In a bid to stem sharp practices and bring down the prices of goods,  in the nation’s markets, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has commenced consultations with stakeholders in the nation’s market space.

 

At  a ‘One-Day Stakeholders’ Engagement On Exploitative Pricing’ organised by the commission in Lagos, recently, its Executive Vice Chairman, Tunji Bello,  explained that the engagement had become imperative, going by the continued rise in the prices of goods and services.

 

Though, the Commission’s mandate is not to regulate prices, he stated,  recent investigations carried out in the nation’s markets, according to him, revealed that the development might not be unconnected with the sharp and unethical practices going on with the ranks and files of some market hierarchy in the state.

 

Some of such practices, the FCCPC boss stated, were price fixing, price gouging, and arbitrary levies on traders by market leaderships.

 

Bello, while engaging the stakeholders, led by the Iyaloja General, Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, added that the continued rise in the prices of goods and services remains a source of concern to the government.

According to him, the engagement with the stakeholders, comprising captains of large/small-scale industries, leaders of market associations, transport operators and service providers, was aimed at soliciting for their support, as the commission intensified its war against price-fixing, gouging and unethical market practices.

“We discovered that some traders form cartels in the markets and put barriers in 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,” he stated.

 

A representative of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Princess Olaoti Shodiya Ade, also traced the root cause of the exorbitant prices of goods in the nation’s markets to greed, on the part of the traders and market leaders.

 

“I think it’s high time stakeholders shelved  their  ‘coat of greed’, to effectively check the rising food and commodities prices,” she added.

Princess Shodiya  stated that  different levies are imposed on traders, by some market leaders, before allowing them to sell their wares.

 

She, therefore, attributed the rising costs of goods in the market to the unwholesome market practices; since traders being made to pay such levies would be left with no choice than passing them on to the consuming public.

 

The AFAN representative use the opportunity to make a passionate appeal to the Iyaloja General to carry out some discreet investigations, regarding the claim, with the aim of the correcting the anomalies, and, if possible, bring those found culpable to justice.

Princess Shodiya’s comments were not without some sparks and spats from some of the traders and market leaders at the engagement.

 

Mrs. Abimbola Jinadu, a market leader in the state, faulted the Princess’ claims, adding that the latest development in the market should rather be attributed to the deplorable state of the nation’s roads and the multiple levies  being imposed on traders by some agents of the Nigerian state.

 

She denied the allegations of price fixing and unwholesome practices, levelled against the market leaders by the representative of AFAN, insisting that levies paid by traders are paltry, and are designed  for the maintenance of the markets.

 

The Director General,  National Association of Chambers of Commerce , Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, Dr. Olushola Obadimu,  would not be left out of the animated discourse. He would rather attribute the development to the unpredictability of the nation’s business environment, which, he claimed, had continued to shake members’ confidence.

“Our members’ major concern is the likelihood of not meeting commodity at the price they last  bought it,  when next they go to the market. But we believe if the economy stabilises, we’ll come back to live our normal lives, and other things will stabilize, too,” he stated.

Rather than trade words or heap blames on any individual or group, the Iyaloja General, Mrs. Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, preferred to be conciliatory. She appealed  to the traders to join hands with the federal government in its task of crashing prices of goods and services, by  making  their profit-margins as minimal as possible.  They should also steer from the temptation of taking  advantage of  the consumers at these trying economic times, she added.

The Iyaloja General also appealed to the commission to organise another stakeholder’s engagement that would comprise not only manufacturers and traders, but the police, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), men of the customs services, and even local government officials, and others, to enable the commission find a lasting solution to the challenge.