Nigeria's Anti-competition Agency Indifferent to Price Fixing Claim Against Aliko Dangote
- Aliko Dangote was accused of price fixing by BUA last year after a faceoff between both companies
- Dangote Sugar denied the accusation, stating that the company doesn't deal in illegal activities
- The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission evaded question regarding an investigation into the matter
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Aliko Dangote was accused of price fixing and anti-competition in the sugar market by its rival, BUA Sugar, last week. As a tradition in Nigerian consumer market, this accusation might fade without an investigation into the company's activities by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
Dangote Sugar Refinery representatives were said to have approached the founder of BUA, Abdulsamad Rabiu, to allegedly fix the price of sugar during Ramadan in 2020. The price of Sugar per bag was N13,000 prior to Ramadan.
But Dangote reportedly wanted the price hiked to N23,000 during high demand in Ramadan. Rabiu stated he rejected the plan, choosing to leave the price the way it was.
BUA said their refusal to partake in the price fixing pushed Dangote to wrongly report the company to the Trade Ministry in order for Rabiu's sugar business to lose its license. These claims were later denied by Dangote Sugar, stating that it wasn't involved in price fixing.
Amid this counter-accusation is the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), a government agency created to investigate price fixing and anti-competition accusations.
Source: Getty Images
With the price fixing accusation grabbing media headlines, the expectation is that the FCCPC will swing into action to determine if BUA's claim is true, but when Legit.ng contacted the agency to enquire about their awareness of the allegations, the commission confirmed it heard of the claim.
However, when asked if there will be an investigation into the matter, the question was evaded, while our reporter was directed to Ondaje Ijagwu, public relations officer of the consumer protection agency.
Multiple calls made to Ijagwu's cell went unanswered, neither were they returned.
Different tales for different folks
The failure of the agency to probe the price fixing allegation comes amid the clampdown on Jack Ma's Alibaba by the Chinese government for breaching anti-competition rules.
The multinational technology company company lost $2.75 billion (over N1 trillion) due to its monopolistic market activities. This is 4 percent of Alibaba’s generated revenue in the financial year of 2019 in China.
The crackdown has cost Ma his position as the richest man in Asia. He now occupies the fourth spot. His Fintech company, Ant Group was also prevented from conducting an initial public offering, warding off investors from the company.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that financial software company, Appzone, raised $10 million from investors to replicate its business in other African countries.
Prior to the recent series a funding round, the Nigerian-owned startup had secured $15 million to expand its operations which started in 2008.
The new capital infusion was done by CardinalStone Capital Advisers alongside V8 Capital, Lateral Investment Partners, Constant Capital, and Itanna Capital Ventures.
Source: Legit.ng
