THE National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) has identified the lack of competition law in Nigeria as a serious hindrance to fair and efficient business practices in Nigeria.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ consultative workshop on the competition law in Abuja recently, President of NANTS, Mr. Ken Ukaoha, noted that ECOWAS had been able to put together a competition policy and even gone ahead to canvass and have in place a regional supplementary act on competition.
“Regrettably, Nigeria, which is expected and looked upon to provide leadership and direction for ECOWAS, is nowhere close to putting in place a domestic policy or law in this respect.
“The implication of this is therefore that Nigeria would be seen to be pulling back the hand of the clock for West Africa is, and when the region decides to implement a regional policy on competition, especially with the Act already in place.
“This, therefore, makes it imperative for the Nigerian government to take up actions towards facilitating the process.
“We are expecting the government officials present here to, as a matter of urgency, take up the discourse to higher authorities in order to secure executive push for the bill to fast track passage.”
According to him, the passing of a sound competition law would accordingly, be a very important milestone toward improvement of competitiveness of the Nigerian private sector, as well as contributing to the welfare of Nigerians.
He went on: “Upon our findings that there are five versions of draft competition bills in the public domain. Three versions are currently before the National Assembly, and all five have been sponsored by different agencies of government and private individuals, with very limited inputs from members of the wider public and private sectors.
“We took it upon ourselves the challenge of pursuing a process of wide consultation among relevant stakeholders. This is in the belief that a wider consultation and dialogue among stakeholders would facilitate the passage of a more inclusive and relevant competition law.”
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