily Graphic Governance Dialogue for the region, with the next edition expected to start on August 5, this year.

Mr Breda Atta-Quayson, the First Deputy Editor of the Daily Graphic who was also at the meeting, said the Daily Graphic and its sister publications would always remain professional and cross-check all facts before publication.

He said the paper would also support the Ghana-Nigeria relationship and contact the High Commission regularly for information and verification.

Story by Samuel Doe Ablordeppey