FG Enforces prices in Abuja supermarkets, plans Lagos, P’Harcourt visits
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission on Thursday carried out an enforcement raid at two supermarkets in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to ensure adherence to price display and quantity regulations.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr Adamu Abdullahi, said the exercise targeted at reducing the high cost of food commodities nationwide, would be extended to Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Kaduna and other cities in the coming weeks.
Abdullahi said unannounced inspections would be carried out at stores and open markets across different states as part of measures to control the abnormal price surges which had failed to respond to the appreciation of the naira in recent weeks.
The FCCPC boss further disclosed plans to raid some open major markets on Friday (today) in the FCT to checkmate the arbitrary increase in prices of consumables by traders.
During the exercise that lasted several hours, the FCCPC sealed 4U Supermarket and evacuated 33 bags of suspected fake stallion and caprice rice filled with weevils from one of the branches of the same supermarket located at 58 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II.
Earlier on Thursday, the commission had ordered its operatives to intensify monitoring of both formal and informal markets to identify businesses engaged in unnecessary inflation of prices for required enforcement action.
The move was in direct response to concerns raised by consumers about the rising costs of goods, which go against the appreciation of the naira.
Food inflation has been a recurring issue influencing the steady increase of Nigeria’s headline inflation of 33.2 per cent, and an unprecedented food inflation rate of 40 per cent in March 2024.
The situation was exacerbated by the extensive fall of the naira against the dollar in January and February leading to the soaring prices of essential goods and services, raising the cost of living to an all-time high.
Although the Presidency had vowed to continue its campaign against racketeers, urging Nigerians to expect a stronger naira, a significant drop in the prices of essential commodities has been elusive.
In a statement on Thursday, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed that President Bola Tinubu had directed consumer protection agencies to ensure that the local prices reflect the rising value of the naira.
“But there is still much work to be done and this is not a time for celebration. It is a time for doubling down and working harder to ensure that inflation is sustainably brought down in short order.
“Consumer protecting regulatory agencies must step up enforcement to ensure that our people are not short-changed by enterprises that fail to reflect the prevailing exchange rates on the pricing of goods and services across the board.
“As our private and publicly-owned refineries resume operations between now and the first quarter of 2025, the nation’s cash position will dramatically improve to the extent that Nigerians can rightly expect a stronger Naira and a fair reflection of its strength in the prices of commodities in the market place,” said Ngelale.
We do everything possible to supply quality news and information to all our valuable readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this. Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
