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FG moves to break unfair monopolies, business practices

By BusinessNews Staff on July 19, 2014

The Federal Government has unveiled plans to formulate a policy that will help to encourage competition in the domestic market as well as maximise consumer welfare

A draft copy of the National Competitive and Consumer Protection Policy was presented to stakeholders in Abuja on Thursday.

In the draft policy, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, the Federal Government plans to establish a Competition and Consumer Protection Authority as an independent body that will be responsible for the implementation of the provisions of the proposed competition and consumer protection legislation.

The draft policy also proposes the setting up of a competition and consumer protection tribunal to adjudicate over conducts and disputes arising from the consumer protection legislation.

Speaking at the presentation of the draft document, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, said the policy was in line with global trends.

The minister said the new policy would encourage enterprise, innovation, efficiency and widening of choice for consumers.

This, according to him, will help address cartel-like entities, anti-competition tendencies, protect the investing public and consumers, enable consumers to buy the goods and services they want at the best possible prices, and contribute to the nation’s national competitiveness.

Aganga said that Nigeria was one of the very few countries that did not have a robust legal and regulatory framework to govern consumer protection and competition.

He said since the Federal Government had begun a comprehensive reform of the country’s investment and industrial environment, there was a need to have a robust framework that would underpin these reforms.

The minister said, “The government of President Goodluck Jonathan, in realisation of this vital missing link, has, in the last two years, worked assiduously to produce new legal and regulatory framework for competition and consumer protection.

“Mindful of the need to chart a coherent policy direction that will guide any future direction and legislative initiatives in the sector, and conscious of the need to make the reforms sustainable, there is a need to spell out a policy framework that will regulate consumer protection and competition matters in Nigeria.

“Towards this, the ministry has prepared the draft national policy on competition and consumer protection.”

Also speaking, the Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, said the buy-in from the stakeholders would help the agency come up with a document that would stand the test of time.

She said since Nigeria had emerged as the largest economy in Africa following the rebasing of its Gross Domestic Product, there was a need to come up with the policy in order to effectively regulate the investments climate.

[Punch]

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