A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit by Multichoice against the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for restraining it from effecting price increase.
In a judgment on Thursday, Justice James Omotosho held that the suit constituted an abuse of the process of the court having been filed after a similar suit was filed on the issue by one Festus Onifade, with Multichoice and FCCPC as parties in the suit.
Justice Omotosho noted that an earlier suit filed by Onifade before the same Federal High Court in Abuja, and in which Multichoice is a party, was still pending before Multichoice decided to file this separate suit.
The judge said Multichoice could ventilate the issues in the suit filed by Onifade by simply filing a counter claim rather than filing a separate suit.
The judge proceeded to decline jurisdiction and dismissed the suit.
However, Justice Omotosho went ahead to determine the case on the merit and held that since Nigeria runs a free market economy, the FCCPC lacked the power to interfere in the decisions of private companies to fix their prices.
The judge held that under Section 88 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, it is only the president of the FRN that can regulate prices in a regulated industry and for essential goods, not the kind of services being rendered by the Multichoice where consumers have choices.
Justice James Omotosho held that the FCCPC has no business querying how companies fix their prices in a free market economy.
