Members of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, expressed support for the introduction of stiffer penalties for unfair trade practices on essential commodities in Nigeria.
The lawmakers expressed the support during the debate on the proposed amendment to the ‘Price Control Act, Cap. P28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004′ which provides for stiffer penalties and make better provisions for the implementation of the price control regime in Nigeria; and for related matters’, as sponsored by Hon Taiwo Oluga.
In her lead debate, Hon Oluga underscored the need for government to check the worrisome increase in the prices of commodities, through effective monetary policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and legislative intervention.
She noted that the 1977 Price Control Act contains certain provisions that are not in tandem with current realities, hence the need for the proposed upward review of the bill for efficiency and for deterrence.
Hon Oluga further explained that the bill seeks to reconstitute the Price Control Board for greater efficiency and adequate representation of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria in the membership of its board.
According to the lawmaker, “Nigeria has a Price Control Act that was enacted in 1977 and it still remains part of our laws. The law was enacted to ensure that citizens of our great country are not unnecessary exploited in the quest to purchase basic and essential commodities. The essence of the law was to control artificial scarcity and arbitrary increase in the price of basic commodities consumed by households.
“Nigeria’s annual inflation rate increased to 11.61 per cent in October 2019 from 11.24 per cent in the previous month, reaching the highest since May of 2018. Prices rose mainly for food due to the ongoing closure of the country’s land borders and the impact of unusual heavy rainfall on harvest. Hoarding of household consumables and food items‘ and price manipulations are also causes of increase in inflation.
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“The Bill seeks to amend the fines and penalties for offences prescribed under the Act many of them are around N2,000 i.e for selling above controlled price as contained in Section ‘6, 7,8,10,12, 13, 17 of the Act and this Bill seeks to review them upwards for more efficiency and for deterrence.
“Also there have been lot of changes in Nigeria since 1977; the Federal Ministry of Commerce is now the Federal Ministry of Trade and investment. This needs to be reflected in the Act hence one of the objectives of this bill,” she said.
She, however, proposed that “since section 6 of the Act which deals with prohibition of sale above the controlled price is amended by first increasing the penalty for the offence, this is to ensure deterrence.
“Also Section 6(2b) and 6(3), provides that any person who sells above the controlled price or agrees to sell or offers to sell above the control price shall be guilty of an offence and the stock or goods shall be forfeited, sold anf proceeds paid to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government.
“This should be amended to avoid double jeopardy since the offender has already been punished under section 6(2a) of the Principal Act, the amount sold in excess of the controlled price alone should be what should be forfeited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund and nothing else and section 6(3) of the Principal Act be deleted.
“This is contained in 12 of the bill. Also, section 6(5) makes an employer totally liable for all acts committed by his employee/agent for selling controlled commodities above the regulated price. The scope of the extant provision is too wide and it makes a principal liable for the wrongdoing of his agent,” Hon Oluga noted.
After the debate on the bill, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, who presided over the session, referred the bill to the House Committee on Commerce for further legislative action.