According to the Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Commission (FCCPC), the ‘Unscrupulous actors’ in the country are the major contributors to food inflation in the country.
They outlined other causesto include price fixing by bad eggs and entrance levies imposed by market associations.
FCCPC Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer Tunji Bello said with time, ’all the bad eggs’ engaged in hoarding, artificial market creation, price fixing, and gouging, would be checked by the government.
Bello added that “unethical practices” remained offences punishable under sections 18(3)(c), 62,63,66(1),108 of the FCCP Act 2018.
He spoke during a town hall meeting with industry captains, Micro, small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), market leaders, farmers, transporters, and service providers in Kano.
Noting that the Act prescribes stiff penalties ranging from heavy fines to jail terms for offenders, he told the stakeholders that the commission chose to, first, explore the option of dialogue in the “spirit of democracy.”
Bello explained that FCCP investigators found out that the unscrupulous produce merchants were in the habit of mopping up and hoarding newly harvested grains from farms and markets, thereby ‘’endangering our national food security.’’
His words: “Without caring for the consequences of their action on fellow countrymen and women, some of these unscrupulous actors go as far as taking some of the food items they had mopped up from farmers or the markets and smuggle them across the borders to sell at a premium.
“Don’t get us wrong; we are by no means saying everyone is guilty here. We only have a few bad eggs involved in such unethical practices. It is therefore our collective responsibility to work together to achieve reasonable pricing of goods and services, especially at a time the country is undergoing bold economic reforms which may bring temporary discomfort today but will usher a better economy for us tomorrow.”
Bello consequently solicited the support of the Kano State stakeholders to curb the unwholesome practice in the national interest.
