Food Prices: FG Raids Markets, Supermarkets In Abuja, Reveals States It Plans On Visiting
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) 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, Adamu Abdullahi said the exercise was carried out in a bid to tackle the high cost of food commodities nationwide.
The Commission also disclosed that it plans on extending it’s operations 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.
Speaking to Punch, 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
Abdullahi vowed to take firm measures against companies caught engaging in unfair market practices like price manipulation, excessive pricing or cartel formation.
Speaking on the ongoing operation, Abdullahi said, “This exercise is in continuation of our efforts to ensure that prices in the market reflect what is displayed. Nowadays, we have found out that there is a lot of pretence in what’s happening especially for markets around the major cities in the country.
“You have seen what we have done earlier with other supermarkets and sealing them but despite these efforts, some supermarkets still engage in this practice. You go to a shelf and the price displayed is different from what appears when you come to pay at the counter.
“That is not acceptable because you are frisking consumers and some of the items don’t have price tags attached to them at all. So, you are at the mercy of whoever is operating the counter. He can input whatever price you want there, and that’s not acceptable. That’s why we’re here so that practice should no longer continue.”
Continuing, he stated, “Yes, this is happening in Abuja in the meantime but the last time we carried out the operation in Port-Harcourt and Lagos. This time around, Kano is on our radar. We would go to Kano, Port-Harcourt again, Lagos, Ibadan, and Kaduna and these are places that we have to check out first and other states would follow.’’
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