Some traders, particularly Ghanaian onion vendors, have been left stuck as a result of the Benin border shutdown.
If the border is not opened quickly, these onion vendors worry that their products would spoil before they can sell them on the Ghanaian market.
Therefore, they pleaded with the Ghanaian government to intervene by starting talks with the Beninese government to reopen the border so that stranded traders may enter Ghana.
The Niger coup has sealed down the border with Benin, leaving the drivers of the onions stuck there for days.
The sellers of roughly 15 trucks of onions expressed concern that the onions might spoil if the President did not get involved by speaking with those in charge at the Benin border.
During an interview on Eyewitness News, the spokesperson for the onion sellers association, Yakubu Akpeneda said, “We have loaded onions from Niger, and they have parked at the Benin border, they are now in Benin, but the border has been locked. They said they locked the border because of the Niger coup. On August 2, they promised to open the border at midnight, but we didn’t hear anything.”
“We are calling on the authorities to intervene in the matter, else the onions will rot if they keep long on the road. The authorities should help us by talking to authorities in Benin to open the border for us to bring our onions to Ghana. Our trucks are plenty, the trucks are more than 15. And they are all carrying onions”.
He suggested that the predicament might have an impact on onion pricing in several markets.