Cross River State Government, Bassey Otu, ex-governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, and other stakeholders have called for stronger regulatory frameworks to allow healthy competition among economic players, ensuring efficiency and rapid development in the country.
They commended the ongoing reforms being introduced by the Federal Government and expressed optimism that the country will experience rapid development if the reforms are religiously implemented.
Otu, Suswam, ex-National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abdulkadir Mbamba and others spoke in Abuja on Wednesday at the unveiling of the Institute of Competition and Antitrust Practitioners (ICAP) and the Antitrust and Trade Laws Practitioners Association (ATLPA), and the induction of foundation fellows of the institute.
Suswam stressed the importance of stronger regulators in any nation’s efforts to develop its economy, adding that this realisation informed his decision, as the Chairman of the Power Committee in the Senate in 2023, to draft and sponsor the Electricity Act of 2023.
He said, ‘The essence of the Act was to unbundle the entire electricity sector so that we can create competition and, by extension, create efficiency. Today, there is growing competition in the sector, unlike during the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) era.’
Suswam noted that competition breeds efficiency in the economy, citing the Asian Tigers, which in the 80s undertook massive economic reforms.
He said reforms anywhere in the world take time to mature and come with certain consequences, noting that inflation, a high cost of living, and other discomforts in the country were part of those consequences.
Suswam, however, expressed hope that if the ongoing reforms are implemented seriously, the nation’s economy will witness rapid development.
Suswam said, ‘With these reforms come a lot of competition because they would open the economy. We are operating a market economy. So with these reforms, we will now see speeding competition, efficiency and development.
Otu, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of Cross River State, Professor Anthony Owan-Enoh, stressed the importance of competition in driving efficiency and development in any nation’s economy.
He said the objectives and activities of ICAP and ATLPA are very significant for the country’s economy, noting that, having served as the Senate Committee Chairman on Finance, he understood the importance of such bodies’ activities.
ICAP President, Paul-Harris Ogbole (SAN), who highlighted the importance of the institute and its associates, noted that for 64 years since independence, Nigeria had no dedicated professional body for competition and antitrust.
Ogbole said, ‘We have regulators, we have laws, but we had no custodians. No institute to train, to set standards, to discipline, to advise. Today, that gap is closed.
‘One is the institute, to build capacity and set standards. The other is the association, to be the voice, the network, and the advocacy platform. Like the Bench and the Bar.
‘Section 1 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018 has its primary objective as the promotion of fair, competitive markets and protection of the consumer.
‘But who will train the lawyers that will appear before the FCCPC and the Competition Tribunal? Who will advise the businesses on ethical market conduct? Who will advise on the appropriateness or otherwise of a merger or acquisition? The answers are ICAP and ATLPA.’
Emphasising the importance of stronger regulatory frameworks in any economy, Ogbole said: ‘I have seen big corporations win cases because of the enormous resources at their disposal. I have seen small businesses die not because they lacked ideas, but because a dominant player shut the market gate against them.’
Mbamba urged the government, at all levels, to work collaboratively with ICAP and ATLAPA as technical partners, noting that a strong Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), backed by a strong professional institute, means better policy and better enforcement.
He also urged business owners and other business leaders not to fear competition law and to embrace it. He noted that compliance is now a competitive advantage, adding that companies that will last centuries are those that win by innovation, not intimidation.
‘To Nigerians, this institute is for you. When prices are unfair, when choices are removed, when your rights as a consumer are trampled, there will now be professionals trained to fight for you,’ he said
Mbamba faulted the often-held notion that the market will correct itself, arguing that the market can only correct itself when there are rules and regulators to enforce the rules.
He warned that as the largest market in the continent, ‘If we do not seriously set the rules of fair play now, we will wake up to monopolies that kill enterprise and cartels that punish consumers.
He was optimistic that ICAP has come to provide the answer – to professionalise competition law, to train the lawyers, economists, and compliance officers who will advise government and businesses and to stress the message that: ‘In Nigeria, you can invest, because the rules are clear and the field is level.’