The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has said that it has never considered price-fixing as an option in its effort to clamp down on businesses with exploitative prices.
The comments came days after the FCCPC gave traders one-month moratorium to crash the price of their goods.
When the FCCPC issued the warning, the Organised Private Sector including the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) and the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) condemned the move and accused it of acting outside its mandate.
But the CPPE said its view is that the proposal by the FCCPC to traverse markets across the country with objective of ensuring price regulation is unlikely to yield concrete outcomes.
“This is not a sustainable strategy. CPPE appeals to the FCCPC to refrain from further intimidation of the operators in the retail sector of the economy most of whom are micro and small businesses, with many in the informal sector,” CPPE added.
Similarly, NECA Director-General, NECA, Adewale Oyerinde had said the market should be allowed to regulate itself within the boundaries of fair competition.
Reacting to the comments, FCCPC said it appreciates the feedback provided by the Organised Private Sector and other interested parties regarding its recent directive to businesses to cease price gouging, price fixing, and other exploitative practices.
The Commission explained that price gouging is an unfair practice that takes advantage of crises or economic hardships to inflate prices arbitrarily, while price fixing occurs when competitors or market associations, without their own products, collude to set prices.
The commission said, “We categorically assert that prices in a competitive marketplace are determined solely by the forces of supply and demand. Price control is entirely outside the scope of our responsibilities.
“We have never considered, nor will we ever consider, intervening in the market to regulate prices. Any claims to the contrary are baseless.
“Our recent directives are not about controlling prices but are focused on curbing exploitative practices and anti-competitive behaviours that distort the marketplace and harm consumers.
“Discoveries made during our market surveillance and a recent disclosure by Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman of BUA Cement, underscore the critical need for our oversight. Mr. Rabiu revealed that despite BUA Cement’s effort to sell cement at a fair price of N3,500 per bag, their plan was undermined by dealers who inflated prices to as much as N7,000 to N8,000 per bag.
“This situation exemplifies the kind of exploitative conduct that the FCCPC is committed to addressing. Such practices make it difficult for ethical businesses to thrive.”