By NIyi JACOBS
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria Limited seeking to block the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) from investigating its recent DStv and GOtv subscription increases, describing the action as an abuse of court process.
Presided over by Justice James Omotosho, the court ruled that the suit was duplicative and inappropriate given that a similar matter involving the same parties was already pending before another court. The application was therefore dismissed in its entirety.
MultiChoice had earlier ignored the Commission’s February summons regarding its price adjustments and instead approached the court to stop the FCCPC from interrogating the rationale behind the upward review, which came less than a year after the last hike.
Justice Omotosho, in his ruling, reaffirmed critical sections of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018, underscoring the Commission’s mandate to regulate prices and investigate anti-consumer practices. He held that Section 88 of the Act empowers the President to regulate prices of goods and services when deemed necessary and to delegate such powers to relevant agencies like the FCCPC.
The court further established that under Section 17 of the FCCPA, the FCCPC has the legal authority to investigate exploitative pricing and report its findings to the President for possible regulatory action. It also affirmed that once any service is declared subject to price regulation, the FCCPC can fully enforce such provisions.
The FCCPC was represented by Prof. Joseph Abugu (SAN), while MultiChoice was represented by Mr. J. Onigbanjo (SAN).
Reacting to the ruling, FCCPC’s Executive Vice Chairman/CEO, Mr. Tunji Bello, hailed the verdict as a triumph of the rule of law and a major step in preventing procedural tactics used to frustrate lawful oversight. He reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to protecting Nigerian consumers from unfair pricing and other anti-competitive conduct under the FCCPA.
