An agency of the federal government, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has given traders and other market stakeholders involved in exploitative pricing to crash the prices of goods a one month ultimatum to crash commodity prices.
Executive Vice Chairman of the FCCPC, Mr Tunji Bello, said government will begin enforcement at the end of the ultimatum period.
He stated this at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement on exploitative pricing on Thursday, in Abuja.
Bello said the meeting was to address the growing trend of unreasonable pricing of consumer goods and services and the unwholesome practice of market associations.
He cited n instance of the Commission’s finding that a fruit blender known as Ninja was being sold at a popular supermarket in Texas, United States of America for $89 dollars (N140,000.00) but the same product was displayed for N944,999.00 in a supermarket in Victoria Island, Lagos and wondered the basis for the arbitrary hike in the price of the blender compared to the Texas.
He said the unwholesome practices including price fixing was threatening the stability of the economy and under Section 155, violators whether individuals or corporate entities face severe penalties including substantial fines and imprisonment if found guilty by the court.
Bello said the government was aware of most of the problems raised by the market stakeholders and was committed to addressing them.
Some of the market stakeholders who spoke at the engagement , cited high cost of transportation, insecurity, multiple taxation, high interest rate on loans, high electricity tariff among others, as reasons for the continuous increase in prices of goods and services.
