High Food Prices: Vulnerables Exploiting Vulnerables, Says FCCPC

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Agency (FCCPC) has said that one of the major causes of food crises in Nigeria was the fact that the vulnerable citizens were exploiting each other simply because some market men and women are not considerate when it comes pricing.

Speaking during a multi-stakeholder workshop on fair food prices in collaboration with Consumers International recently in Lagos, the Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, disclosed that the topic was very important because even the President recently declared a state of emergency on food security.

According to him, while It’s a known fact that, climate change and the war between Russia and Ukraine have caused serious problems to global food production, factors in the value chain were even a bigger issue.

He noted that both farmers and consumers in Nigeria are poor, which shows that something was actually wrong.

The FCCPC boss further disclosed that, they understand the position of the trade associations in Nigeria which is to promote commerce and not to destroy it, stressing that trade associations in Nigeria have formed a cartel where in most cases they fix prices which they do not have the legal right to do.

He said the legislation instruments to checkmate this abnormality exist, but, why they have not been achieving results to that effect could be lack of strategy which the regulators with the support of the consumers must achieve.

On her part, Miss Davine Minayo, Project Specialist, Consumers International said; “Every four years Consumers International’s Global Congress brings together the consumer movement and leading cross-sector influencers to tackle pressing issues impacting consumers worldwide.”

According to her, fair food pricing is a Consumers International project that’s going on across the continents of the world with the objective of knowing what government is doing to protect Consumers from exploitation.

Also, speaking at the event, representative of traders association of Nigeria, Ayo Abiola, who is the Managing Director of Burke Frazier Consulting Firm Ltd, said that, it’s a shame that prices of goods are going down across the world while it’s not the same in Nigeria.

Abiola, who was a member of the panel discussion, disagreed that traders were not responsible for food crisis in Nigeria, adding that, miscreants on the roads, multiple taxations among other factors are responsible for the hike in prices of commodities in the country.

Explaining further, he said when traders move from the North to the South, they also come across miscreants and government agencies who ask them for money, and because traders are in business to make profit, they will transfer the burden to the final consumer.

While proferring solution to the problem, Professor Chiso Ndukwe Okafor, Executive Director, Consumer Advocacy and Empowerment Found (CADEF) said that, one of the ways of solving this problem is turning your backyard to farm so that so many people will be involved in food production.

According to her, government must create a system that work by improving the educational sector and strengthening synergy between the educational sector and other institutions.

On her part, Nimatullah Suleiman Braimah, Principal Scientific Officer, FCCPC stressed that one of the ways to solve the problem is to do more studies, analyse market patterns with a view of doing away with unfair practices.

“We need Intel, we also need to collaborate with one another. Also, because the cartel is a strong one, we need evidence based information and suppurt from government and citizens, ” she added.