Nigeria operates free market, we can’t regulate price, says FCCPC
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says regulation of goods in the market does not lie within its purview as an agency.
In a statement issued in Abuja, FCCPC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Babatunde Irukera said it was difficult for the commission to regulate prices because the nation operates in a free market.
He however said they have from time to time been able to identify exploitation by sellers and addressed them.
“When the President accepts the recommendation and adopts it, it will be gazetted. It will only be for a limited period of time. Other than that, we don’t regulate price.
“Does that give us the authority to just say this thing is too high; this price is going too high? No, it doesn’t. What is not reasonable is not a subjective thing. It’s based on objective standards,” he stated.
“What is unjust and manifestly so is based on objective standards not arbitrary. And it’s not just a number. That something cost N100,000 doesn’t make it unreasonable or unjust. And our regulatory approach must be methodical, and must be transparent and clear.
“We investigated one popular supermarket and what they had done, a hand sanitiser that was sold for N490 in the morning by noon, the price had increased to N1,400. By 5pm it was N3,400.
“We looked at their inventory, it was showing that they had 45 pieces left, but we couldn’t find it on the shelf or store. They hoarded that for the next day when the prices would keep going up.
“It wasn’t difficult to come to a determination that that was exploitative, manifestly unjust and unreasonable, because there was no rational explanation for that progressive increase.
“You could find a circumstantial evidentiary basis, which is important for controlling COVID-19 and COVID-19 is now in town. So, there’s a method and a matrix to decide whether something is excessive.”
He also stated that the commission was able to compel MultiChoice to introduce a one-year price lock that enabled subscribers to pay the same tariff for one year as long as subscription renewal was made before the due date after they recently increased their tariff.
He added that the company was also made to introduce toll-free customer care lines and allow subscribers to suspend their accounts up to four times a year as against the previous twice per annum.
