Onion sellers stranded at Benin over border closure; demand Akufo-Addo’s intervention

Traders of onions have become stranded at the border between Ghana and Benin, and they have appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for assistance in opening the border so that they can cross into Ghana.

As a result of the coup in Niger, the Benin border has been closed, leaving the drivers of the commodity shipments trapped at the border for several days.

The vendors of approximately 15 trucks' worth of onions have voiced their concern that it will rot if the President does not interfere in the situation by having a conversation with the officials at the Benin border.

Onion sellers stranded at Benin over border closure; demand Akufo-Addo’s intervention

During an interview, Yakubu Akpeneda, the spokesperson for the onion sellers association, stated, “We have loaded it from Niger, and they have parked at the Benin border. They are now in Benin, but the border has been locked.”

The statement was made in reference to the fact that the border between the two countries is currently closed. They said that they sealed off the border due to the coup in Niger. They assured us that the border would be open at midnight on August 2nd, but we have not heard anything about it.

We are appealing to the authorities to take action in this situation because, if the commodities are left on the road for too long, they will begin to decay. We should get the authorities' assistance in this matter so that they may talk to their counterparts in Benin about opening the border so that we can carry it into Ghana. There are more than 15 of our trucks in operation at any given time. And each one of them is carrying an onion”.

He suggested that the circumstances would have an impact on the prices of onions sold at the various markets.

The issue is going to have an effect on the cost of the commodity in all of the various markets.