Justice James Omotosho of a Federal High Court in Abuja has said the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) cannot determine what MultiChoice Nigeria can charge its customers for subscribing to DStv and GOtv, the pay-TV services of MultiChoice.
However, he dismissed a suit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria, challenging the FCCPC’s intervention in its subscription price hike, saying it is an abuse of court process due to similar pending proceedings elsewhere.
The judge clarified that while the FCCPC has investigative powers under its Act, it lacks authority to fix or suspend prices without presidential delegation via a gazetted instrument.
“The power to fix prices is exclusively that of the President. Any decision taken without such delegation is a nullity,” he stated, stressing that Nigeria runs a free-market system, where providers like MultiChoice can set prices, and consumers can choose to accept or reject them.
Justice Omotosho found FCCPC’s directive to suspend MultiChoice’s price increase breached the company’s right to a fair hearing and appeared discriminatory, rejecting the agency’s claim of MultiChoice’s market dominance as untenable.
“The use of services like those provided by the plaintiff is discretionary and not essential. Nigeria can do without it,” he added, warning that regulatory price controls could deter investors and harm the economy.
MultiChoice raised subscription rates by up to 25 per cent on March 1, 2025, citing inflation and operational costs.
The FCCPC opposed the hike, demanding a review and threatening sanctions, which led to the lawsuit.
Last month, while arguing its case, MultiChoice, through its lead counsel, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), submitted that the bone of contention is “whether the defendant have the right to control the price at which the plaintiff offers its services to the public.”
He argued that the Act establishing the FCCPC did not confer on it the powers to regulate price or prevent anyone including the plaintiff from increasing its prices.
Also, the lawyer stated that the issue of whether the defendant can regulate price has been litigated before between the two parties, adding that the tribunal had held that the commission has no powers to regulate prices of goods and services in the country, except the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The plaintiff’s lawyer also submitted that even the president who is clothed with the powers to regulate prices has maintained “that his government does not believe in price control” but, that prices are determined by market forces of demands and supplies.
The plaintiff in addition submitted that if the FCCPC has no powers to control price “where does he have the powers to prevent the plaintiff from increasing price.”