FCCPC commences intervention in markets to crash food prices

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has commenced fact-finding interactions with traders’ associations and marketers to ascertain factors responsible for the continuous hike in food prices despite naira gains against the dollar.

The Director of Surveillance and Investigations of the FCCPC, Boladale Adeyinka, who led her team  to the Masaka village market in Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State yesterday, told journalists that the engagement was geared towards crashing the prices of food in the country.

She noted that the findings in the market showed that transportation cost from various farms and multiple taxations were the major reasons for the high cost of food.

Adeyinka said the FCCPC would develop a concise report of all the multiple taxes and advise the government on how to unlock, remove or reduce them.

“This is a fact-finding mission, an investigative mission to gather information directly from the sources. The food price campaign continues. We are here to find out from three levels of stakeholders, who are market executives, sellers and consumers.

“We had a meeting with the market executive to find out if they were issuing levies, taxes, things that are added to the cost, starting from the farmer to the sellers.” she noted.

On his part, the chairman of Masaka market, Danlami Gimba, confirmed that transportation was the major cause of the hike in food prices, and appealed to the government to reduce the price of petrol to help reduce transportation cost, which he said would help reduce the prices of food items.