The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) on Wednesday commended Nigeria government for allowing their products into the country for the Lagos International Trade Fair.

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, Mr Samuel Dentu, gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair.

The Ghanaian official said that Nigeria border closure almost caused difficulties in bringing exhibition products to the fair but for the timely intervention by relevant Federal Government authorities.

“As a fall out of what is happening with the border closure, we had a bit of issues getting the products coming here for exhibition but we worked with the Nigeria customs and our embassy in Lagos and we were able to get to the fair.

“Nigerian Government has helped us by taking Ghanaians to border to negotiate and our goods were released, this shows that the Government of Nigeria has been magnanimous enough to help us so far.

“We have been working with authorities here to make sure that we don’t suffer collateral damage as far as the closure is concerned.

“We eventually pulled through it because of the cordial relationship that we had with Nigeria authorities,” he said.

Dentu said that Ghanaians preferred to exhibit their products in Nigeria because of the similarity in language and products and, above all, the brotherly relationship.

“We know there are trade barriers, but that doesn’t stop the smooth relationship between both countries,” the Ghanaian official said.

NAN reports that 37 Ghanaian companies are participating in the Lagos International Trade Fair holding between Nov. 1 and Nov. 10.

A total of 29 Ghanaian companies exhibited their goods at the fair in 2018.