-By Victoria Opeyemi
In the face of looming recession caused by Covid-19 pandemic, Nigerians are faced with harsh realities of regime of price increase by providers of essential services. The increase in the cost of electricity in Nigeria, cable television (DSTV), Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as fuel at this time is not palatable for the country. It shows that the government of the day lacks empathy for the welfare of its citizens.
On the grounds of consumer protection law for citizens, the increment has largely been criticized.
The Director General of Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Amstrong Idachaba, made it known that the commission is not a price control board, He said, “we are not necessarily regulator of service provided by multichoice, but we are trying to see if their conducts violate the law. There are areas where they could violate the law, one of these is pricing.”
On the aspect of market monopoly, Idachaba said though there are vested interests but the public interest will always prevail. “If you are a monopolist, you will want to thrive in your monopoly. People have businesses but they need to develop certain morality of conscience to know that what they are doing may not be in general interest whereas the public interest is important.”
The cable television ventured into Nigerian market in the late 90’s and has become an integral part of life for millions of Nigerians as means of livelihood and job creation especially for sport lovers. The country needs an enhanced regulation to prevent it from being hijacked by market forces and some greedy business proprietors whose sole aim is profiteering at the expense of the public.
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