By ABUBAKAR YUNUS
The Economic Community of West African States Regional Competition Authority(ERCA )has intensified efforts to tackle price-fixing, market cartels and other anti-competitive practices, warning that such activities continue to frustrate regional trade and economic integration across West Africa.
The authority said dismantling barriers that distort markets would enhance investment, lower prices, improve consumer welfare and create a level playing field for businesses across the sub-region.
Speaking on Monday at the National Information and Awareness Seminar on Competition Law and Policy in West Africa held in Abuja, the Executive Director of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority, Dr Simeon Koffi, said competition remained central to achieving sustainable economic growth.
Koffi, represented by a retired Director of the ECOWAS Commission, Justice Lago Daniel, said fair competition was critical to ensuring that the ECOWAS vision of a common market translated into tangible benefits for businesses and consumers.
He said, “Competition is not an end in itself. It is a means of achieving greater economic efficiency. It is also a means of stimulating innovation, encouraging businesses to improve the quality of their products and services, and ultimately protecting consumers from practices that distort the proper functioning of the market.”
According to him, markets that function efficiently encourage investment, improve productivity and give consumers wider choices at competitive prices.
He noted that the Competition and Consumer Protection Product Safety Support Programme had become a strategic tool for improving the business environment, strengthening the competitiveness of member states and promoting inclusive economic growth.
Koffi said although ECOWAS had made significant progress in removing trade barriers, economic integration could only succeed if markets remained open and businesses competed fairly.
He warned that collusion among businesses posed a serious threat to the region’s economy.
“When firms collude to fix prices, divide markets or prevent the entry of new competitors, consumers pay the price. Small and medium-sized enterprises face reduced opportunities for growth, and the economy as a whole loses dynamism and competitiveness,” he said.
Also speaking, Consultant to IBF/PASCOSPRO and Counsel Member of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority, Mr Leonard Ugbaja, said the seminar formed part of a regional awareness campaign on competition policy across ECOWAS member states.
He said competition law remained poorly understood within the region despite its importance to economic development.
“We are here as part of the regional sensitisation on competition policy in West Africa. We’ve been going from country to country, and today we’re in Nigeria. At the same time, another team is in Ghana,” he said.
Ugbaja explained that the authority focuses on anti-competitive practices affecting more than one ECOWAS member state, including agriculture, petroleum products, cement trade and the digital economy.
He lamented that non-tariff barriers imposed by market associations continued to restrict trade despite the removal of tariffs within the region.
“We still see situations where products made in one country cannot easily be sold in another because certain market associations determine who can sell and who cannot. As a result, some products are very expensive in one country but much cheaper in another,” he said.
According to him, the authority is also strengthening merger control to ensure foreign acquisitions do not suppress competition or eliminate opportunities for local businesses.
In his remarks, the Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Mr Tunji Bello, said Nigeria had continued to strengthen its competition regime since the enactment of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act in 2018.
Represented by the commission’s Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Eme David-Ojugo, Bello said effective competition enforcement was necessary to protect consumers, encourage innovation and attract investment.
He said, “Competition law is not designed to inhibit legitimate business growth or commercial success. Rather, it exists to ensure that businesses compete on merit, innovation is rewarded, markets remain contestable, and consumers enjoy the benefits of better quality, greater choice and fair prices.”
He added that the commission had reinforced merger reviews, intensified action against anti-competitive agreements, expanded market surveillance and promoted advocacy to encourage compliance by businesses and regulators.
Bello expressed optimism that sustained collaboration between ECOWAS, national regulators and development partners would strengthen competition enforcement and accelerate regional economic integration.
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