The President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, has welcomed the announcement by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission ( FCCPC) to investigate the skyrocketing airfares regime in Nigeria.
In a statement, the NANTA leadership said in recent times and in response to the cries of the Nigerian travelling public , it had taken decisive advocacy steps, on the need to wade into the issue which had made life difficult for the Nigerian travelling public.
Akporiaye, in the statement revealed that NANTA was excited by the response of the federal government through its consumer protection and regulatory agency to wade into this matter, which has become seemingly unending.
“We want to appreciate government through the Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Babatunde Irukera, who has assured the sector that investigations would commence into the present structure of airfares in Nigeria and bring it to an acceptable regime,” she stated.
On his part, the Executive Vice Chairman FCCPC, Irukera, noted that it was only fair to conduct a thorough investigation before decisive intervention steps were taken.
Irukera promised to run a detailed investigation into the high airfare regime in Nigeria, noting that as important as that may sound, it is however a difficult task determining price hikes, particularly airfare.
“There is a provision in the law against price gouging. Nigeria is a free market economy where the buyer and seller agree to determine cost. Do we, as a regulator, have the power to impose price? No, we don’t. So one way to determine excessive pricing is through investigation,” he said.
The FCCPC boss revealed that forensic studies in airfare pricing remained the most complex in the market investigation ecosystem.
“There are many issues that must be considered when investigating hikes on airfare.
“We believe that airfare in Nigeria is too high, but it will amount to an abuse of office by the regulatory authority to take action just because we feel the price is high. Our duty is to establish evidence and confront the body, and that’s hard work,” he added.
Ugo Aliogo
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