{"id":47479,"date":"2024-09-06T19:24:28","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T19:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=47479"},"modified":"2024-09-06T19:24:28","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T19:24:28","slug":"were-not-a-price-control-organization-fccpc-boss-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2024\/09\/06\/were-not-a-price-control-organization-fccpc-boss-says\/","title":{"rendered":"We’re Not a Price Control Organization – FCCPC Boss Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tunji Bello, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), emphasized the ongoing efforts of the agency to combat profiteering in Nigerian markets during an interview on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande<\/em> aired on Channels Television<\/em>. Bello stressed the role of the FCCPC in promoting fair competition and protecting consumers, while also addressing the rising trend of price manipulation that has exacerbated the economic hardship facing Nigerians.<\/p>\n

“We are not a price control organization,” Bello clarified. “We cannot control prices, but our goal is to ensure fairness. We are not stopping traders from making profit, we cannot do that. If you want to promote a free market, we cannot control prices. But we are against profiteering, not people making profit.”<\/p>\n

During the interview, Bello highlighted the primary responsibility of the FCCPC, which is to maintain competitive markets and safeguard consumers’ interests. He expressed concern over the manipulation of market prices by certain traders and middlemen who create artificial scarcity to inflate prices, thereby taking advantage of consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is not to control prices but to ensure fairness in the market,\u201d Bello stated, emphasizing that the FCCPC is dedicated to creating a level playing field for businesses while protecting consumers from exploitation.<\/p>\n

Bello disclosed that the FCCPC had conducted a comprehensive survey in major cities across Nigeria, including Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Ibadan, and Oshogbo. The survey revealed troubling practices by some traders, including deliberate restrictions on the supply of goods to create scarcity, which in turn drove up prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese actions are harmful, especially during a time of inflation and economic hardship. We found that some traders were deliberately withholding products from the market to raise prices. This is not just unfair, but illegal under the FCCPC Act,\u201d Bello remarked.<\/p>\n

While the law permits strict penalties for such practices \u2013 including fines of up to 10 million naira and jail terms of up to three months under Section 107 of the FCCPC Act \u2013 Bello explained that the Commission opted for a more collaborative approach initially. Rather than immediately imposing sanctions, the FCCPC organized a stakeholders\u2019 meeting with traders, manufacturers, and middlemen to discuss the survey findings and encourage voluntary compliance.<\/p>\n

“We don\u2019t want to start applying hard measures just yet,\u201d Bello explained. \u201cWe decided to engage with these stakeholders and have an open discussion. We shared the results of our investigation and asked for their cooperation. It\u2019s important to understand that while we cannot control prices, we are determined to ensure fairness. Our main focus is to protect Nigerian consumers, who are already suffering greatly under the current economic conditions.”<\/p>\n

The FCCPC boss stressed that traders were given the opportunity to adjust their practices voluntarily. However, he cautioned that failure to comply would force the Commission to enforce the law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are giving them time to adjust, but profiteering is a dangerous trend that we cannot allow to continue. If we don’t address it now, it will worsen, and the people who are already struggling will suffer even more,\u201d Bello warned.<\/p>\n

Bello revealed that the FCCPC plans to hold additional stakeholder meetings in cities across Nigeria, including Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Oshogbo, Maiduguri, and Makurdi. He emphasized that these meetings are crucial for building local partnerships and ensuring fair market practices. The FCCPC is also working closely with local government authorities and traditional leaders to combat profiteering.<\/p>\n

“In Ife, we worked with the Ooni of Ife and local market leaders to stop some middlemen from manipulating prices. It was successful, and we intend to replicate this model in other markets,\u201d Bello said. He explained that sometimes, \u201csoft power and dialogue are more effective than hard enforcement. We know the country is going through tough times, and we don\u2019t want to start sanctioning people unnecessarily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bello shared a stark example from the FCCPC\u2019s investigation, where a product that initially sold for approximately \u20a6750,000 saw its price inflate to over \u20a6944,000 within a week. The product, which sells for around $89 (about \u20a6140,000) in the United States, was being sold for as much as \u20a61 million in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we confronted the traders, they gave various excuses \u2013 bad roads, inflation, insecurity. But let\u2019s be honest, Nigeria has faced bad roads and insecurity for years, and prices were not this high just a year ago. It\u2019s clear that some are using the current inflation as an excuse to exploit the situation,\u201d Bello said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tunji Bello, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), emphasized the ongoing efforts of the agency to combat profiteering in Nigerian markets during an interview on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande aired on Channels Television. Bello stressed the role of the FCCPC in promoting fair competition and protecting consumers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47479"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47482,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47479\/revisions\/47482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}