Will a price control board stem the rise in food prices in Nigeria?

By Ganiyu Obaaro
Nigeria is currently suffocating under myriads of challenges facing it. From micro/ macro economic challenges, such as hyper inflation, high interest rate on loans, to the collapse of infrastructure, the country is no.longer a beautiful bride for any investor, local and foreign.
Therefore, a time like this in the development of a country like ours, requires a holistic approach to wrestle it from its self-inflicted grinding poverty and impending total collapse.
From manufactured concerns to agricultural produce and even corporate services, prices of these products/ services are never stable. This situation has made financial planning highly challenging, while customers continue to be at the mercy of businessmen. Price control is the process by which the government or its agency fixes the price of essential commodities using the instrumentality of the law to fix the prices.
In Nigeria, there once existed a price control board, which managed the prices of goods and services. The objectives of the institution then were to prevent hoarding/ shortage of goods, stimulate demand, prevent queues for goods and black marketeers. This, a new price control board, when established, according to analysts, would prevent undue exploitation of consumers as against the current situation we are in now; control profits and prevent fluctuations in prices of goods, particularly agricultural produce like cocoa, beans, banana and plantain.
Investigations revealed that for years, Nigeria had been boxed into a tight corner due to unstable prices, high inflation and others. For example, a petty trader is confronted daily by high products’ prices, leaving him/her with barely little profit to survive. Indeed, market surveys of manufactures like milk, beer, rice, vegetable products and electronics, indicate that consumers are not helped by unstable prices they face.
Unlike Britain and some other developed countries where stable prices of goods and services are experienced, the situation in Nigeria, is awful. For example, last month a 25 kg bag of foreign rice previously sold for N35, 000 , now goes for between N40-N45, 000. Also, a larger beer, such as a big stout, now goes for between N900-N1000 per bottle at the retail price.
It is even worse in the food and confectionary business. This is because, prices of foodstuffs and other agricultural products are on the increase, while bread, a stable food, is no longer affordable for an average Nigerian. As a matter of fact, the N100 loaf of bread is gradually being phased out by the bakers, owing to what they call, poor sales. Indeed, these challenges make the N30,000 minimum wage being paid to civil servants grossly inadequate for survival.
Manufactures, under the aegis of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, are also in pain. The group pointed to electricity, forex, insecurity, unfriendly bank loans, as some of the factors affecting them. They said these situations are compelling them to hike the prices of their products to remain in business.
For the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs,’ operators, there is no leeway yet for them yet. They claimed that many of their firms are dying rapidly, and are forced to sack their workers. They say this situation has worsened unemployment in the country, while their warehouses are overstocked with unsold goods.
For the service providers, including berbers, food operators, transporters, the same situation, though with certain peculiarities, exists for them. They too are facing several peculiar challenges in their businesses. That is why Mr.Alani Daud, a transporter, decried, as worrisome, the decline in transport business. “I hardly operate my commercial bus again, because of unstable petrol prices and poor patronage,” he said.
Bread manufacturers are lamenting too. They say virtually all the inputs needed for baking bread like sugar, yeast, milk and wheat have their prices hitting the rooftops.
They also claimed that it is no longer profitable to run it, especially against the backdrop of foreign competitors they face mostly Indians, who they claimed, now dominate the business. During the expired military regimes in the 1970s, there was a Decree regulating price control. Before its collapse, the board functioned well.
However, the establishment of the board may have spurred the proponent of the proposed Price Control/ Anti-Profiteering Bill 2015.

The proposed Bill by National Assembly , may be helpful in the long-run, if it becomes an Act. The Bill seeks to provide for mandatory control of the price of essential goods, provide for maximum price/service charged, prohibit any person carrying out business from increasing prices arbitrarily. It has a punishment of N100, 000 for its violators. Sadly, though, the bill is yet to sail through at the National Assembly, Abuja.
But beyond this proposed legislative legal framework are other views expressed by Nigerians who are agitating for the reintroduction of the board.
One of these numerous voices include Chief Livinus Chukwudi Okwara, and educationist and public affairs commentator. The proprietor of Rimax Institute of Computer Technology, Meiran, Lagos state, urged the Federal Government to re-introduce price control in the economy. He said in an interview with PoliticsNow, that, “They (FG), should bring back price control. Take for example, some of these minerals that we drink daily, they just increase their prices arbitrarily without increasing their content. This is unacceptable.”
Similarly, Madam Ezekiel Akpan, a food vendor, wants the government to reintroduce it to safe the economy. She said, “You can see there is no business here. People are not coming (patronizing) us like before. See meat, fish, tomato, onions, salt, everything is costly. And, when we increase the price of food, they say it is too costly!” She said, “After all, it is not that I will eat it alone. I am here for business, and my business is collapsing.”
But an agency of the government, the Federal Competition Price Control Commission, FCPCC said it is challenging to put in place price control mechanisms in the economy.
The Chief Executive and Vice Chairman of the Agency, Babatunde Irukera, said Nigeria operates a capitalist economy with all the facets of free competition for players, and so may not be able to control products’ prices. For him, the economy is akin to a level playing ground, where everybody can freely exercise his/ her competence. He pointed to the beverage industry for example, saying that competition is fierce in the sector. He said no Agency can compel any of the operators on how to go about their prices.
However, the general consensus of opinion is that the country still needs a price control mechanism to save consumers from over exploitation and poverty.