Life of a Nigerian trader badly affected by border closure

Correspondence from Volta Region:

As a measure to prevent the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic which has brought the world onto its knees, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on March 21, 2020, directed the closure of Ghana’s borders with neighboring countries.

However, people who make a living working at the border are badly affected by the closure of the borders as there are no persons crossing and entering either into Ghana or Togo. They are now finding it so hard to survive in this COVID-19 era.

The hardship case is not different from Kelvin, a Nigerian who is based in Ghana and trades around the Ghana-Togo border at Aflao precisely.

Speaking in his native Pidgin to GhanaWeb’s Volta Regional correspondent at the Aflao border, Kelvin narrated how his life has changed since the closure of the border.

According to Kelvin, he now does not eat as he used to. He said he has to depend on his Ghanaian friends for food and even at times has to sleep on an empty stomach if he could not find his friends.

Kelvin also said during the engagement that as hungry as he is, he does not want to engage in any illegal or bad activities that his current situation can force one to think of.

He further pleaded with the government of Ghana to open the border which is believed to be the busiest border in the country for them on humanitarian grounds so that they can start working again in order to live a better life.