The woman looked askance as she was told the latest prices of the food items she had come to the market to buy. ‘Everything too cost’, she moaned. Another woman haggling with the next seller interjected: ‘Nor be say dem too cost; na every day dem price too dey go up’. ‘Every day, ke? Na every minute’, the seller herself volunteered. She explained that she bought some stuff very early that day in the village market before one of her customers called her on the phone to place an order that necessitated her going back to the seller to buy more of the same item. Within a space of under one hour, she said prices had changed. ‘Na so the thing be nowadays’.
As the distraught woman stood there struggling to decide whether to buy or not, the seller counselled her: ‘You better buy wetin you wan buy. By the time you waka up and down and come back, price fit don change’. It is as bad as that these days!
I visit the market once in a while to update myself with what the town is talking, as they say. I get story ideas each time I do. I also come back with a better understanding of what my wife goes through week after week. I used to angrily ask her what she was doing with her salary each time she asked for additional money for house-keeping. I used to say when a man has paid school fees, house and office rents; hostel accommodation for the children plus their feeding and other allowances, and as a pastor he has a church and congregations to cater to, among others, he should be given a respite from “pepper and onion money” – but not any longer! The little, little things of old now gulp a lot of money.
I wonder how the average Nigerian survives with the hyper-inflation that walks naked all around town. I can tell you that the market is not smiling! Go there with a bagful of Naira; you will only return with “tasere” items that cannot fill a nylon bag. The supermarkets, where you cannot haggle prices, are worse.
In the face of skyrocketing prices of everything, money-making opportunities are in recession. The hardest hit are the poor and middle class. The poor have sunk deeper into poverty and many are now desperately and multi-dimensionally poor. The opportunity for children of the poor to escape poverty and try to drag their parents and family along gets slimmer by the day. The middle class, that mainstay of every egalitarian society and bulwark against totalitarianism, has virtually disappeared.
Today, you are either rich or poor. The remnants of the middle class struggling to keep their head above water have little strength left in their stomach to fight their oppressors. The field is, therefore, left wide open for the powerful to ride roughshod over the people, enlarging their coast in the process while the little space left to the masses shrink by the day.
Jimmy Cliff in Remake the World (1976) aptly described it as too little people getting everything while too many people get nothing. The gulf between the haves and have-nots, which moved Cliff to pity some 50 years ago, is a child’s play compared to what the situation is today.
Until lately, I never knew there was anything called the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), a Federal Government agency whose responsibility is to “protect consumers and promote fair markets”. There are hundreds of Federal Government agencies sitting quietly in their little corners drawing billions of Naira in budgetary allocations but adding little or no value to anyone, except themselves. Mercifully, Tunji Bello, the new helmsman at the FCCPC, lawyer and seasoned media person, has hit the ground running. Recently, he rescued Nigerians from the grand design of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to fleece them to the tune of hundreds of thousands of Naira in new meter procurement and installation scam..
The crescendo of popular cries against escalating foodstuff prices also got the attention of the FCCPC, which warned market men and women to scale down prices or face sanctions. Compliance was lukewarm and short lived. Not much was heard again about the matter after the wind had blown over it. That is understandable. You cannot control what you do not produce. The law of supply and demand will trump any kneejerk price control mechanism, no matter how well-intentioned.
We have to ramp up production. We also have to massively mobilize the masses behind moves championed by the FCCPC to checkmate the shylock business men and women making humongous profits at the expense of hapless Nigerians. The success recorded when the FCCPC stood against the attempt by the PHCN to pile more misery upon NIgerians when it directed them to purchase and install new meters shows that the battle “to protect consumers and promote fair markets” can be won and life can be made more livable for the people.
Mercifully, a Federal High Court judgement has empowered the FCCPC in this regard. A news medium reported the matter thus:
“The Federal High Court in Lagos has affirmed that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has (the) power to regulate competition and consumer protection in all sectors of the Nigerian economy, including telecommunications. The presiding judge, Justice F.N. Ogazi, in his judgement said the FCCPC has the constitutional mandate and the primary authority to prevent anti-competition practices and protect Nigerian consumers. The judge said this is in line with Sections 17 and 18 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018.
“The case, instituted by Emeka Nnubia, a shareholder of MTN and a legal practitioner, is seeking to halt the FCCPC’s investigation into MTN Nigeria. Nnubia argued that the FCCPC’s inquiry could violate data protection laws, insisting that regulatory powers over MTN resided with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and not FCCPC. However, in his ruling, Justice Ogazi clarified that Section 90 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, which granted NCC jurisdiction over competition matters within the telecom industry, must be read alongside Section 104 of the FCCPA 2018, which established FCCPC as the primary regulatory authority on competition and consumer protection in all sectors.
“According to the judge, the FCCPA, being the later legislation, superseded conflicting provisions of the NCA 2003 to the extent that they sought to exclude FCCPC’s oversight in the telecommunications industry. The court further said the NCC did not have exclusive competition regulation authority in telecommunications, adding that both NCC and FCCPC have concurrent jurisdiction, ensuring a coordinated approach to fair competition and consumer welfare in the telecom industry.
“A statement by the Director, Corporate Affairs, FCCPC, Ondaje Ijagwu, stated that the ruling insisted that Section 105 of FCCPA 2018 provided for collaboration between FCCPC and sector regulators, including NCC. According to the statement, this aligned with global best practices where consumer protection regulators collaborate with industry-specific regulators.
“The ruling also reaffirmed FCCPC’s paramount authority in competition and consumer protection matters while also recognising the role of NCC in regulating telecommunications operations. The judge stated that entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with sector regulators was not a condition precedent for FCCPC’s enforcement of its statutory functions. He maintained that it was the obligation of sector regulators to engage with FCCPC to define working arrangements, not the other way round.
“Consequently, the court ruled that FCCPC acted within its statutory powers in issuing summons to MTN Nigeria as part of its ongoing inquiry into potential anti-competitive practices. It insisted that the summons and request by the commission was found to be lawful and within the scope of FCCPC’s investigative powers. The court also held that the commission’s request for information from MTN did not violate any data protection laws, including the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and the NCA 2003. It stated that no personal data was requested, and MTN’s obligation to disclose information in the public interest is a legitimate basis for compliance with FCCPC’s inquiry.
“The court, however, commended the excellence of legal arguments presented in the matter, rejecting any attempt to restrain a regulatory authority from exercising its statutory functions. The court ruled that preventing a regulator from discharging its duties violated the doctrine of separation of powers enshrined in the constitution. The court recognised that the case raised important questions regarding the evolving landscape of competition and consumer protection law in Nigeria, and declined to award costs due to the public interest significance of the case”.
So, what else are they still waiting for at the FCCPC? Labour, civil society and the media should mobilise the citizenry to rally round the commission and fight the pervasive sharp practices of shylocks both in the public and private sectors of the economy that are compounding the woes of hapless Nigerians.
Former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of the Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Bolawole writes the On the Lord’s Day and Treasurers columns. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television. He can be reached on +234 807 552 5533 or by email: turnpotpot @gmail.com
