The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has conducted surveys in major markets of the Bauchi metropolis to ascertain the cause of the increase in prices of consumer goods.
Speaking during the Council’s visit to Muda Lawal and Railway markets, the Acting Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Adamu Abdullahi, said that the Commission has been engaging in fact-finding interactions with traders’ associations and marketers to identify the factors responsible for the continuous hike in food prices.
According to him, the fact-finding inquiry is an investigative mission to gather information directly from the sources and stakeholders in major markets, particularly executives, market unions, sellers, and consumers.
Some of the traders who spoke attributed the problem to hoarders who engage in mopping up grains.
The Chairman of Traders at Muda Lawal market, Mikail Abubakar Garba, said: “The problem of the hike in prices of grains can be attributed to livestock feed millers who mop up grains in trucks from farms.
“They buy in trucks and take them to their stores. In most cases, they buy in large quantities that could last them a year-round. They have access to loans to buy and keep. The competition between animals and human beings is high.
“We call on the government to stop them from that act. They should be forced to go and farm those things. Doing that will reduce pressure on consumer goods.”
Abdullahi, represented by the Northeast Coordinator, Waja Dauda Ahmadu, said that the Commission would compile its report and advise the government on how to address the hike in prices of goods.
He said that the priority of the Commission remains to unlock the markets and address key consumer protection and competition issues affecting the prices of commodities in the food sector.
He said, “FCCPC’s surveillance efforts suggest participants in the food chain and distribution sector, including wholesalers and retailers, are allegedly engaged in conspiracy, price gouging, hoarding, and other unfair tactics to restrict or distort competition in the market, restrict the supply of food, and manipulate and inflate the price of food in an indiscriminate manner.”
The team monitored different shops at the popular Muda Lawal and Railway Station markets in Bauchi metropolis.
