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By Lukmon Tajuddeen
The government of Nigeria through its various laws and agencies ensures the supervision and regulation of businesses in the country. This is to ensure the ease of doing business for investors, entrepreneurs, business-oriented persons as well as safeguarding the interests of the customers.
For almost two decades the country’s supervision agencies of businesses seem to favour Dangote’s establishments anytime at the detriment of other stakeholders, which is pushing the Nation’s economy toward disastrous end, as of Dangote’s business tactics threatening other competitors ,US warns.
There is nothing wrong in business competition, but competition should be healthy without eroding the progress made by other active players. Because personification and monopoly is always a threat to other economic movers without recourse to the wider implications government policies guaranteed one mover a solid right over other competitors.
In as much as such policy favour one interest it really presents a dilemma for country’s economic policy, according to a report published in 2010 on Wikileak’s website.
This dilemma allow leading manufacturer engaging other stakeholders in a bitter rivalry on who would control sugar and cement sectors in the country is clearly displaying degree of impunity. which as result of the personalisation of cement and sugar has led to absurdly high prices for the two products, with cement now beyond the reach.
It is in public knowledge three years ago Dangote Group tried it luck by attempting to starts produced noodle but De United Foods Industries (makers of Indomie noodles) neither raised it voice nor lodged complaint against DFW’s to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment for the Group’s attempting to start indomie noodle.
Instead thecompany consolidated its strategist in maintaining its dominance in the country’s noodle market because it share of around 70 percent because the company believed it had already became a household name and is not afraid of any competitors. DFW was left with no option but sold two production lines to rival pasta maker and It’s not exactly clear why Dangote couldn’t compete in the noodles market as it predicted.
Now bubbles seemed to have burst with recent sugar price dispute in the the country’s as Dangote Sugar and Flour Mills of Nigeria jointly forwarded a petition to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment asking the Ministry of Trade to shut down BUA Group’s Sugar Refinery in Port Harcourt. Both companies requested the minister to launch a probe into the volume of raw sugar imported by BUA’s Port Harcourt refinery “and the appropriate penalty in terms of duty (60%) and level (10%) to be charged on the company”.
BUA in its own defence sent to the Minister of Trade clarified issues by stating that the his company’s sugar refinery in Port Harcourt could stand-in the way of “the attainment of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) and the sustainability of Nigeria’s Local Sugar Industry.
The law allows him to operate the refinery to support its role as a counter-balance to the Dangote and Flour Mills duopoly in the price manipulation. While his company has been working on backward integration project with BUA’s Lafiagi Sugar BIP, a $250 million sugar refinery set to be completed in 2022.
In additions his Port Harcourt sugar refinery will not affect in any way the backward integration programme adding that “the only way it will affect Nigerians is that Nigerians will pay lower prices for sugar. Therefore the same law allows BUA to sell inside Nigeria. Because his sugar project was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The reason behind the dispute is nothing but duopoly plan to hike sugar price during the holy month of Ramada they got across and put pressure on him to joint them for the exploitation of the consumers as people had no choice but to buy it. In nutshell his failure to do the bidding of duo companies accused him of breaking the law by selling sugar locally instead of for export.
To other stakeholders in sugar and Flour it was the right time to make good money but he put his feet down. Instead AbdulSamad has threatening to withdraw the dealership license of his dealers who found hiking prices of the commodities.
Last year, before Ramadan, sugar sold for around N18,000 per bag but as Ramadan fasting started the price jumped to 30,000 per bag and now BUA seen there was no reason to increase the price during Ramada and there is need to end in this ugly trend.
Let supervision and regulation of businesses in the country do justice by allowing everyone to compete on the same terms. To the Consumer their don’t care which company control the market what matter to them which company products had fair price because Peoples need affordable sugar and flour if BUA can bring that, surely people will patronise it
In very ideal open market policies businesses must have to compete against each other but should not be ideal for one one entity single-handedly monopolized every economic products.
As the rest of the world races towards their ever-rising targets for national development and progress, Nigerians remain bemusedly for loitering around the starting line, trying to figure out why its tactic of placing the carts in front of its horses is not working.
Nigeria is trying everything from share of lucky to even prayer, albeit without success. Peoples hope time has come to call all players to true account.
wrote in from Barnawa Kaduna can be reached at lukmonraymond@yahoo.com
