THE Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued a one-month ultimatum to traders across Nigeria to reduce the prices of goods.
At a stakeholders’ meeting on exploitative pricing held in Abuja on Thursday, August 29, FCCPC’s vice chairman, Tunji Bello, declared that the commission would begin enforcement at the end of the ultimatum.
He noted that the price margin of imported goods is excessively inflated, citing an instance of the price of a blender in Texas and the inflated amount in a Lagos supermarket.
“We have observed, for instance, that the margin in the prices of imported goods is very disproportionate in many cases; and in the case of locally produced goods, excessively inflated.
“This is an untenable situation, particularly in the retail segment, where we have identified patterns of price fixing perpetrated by some market associations, price gouging, and other anti-consumer practices. For instance, our check just two days ago at a popular supermarket chain in Texas, United States, revealed that a fruit blender called Ninja is displayed on the shelf at $89 (roughly N140,000). Just two days ago.
“Meanwhile, the same product was displayed at a popular supermarket on Victoria Island in Lagos for N944,999 on the same day and at the same hour. This represents more than 500 per cent inflation of the cost,” he said.
After citing several other examples from discoveries made following the FCCPC’s investigations in major cities including, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt and Lagos, Bello stated that the organisation realised that the prices were arbitrarily jacked up from time to time without any justifiable reason.
He added that such price fixing would no longer be condoned and the commission, moving forward, would crack down on those involved in this profiteering scheme.
In February, The ICIR reported how the FCCPC sealed off the popular Sahad store in the Garki area of Abuja after the supermarket’s management was accused of overcharging customers by implementing prices different from those listed on the shelf tags.