Court dismisses Multichoice suit against FCCPC over price hike

A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Multichoice Nigeria, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, against the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), over the commission’s move to halt its planned subscription price increase.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice James Omotosho ruled that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process, noting that a similar case on the same issue was already pending before the court. That earlier suit was filed by Festus Onifade, with both Multichoice and the FCCPC listed as parties.

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.