A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana has emphasised that the Federal Government has to intervene decisively on behalf of the majority of the people by enforcing price control mechanisms that protect citizens from exploitation as envisaged under the Price Control Act.
In an interview with Channels Television on Tuesday, Falana said that the step was necessary to guarantee that the economy of the country was not concentrated in the hands of a few.
The rights activist was speaking on the background of his recent lawsuit against the Federal Government over failure to control rising prices of essential commodities.
“The Bola Tinubu administration has said that there is food in abundance in Nigeria. I think the Minister of Information made that statement a couple of days ago, but we have a situation where majority of the people cannot afford the prices that have gone to the roof.
“That is why the government has a duty under the Price Control Act to control the price of essential commodities so that Nigerians will not be subjected to hunger unnecessarily.
“It is so bad now that if you pick a food item, if you go back to the market tomorrow, the price has gone up,” Falana said.
He argued that while affluent citizens can cope with spiralling inflation, most ordinary Nigerians have been priced out of accessing basic commodities hence, the urgent need for government’s intervention based on extant laws.
The Senior Advocate also questioned why electricity tariffs, telecom rates and petrol pump price could be moderated via subsidies whilst other essentials like food, medicines and diesel were allowed to rise astronomically, thereby eroding people’s purchasing power.
Falana had approached the court to determine whether by virtue of Section 4 of the Price Control Act., the first respondent is carrying out its duty to impose a price on any goods that are of the kind specified in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act.
On the strength of the suit, the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Federal Government to fix the prices of goods and petroleum products within seven days. https://punchng.com/just-in-court-orders-fg-to-fix-prices-of-goods-in-seven-days/
Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa specifically ordered the government to fix the price of milk, flour, salt, sugar, bicycles, and their spare parts, matches, motorcycles and their spare parts, motor vehicles and their spare parts as well as petroleum products, which includes diesel, Premium Motor Spirit and kerosene.
Falana had dragged the Price Control Board and the Attorney General of the Federation, both of whom are listed as defendants before the court to determine “whether by virtue of Section 4 (1) of the Price Control Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, the first defendant is carrying out its duty to impose a price on any goods that are of the kind specified in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act.
Last week, Vice President Kashim Shettima announced the plan of the present administration to set up a commodity board which will be given the mandate to assess and regulate food prices, as well as maintain a strategic food reserve for stabilising prices of crucial grains and other food items.
“That’s the way to go if the poor in the society are to breathe as the implementation of the reforms embarked upon by the Tinubu administration gathers pace”, he said.
