Hoarders of grains have been identified as a major contributor to food inflation presently plaguing the country.
This was the submission of Mr. Tunji Bello, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Commission (FCCPC), on Wednesday, during a townhall meeting with industry captains, MSMEs, market leaders, farmers, transporters and service providers in Kano.
Addressing a packed hall at the Afficent Centre, the FCCPC boss stated that the commission’s investigators discovered that some unscrupulous produce merchants were mopping up newly harvested grains and stashing them in warehouses to create artificial scarcity, thereby worsening the food inflation being experienced in the country.
“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 the farmers or the markets and smuggling them across the borders to sell at premium, thereby endangering our national food security,” he said.
The Wednesday event was sequel to the interactive sessions earlier hosted in Abuja and Lagos by FCCPC for stakeholders in the production and distribution chain in its renewed advocacy to curb anti-consumer practices across the country.
Bello solicited the cooperation of the Kano stakeholders to curb the unwholesome practice in the national interest.
“Don’t get us wrong; we are by no means saying everyone is guilty here. We only have 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 definitely usher a better economy for us tomorrow,” he added.
The FCCPC boss also listed price fixing and creation of artificial barriers in form of entrance levy by market associations among other unethical practices.
Though the FCCP Act prescribes stiff penalties ranging from heavy fine to jail terms for offenders, Bello told the Kano stakeholders that the Commission chose to first explore the option of dialogue in the “spirit of democracy”.
Listing the gains of earlier engagements hosted by FCCPC in Abuja and Lagos, Bello noted that President Tinubu had already responded to some of the popular yearnings in form of new policies, pledging he would similarly convey the views of the Kano stakeholders to the appropriate quarters.
“We have a very listening President in the person of his excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He feels for the people and shares their pains and is ever willing to go the extra miles to take measures to cushion the effects of the hardship the ongoing economic reforms may bring,” he said, adding “The Federal Government has also commenced the implementation of zero Value Added Tax (VAT) and excise duties on pharmaceutical products and medical devices. Just as a number of taxes has also been been removed to assist micro, small, medium enterprises as well as taxes being removed from public transportation.”
Bello urged the stakeholders to be patriotic by sharing the gains from the concessions being made by the government with the consumers.
“For instance, when the government assists the operators of public transportation with easy credits to convert their vehicles from petrol to relatively far cheaper CNG, we don’t expect them to charge the same fares as those who buy petrol,” he added.
