Sachet water price hike draws ire of Consumer Protection Agency

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has the increase in price of sachet water in Nigeria describing it as “unacceptable.”

The FCCPC’s acting head, Dr. Adamu Abdullahi, expressed his disapproval during a World Consumer Rights Day event held in Abuja, on Friday.

The criticism comes after the Association of Table Water Producers of Nigeria (ATWP) announced a potential hike in sachet water prices, attributing it to rising production costs. Dr. Abdullahi, however, contested the justification for the “astronomical” increase, highlighting that many producers already have their machinery in place.

While acknowledging potential cost increases in areas like power and nylon, Abdullahi pointed towards a more concerning factor: cartels.

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He suspects that associations acting as intermediaries between producers and consumers might be inflating prices unfairly. The FCCPC act prohibits price fixing, and Abdullahi emphasized that they will investigate and dismantle any such cartels.

”Yes, power, fuel, price of nylon had increased, but that cannot explain the cause for the astronomical rise in price.

“What we have discovered is that most products now have associations, even the sachet water producers.

”When you have your eggs that you brought from your farm to sell at Wuse market, the association of egg sellers will tell you that you have to sell to them at cheaper rates, while they resell to consumers at higher prices.

”This has now resulted in emergence of `cartels’ and cartels, anywhere in the world, are not acceptable,” he stated.

The acting FCCPC boss added, ”Our Act is against price fixing and it is not acceptable to us. We will find out these cartels and do something about their activities.

”The Consumers International joined the efforts that gave us the inkling of how prices have rolled in Nigeria in the last three months and it is so surprising and unacceptable.

”It is simply the issue of cartel and we have to break in, find out what is going on and dissolve such cartels.”

He, however, added that it’s the consumers that will “lodge the complaint to us before we go and find out.”

Consumers have been significantly impacted by the price hike, with a potential 100 Naira per sachet price tag being proposed. The FCCPC’s intervention indicates a potential push to ensure a fairer and more stable price point for this essential commodity.

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