By Barnabas Esiet.
The Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has expressed concern that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) is overstepping its bounds by focusing too much on price control, rather than its primary function of consumer protection.
The CPPE argues that the FCCPC’s approach is misguided and that it should focus on promoting competition across sectors, rather than trying to control prices.
The CPPE’s Director/CEO, Dr. Muda Yusuf, stated that the commission’s focus on the retail segment of the economy and pricing issues is misplaced, and that it should instead focus on creating a robust competition framework to deepen competition across sectors.
He noted that intense competition makes profiteering difficult and diminishes the chances of exploitation of consumers.
Dr. Yusuf also pointed out that the retail sector is characterized by a multitude of players, making it difficult for profiteering to take place.
He urged the commission to have a proper comprehension of the dynamics of pricing and the key drivers of inflation, including factors such as exchange rate depreciation, high energy costs, and global factors disrupting supply chains.
The CPPE considers the FCCPC’s proposal to traverse markets across the country to ensure price regulation unlikely to yield concrete outcomes, and recommends fixing the fundamentals driving production, operating, and distribution costs that resulted in spiraling inflation in the first place.
The Centre also appealed to the FCCPC to refrain from further intimidation of operators in the retail sector, most of whom are micro and small businesses, and to work in collaboration with other agencies of government to tackle the fundamental causes of inflation in the economy.
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