The Executive Vice Chairman, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Tunji Bello, has said that the commission never issued any ultimatum to traders in the country to crash food prices.
Bello made this known while speaking at a One-Day Stakeholders’ Engagement on Exploitative Pricing, held in Lagos on Wednesday. The FCCPC boss stated that, instead, the Commission’s present agenda is to fight price gouging, price fixing and unwholesome practices in the nation’s markets.
He stated that rather than embarking on a plan that is not part of its mission, the commission’s focus is to look at some strong market practices, affecting incessant hike in the prices of goods and commodities, with the aim of tackling 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 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.