Renowned Nigerian lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has stated that the Federal Government must intervene forcefully on behalf of the majority of the people by enforcing price control measures that safeguard individuals from exploitation, as outlined in the Price Control Act.
In an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday, Falana stated that the action was important to ensure that the country’s economy was not concentrated in the hands of a few.
The rights activist was commenting in light of his recent lawsuit against the federal government for failing to limit the soaring costs of critical commodities.
“The Bola Tinubu administration has said that there is food in abundance in Nigeria. I think the Minister of Information made that statement a couple of days ago, but we have a situation where the majority of the people cannot afford the prices that have gone to the roof.
“That is why the government has a duty under the Price Control Act to control the price of essential commodities so that Nigerians will not be subjected to hunger unnecessarily.
“It is so bad now that if you pick a food item if you go back to the market tomorrow, the price has gone up,” Falana said.
Falana opined that while affluent citizens can cope with spiraling inflation, most ordinary Nigerians have been priced out of accessing basic commodities, hence the urgent need for the government’s intervention based on existing laws.
Falana also questioned why electricity tariffs, telecom rates, and petrol pump prices could be moderated via subsidies while other essentials like food, medicines, and diesel were allowed to rise astronomically, thereby eroding people’s purchasing power.
Falana had asked the court to assess whether the first respondent was carrying out its responsibility to impose a price on any commodities of the type defined in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act under Section 4 of the Act.
Based on the suit, the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Federal Government to set pricing for goods and petroleum products within seven days.
Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa specifically directed the government to set the prices of milk, flour, salt, sugar, bicycles, and spare parts, matches, motorcycles and spare parts, motor vehicles and spare parts, and petroleum products such as diesel, Premium Motor Spirit, and kerosene.
Falana had brought the Price Control Board and the Attorney General of the Federation, both of whom are listed as defendants, before the court to determine “whether, by Section 4(1) of the Price Control Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, the first defendant is carrying out its duty to impose a price on any goods that are of the kind specified in the First Schedule to the Price Control Act.
Last week, Vice President Kashim Shettima announced the current administration’s plan to establish a commodity board with the responsibility to monitor and regulate food prices, as well as manage a strategic food reserve to stabilize the prices of critical grains and other food items.
“That’s the way to go if the poor in society are to breathe as the implementation of the reforms embarked upon by the Tinubu administration gathers pace,” he said.
