President of the Senate, Senator Olubukola Saraki, has appealed to the Ghanaian Parliament to review the $120 Residency Fee imposed on Nigerians living in Ghana, The Guardian reports.
Saraki, while responding to comments by the leader of the Ghanaian delegation, Hon. Alfred Agbesi, said, “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.”
A statement by the Special Assistant to the Senate President on Print Media, Mr. Chuks Okocha, said Ghana had earlier in the year imposed a fee of $120 on Nigerians and other immigrants living in the country for a total of 90 days or more in a given year and were required by law to register for the Non-Citizen Ghana Card at the cost of $120 (N19,000).
The Act, which is enshrined under the Foreigners Identification Management System pursuant to 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, including application for or renewal of residence permits, opening or running of bank account, etc.
Saraki also commended the Ghanaian Parliament for supporting Nigeria to emerge as the Vice President for the West African Region in the just concluded Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in Geneva.
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