The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the federal government to empower the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) with enabling laws to regulate prices of goods and services to check the high cost of living in the country.
It also called on the government to strengthen the agency to, in turn, curtail the excesses of traders and business people who hike prices of goods indiscriminately with the intention of inflicting hardship on the masses.
The chairman, Kwara State Council of the NLC, Comrade Olayinka Murtala, made the call during a press briefing in Ilorin.
Murtala noted that the strengthening of the commission would guard against indiscriminate ways of fixing prices of goods and services, thereby translating to better life for the people who patronize traders and business community for goods and services.
The labour leader who deplored the spate of unemployment, hunger and lingering economic quagmire due to policy inconsistency on monetary regulations, lamented that many parents found it difficult to pay their children tuition fees and fulfill other financial obligations.
On the closure of borders, the NLC chairman recalled that the decision was taken as a result of insecurity but regretted that the measure has ended up compounding the nation’s security challenge.
Murtala urged the federal government to reopen the borders for seamless movement of foodstuff, which he observed, is more cheaper and affordable unlike those sourced locally.
