FCCPC Clarifies: No Ultimatum Issued to Traders to Crash Prices.

Written on 12/09/2024
Tribune Online

The Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Tunji Bello, has clarified that the Commission did not issue any ultimatum to traders to reduce prices, as was recently reported.

Speaking at a One-Day Stakeholders’ Engagement on Exploitative Pricing in Lagos on Wednesday, Bello emphasized that the FCCPC's current focus is on addressing price gouging, price fixing, and other unwholesome practices within Nigeria's markets.



He stated that rather than take a task that is not part of its mandate, the commission’s focus is to look at some sharp market practices, causing incessant hikes in the prices of goods and commodities, to tackle them.

Bello explained that the decision to organize the stakeholders’ engagement with market women, traders, and others, was part of the agency’s attempt at finding a lasting solution to the issue of exorbitant prices in the market.

“We discovered that some traders form cartels in the markets and put barriers in the form of ridiculous membership fees intended to ensure price fixing in the market. Without joining them, they won’t allow anyone to sell goods in the market or provide services. Such practices are against the law and constitute some of the offenses the Commission is against.

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