Casmir Igbokwe
If you have been searching for a practical example of the word, spin, search no more. What the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) did on Thursday, May 8, 2025, is classical. MultiChoice Nigeria Limited had instituted a case against the Commission, seeking to restrain it from investigating its recent price increases for DStv and GOtv services.
Following the ruling of the Abuja Federal High Court on the matter, the FCCPC issued a press release. The headline reads, “Subscription Hike: FCCPC Floors MultiChoice…Court affirms Commission’s power to investigate exploitation.”
The Commission claimed that Justice Omotosho affirmed key provisions of the FCCP Act 2018 regarding price regulation and the scope of the Commission’s mandate. It says, “The Court recognised that Section 88 of the FCCPA vests the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with the authority to regulate the prices of goods and services when necessary. It also affirmed that the President may delegate this authority to any agency, particularly the FCCPC, for enforcement.”
It further claimed that the court upheld the Commission’s power under Section 17 of the FCCPA to investigate exploitative pricing practices and to submit its findings, data, and recommendations to the President to inform decisions on price regulation. “The court confirmed that once the President declares specific goods or services as subject to price regulation, the FCCPC possesses full enforcement powers to implement such regulations,” it added.
The Commission’s Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tunji Bello, described the court ruling as an affirmation of the rule of law and a significant step towards curbing procedural tactics aimed at obstructing lawful regulatory oversight.
This is a feeble attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians. Yes, the Abuja Federal High Court actually dismissed the MultiChoice case. But it was on the grounds that the suit was duplicative as there is a similar case involving the same parties pending before a court in Lagos. The presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, said the plaintiff should have pursued its argument in that court. He declared it an abuse of the court process.
Nevertheless, the court was unambiguous in its ruling on the perceived right of the FCCPC to regulate the price of commodities. It said though the Commission might investigate market practices, it lacked the authority to fix or suspend prices unless specifically delegated by the President through a gazette. Only the President, Justice Omotosho said, had the exclusive powers under Section 88 of the FCCPA to regulate prices and set up a price control board against defaulting foreign companies or regulated goods and services. Even when the President decides to fix prices, it must cover an entire industry, not just a single player.
Obviously, Nigeria operates a free-market economy. According to the judge, service providers like MultiChoice have the right to set their prices, with consumers free to accept or reject them. He said the FCCPC’s action breached the company’s right to fair hearing and appeared selectively targeted. Warning that attempts to fix prices by regulatory bodies could scare off investors and harm the economy, Omotosho noted that the FCCPC acted beyond its powers by the directive it issued against MultiChoice price increase. In 2022, the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal had similarly ruled that MultiChoice had the right to increase its price.
The courts are aware of the economic dangers of harassing investors. Each time a multinational company exits Nigeria, many breadwinners lose their jobs. This has serious impact on the livelihood of many families. Nigeria’s current fragile economy cannot afford this.
In my intervention on this page on March 3, 2025, I argued against the needless price control measures of the FCCPC. I noted that the Commission did not have the right to regulate prices of non-essential commodities. I also posited that MultiChoice had the right to fix prices of its products so long as there were alternatives for Nigerians.
Besides, many other companies have hiked prices due to rising operational costs, including currency volatility, high energy costs and regulatory hurdles. The telecoms industry, breweries, pharmaceutical companies, educational institutions, electricity distribution companies, transport companies and many others, have increased their prices or tariffs in order to remain afloat. Even the Federal Government hiked the price of electricity tariff for some categories of customers from N68 kilowatts per hour to N206.80/kWh. Yet, the FCCPC looked away.
The Commission chose, in its wisdom, to do selective targeting of its enforcement. In December 2024, its target was the Air Peace Airline. Without conferring with the airline industry regulator, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the FCCPC said it was conducting enquiries focused on addressing poor service delivery, exploitative practices and potential consumer rights violations. The management of the airline was livid and had to report the matter to the Presidency.
Last February, MultiChoice announced that it would increase subscription fees. From N37,000, it increased the DSTv premium bouquet to N44,500, and compact+ from N25,000 to N30,000. The new rates took effect from March 1, 2025. This was why the FCCPC decided to move against MultiChoice, directing it to maintain its former subscription prices until conclusion of investigations.
Former Executive Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Babatunde Irukera, and the courts had kicked against this type of attitude. Irukera had said in 2022 that the Commission lacked the powers to regulate consumer prices because it’s not a price regulator and that Nigeria operated a free-market economy.
Incidentally, many multinationals posted losses in the past few years. Nestle Nigeria, for instance, posted a net loss of N164.6 billion for the 2024 financial year, a 107 per cent decline from the N79.5 billion loss recorded in 2023. MTN Nigeria lost N550.33 billion before tax in 2024.
Over 10 of these companies that could not cope with the poor economic situation shut down operations in Nigeria in 2023. The prominent ones include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria Ltd, Unilever Nigeria Plc, and Procter & Gamble Nigeria.
Part of the complaints against MultiChoice is that it has refused to offer Pay-Per-View (PPV) or pay-as-you-go billing model to its customers as practised in the telecommunications industry. PPV means that you only pay when you turn on your TV and watch and don’t pay when the TV is off. As I argued in my first intervention on this issue, this is ridiculous because in Pay TV, subscribers pay for access to broadcast content that has already been created and paid for. The idea can only work for single events like boxing and not for 24/7 multi-channel satellite broadcasting.
MultiChoice is a big player in entertainment, media and nation-branding. This company trained some of our filmmakers and created opportunities for Nollywood entertainers. The African Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) wouldn’t have existed without MultiChoice.
Here is a company that has engaged over 30,000 Nigerians both directly and indirectly. There are editors, installers, marketers and small businesses benefitting one way or the other from the company. It is still hiring and investing even when many other companies have either downsized or closed shop. Obviously, driving it away will have serious implications.
The FCCPC should slow down in its regulatory exuberance and wean itself off bias and corporate bullying against MultiChoice. Consumers have a right to subscribe to Pay TV or not because it is not an essential service. Or could there be a political motive in all this? Is there a preferred operator in the pipeline?
Our regulators and lawmakers, sometimes, hide behind selfish interests while pretending to be fighting for the people. This case appears to be a typical example of that.
Besides, MultiChoice is not a monopoly. It is not the company’s fault that some other players have tried and failed. The fact that the company has excelled in a tough market environment should not be an alibi to hound it out of business and probably replace it with another favoured company that may not want any competition. It excelled because it has paid its dues which has earned it customer trust and market dominance. It will be against the grain of justice to force it to reduce price so that others can catch up.
Re: How one man has captured Nigeria
It is said that a society begets the type of rulers it deserves and so it is with Nigeria. For long, fate had put off punishing our docility with a corresponding degree of despotism till 2015, when it decided enough was enough and withdrew. But the problem is that by then our affliction had become too debilitating and our condition pathetic. Right now, Nigerians are so unable to comprehend their situations that asking them to act to redeem themselves and their country is akin to getting zombies to reason.
Yet I give it to the current Lord, he “set forth at dawn” (W. Soyinka) to achieve his dreams. One marvels at the guile and tact he used to come this far; from the early 1990s he wormed himself into the hearts of many as a progressive and member of the MKO Abiola political family through which he became a Senator. He was later to team up with others in the NADECO group beguiling us he was fighting military dictatorship. Having worn the Progressive toga to mount the rungs to the top, his true colours appear; a total capture of the State and all it has. But the signs were there all along, we were the ones too gullible to notice. His outing in Lagos, in and out of power was a clear signal to what awaits us yet we took no heed. Before our “two naked eyes” (apologies to Chief Zebrudaya) a ‘democratic emperor’ evolves.
The greater danger about the current putrid system taking over our country is the impunity they are setting as the standards and rightful precedents for our coming generations in all the sectors. From the acts of validating election malpractices through Judicial pronouncements to the enthronement of might is right and officials citing China as a democratic model, the future is doomed and the country spirals beyond redemption.
But is hope lost? Probably. Tribalism and bigotry cannot allow the citizens to collectively take their fate into their hands and act to take back their country, it is a near impossibility which the emperor gleefully utilizes. Our only hope lies in the hands of our oppressors. We beseech them that in their ongoing transmutation, they should choose the more humane of history’s recorded hard men; we can neither stand an Idi Amin nor a Bokassa or Pinochet but a diluted Ghaddafi is a lesser evil.
Uzoekwe Aloysius, 08038503174