The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has ramped up its monitoring of markets throughout Lagos, urging merchants to place an finish to cost inflation and cease endangering customers with faux or unsafe items.
At a Market Engagement Forum in Lagos, Mr Tunji Bello, the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, issued a direct warning to companies.
Represented by Mrs Bridget Etim, Principal Consumer and Business Education Officer, FCCPC, he reminded all merchants large or small that they have to adjust to the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, FCCPA, 2018.
While talking on the result of the Commission’s latest enforcement drives, Bello pointed to troubling discoveries, together with expired rice re-bagged and marketed as top-quality merchandise at Daleko Market. He described these as “wrong and illegal” practices, highlighting how they pose critical well being dangers and tarnish the popularity of merchants who run trustworthy companies.
FCCPC groups additionally visited different main buying and selling centres, together with Mile 12 and Alaba markets.
At Mile 12, the Commission uncovered a sample of tampered scales, underweight meals objects, and doable price-fixing involving key staples equivalent to rice, pepper, and yam.
At Alaba International Market, which serves as a hub for electronics, the company targeted on the sale of counterfeit home equipment, falsely labeled “Tokunbo” merchandise, in addition to faux guarantee gives and coordinated pricing of units like telephones, televisions, and mills.
“These are not minor issues. They affect household income, endanger consumer safety, and erode public trust,” Bello mentioned. “They violate key provisions of the FCCPA 2018, which prohibit deceptive practices and unfair pricing.”
He emphasised that these acts not solely distort the market but in addition create an uneven enjoying area that places moral merchants at an obstacle.
Bello acknowledged the realities of inflation and operational prices however reiterated that they can’t justify dishonest behaviour.
He mentioned the FCCPC stays dedicated to its twin accountability, defending shopper rights and voicing the issues of law-abiding companies.
He inspired market leaders to cooperate with the Commission in constructing a clear buying and selling surroundings the place customers should not exploited.
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He added that merchants ought to undertake honest practices, reply to buyer suggestions, and deal in truth always.
According to him, FCCPC is optimistic that this renewed engagement will result in a shared imaginative and prescient with market associations to eradicate all types of abusive and misleading practices.
Also talking on the Mile 12 occasion, Alhaji Shehu Jibril, Chairman of Mile 12 Market, referred to as consideration to the specter of insecurity confronted by farmers.
He mentioned, “Farmer security is critical for national food security and for them to be able to cultivate and harvest without facing ransom threats.”
He urged the federal government to assist using Compressed Natural Gas vans strictly for transporting perishable meals, warning that sharing vans for each chemical substances and meals is harmful.
Jibril additional raised issues about excessive transportation prices, saying, “The excessive cost of over N150,000 to transport goods from Kano to Lagos, driven by multiple taxes, severely impedes the movement of goods.”
He referred to as on the federal government to supply {financial} assist to struggling market merchants, particularly these in Mile 12, stressing that a lot of them lack capital and require assist to take care of a gradual meals provide.
