{"id":161651,"date":"2025-05-08T11:45:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:50:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T11:50:29","slug":"only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice","title":{"rendered":"Only president can fix prices \u2013 Court dismisses FCCPC suit against Multichoice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, challenging the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission\u2019s (FCCPC) intervention in its recent subscription price hike.<\/p>\n<p>Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice James Kolawole Omotoso held that the suit constituted an abuse of court process, as similar proceedings were already pending elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The judge stressed that MultiChoice should have pursued its arguments in the earlier court rather than filing a new one, thereby rendering the current filing procedurally inappropriate.<\/p>\n<p>However, Justice Omotoso noted that while the FCCPC has investigative powers under its establishing Act, it lacks the authority to fix or suspend prices unless specifically delegated by the President through a gazetted instrument.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn this instant case, no such delegation from the President was presented to the court.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe power to fix prices is exclusively that of the President. Any decision taken without such delegation is a nullity,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>He added that Nigeria operates a free market system, and service providers like MultiChoice retain the right to set their prices, with consumers free to accept or reject them.<\/p>\n<p>The judge further ruled that FCCPC\u2019s actions, including directing MultiChoice to suspend its price increase, breached the company\u2019s right to fair hearing and appeared selectively targeted.<\/p>\n<p>He dismissed the FCCPC\u2019s claim that MultiChoice held a dominant market position, calling the argument untenable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of services like those provided by the plaintiff is discretionary and not essential. Nigeria can do without it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that attempts to fix prices by regulatory bodies could scare off investors and harm the economy.<\/p>\n<p>The court held that while the FCCPC may investigate market practices, it cannot impose price controls without proper legal backing.<\/p>\n<p>MultiChoice had increased subscription rates by up to 25% on March 1, 2025, citing inflation and operational cost pressures.<\/p>\n<p>The FCCPC opposed the move, calling for regulatory review and threatening sanctions, prompting the legal challenge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, challenging the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission\u2019s (FCCPC) intervention in its recent subscription price hike. Delivering judgment on Thursday, Justice James Kolawole Omotoso held that the suit constituted an abuse [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":161650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[69,7018,4763,254],"class_list":["post-161651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-court","tag-fccpc","tag-multichoice","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Only president can fix prices \u2013 Court dismisses FCCPC suit against Multichoice - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Only president can fix prices \u2013 Court dismisses FCCPC suit against Multichoice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by MultiChoice Nigeria, the parent company of DStv and GOtv, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T10:45:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T11:50:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1746692446.163681.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Only president can fix prices \u2013 Court dismisses FCCPC suit against Multichoice\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-08T10:45:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-08T11:50:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice\"},\"wordCount\":350,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1746692446.163681.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"court\",\"FCCPC\",\"Multichoice\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/only-president-can-fix-prices-court-dismisses-fccpc-suit-against-multichoice\",\"name\":\"Only president can fix prices \u2013 Court dismisses FCCPC suit against Multichoice - 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