THE FEDERAL Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has sealed off a foreign supermarket, 4 U, located at Wuse 2, for obnoxious practices, information concealing and sale of substandard bags of rice.
Sealing off the supermarket in Abuja on Thursday, the Acting Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC, Dr Adamu Abdullahi, described the situation as unacceptable.
He said the supermarket also stock piled Stallion and Cap rice brands, adding that Stallion Group, the producers of the product had been comatose for a long time.
He said the supermarket was engaging suppliers, who were re-bagging the Stallion rice.
Abdullahi said the sealing was in continuation of the Commission’s efforts toward ensuring that prices in the market reflected what was displayed.
He said the move was also targeted at crashing the prices of goods in the country.
“Nowadays, we have found out that there is a lot of pretence in what is happening, especially supermarkets around the major cities in the country.
“Today, we are in this supermarket and the same practice is still ongoing.
“You go to the shelf, the price of the product displayed is different from what appears when you go to pay at the counter.
“That is not acceptable and some of the products don’t even have prices attached to them.
“We are evacuating all the cap and stallion rice here today and they will explain to us how they got hold of it.
“Sanctions appropriate with the Act establishing FCCPC to meet different products association to discourage price fixing and cartels.”
The acting executive vice chairman said that the Commission would commence enforcement in the open markets by April 19, to meet with different products association to discourage price fixing and cartels.
Ms Boladale Adeyinka, the Director, Surveillance and Investigation of FCCPC, who led the enforcement frowned at practices at the supermarket.
Adeyinka said that bags of rice evacuated by the Commission from the supermarket were weevils infested.
She said that necessary actions would be taken to ensure that consumers got value for their monies.
Alhaji Yunusa Yusuf, the General Manager of 4 U supermarket, said the supermarket would not take absolute responsibility for the substandard rice.
He said the supermarket would provide necessary details of their rice supplies to the FCCPC for further investigations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that five and ten kilogrammes bags of rice evacuated from the supermarket had been infested by weevils. The staff and customers at the supermarket were also evacuated before it was sealed off. (NAN)
