NASS wades into Ghana’s ‘racist’ $120 Residency Fee on Nigerians
After two weeks of resurgence of the selective Residency Fee on Nigerians in Ghana which forced a delegation to the National Assembly, the Senate President and chairman of the National Assembly, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has appealed to the Ghanaian Parliament to review the $120 Residency Fee imposed on Nigerians living in Ghana.
Saraki made the appeal when he granted audience to a delegation of Ghanaian parliamentarians, which paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly, Abuja.
It would be recalled that penultimate week, a group of Nigerians resident and doing business in Ghana had visited the lawmakers complaining of special target residency tax imposition on Nigerians only by the Ghanaian government.
The issue had risen about three years ago, when Senator Musiliu Obanikoro was Nigeria’s Ambassador to that country and it was temporarily resolved at diplomatic level.
A statement signed by the Special Assistant to the Senate President on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, quoted the Senate President while responding to comments by the leader of the visiting Parliamentarians, Hon. Alfred Agbesi, as saying: “I am appealing to you my colleagues in the parliament in Ghana on the recent laws passed on Nigerians to pay a residency fee of $120. I am appealing that you review this law and take a second look at it again as things are hard. This recession is biting hard”.
Ghana early this year imposed a fee of $120 on Nigerians and other immigrants that stayed in the country for a total of 90 days or more in a given year and are required by law to register for the Non-citizen Ghana card at the cost of $120.
The Act, which is enshrined under the Foreigners Identification Management System (FIMS), in pursuance of Authority’s mandate under the NIA Act, 2006 (Act 707), the National Identity Register Act, 2008 (Act 750) and the National Identity Regulations, 2012, made it compulsory that the non-citizen Ghana card is the mandatory form of identification to be used in all transactions which includes applying for or renewing residence permits, opening or running a bank account etc.
