Investigate unfair airline competition, CIOs, federal officials demand

The House of Representatives on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to investigate what it called predatory and predatory pricing practices against Nigerian companies by their foreign counterparts operating in Nigeria.

The motion moved by the member representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency, Lagos State, Babajimi Benson, noted that international business ethics and standards such as the United Nations Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the ISO 26000 standard for social responsibility, among others, “require that businesses operate fairly, soundly and efficiently while ensuring competitive business practices in the operation of their businesses at home and abroad.”

Benson stressed that a fair and healthy competitive market promotes economic efficiency and protects the interests and welfare of consumers by providing a wide choice of high-quality products and services at competitive prices.

He said: “Some Nigerian companies have suffered from harsh and unfair competition and business dealings with their foreign counterparts,” noting that “Before Air Peace Airlines launched the Lagos-London route for less than one million naira, foreign airlines like British Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, etc. were selling their one-way air tickets for as much as four million naira.

“As soon as Air Peace Airlines started selling its tickets at a lower price, other airlines lowered their prices well below those of Air Peace Airlines, allegedly with the aim of thwarting Air Peace Airlines’ operations on the London route.”

The lawmaker also claimed that Dangote Oil Refinery and Petrochemicals Company “is currently frustrated by international oil companies in Nigeria by denying them crude and resorting to other unfair business practices, thereby threatening its survival.”

He also noted that “whenever they agree to sell crude to Dangote Refinery, the IOCs sell at high prices, well above the market price, thereby forcing Dangote to import crude from countries as far away as the United States, with the high costs that this entails.”

He continued: “Apart from these predatory pricing practices and other unethical business practices adopted by foreign airlines and international airlines, Nigerian businesses have also been subjected to other unfair treatments both at home and abroad to disrupt their smooth operations.

“The House is concerned that the objective of these foreign multinationals seems to be to ensure that Nigeria remains at their mercy by only engaging their services or exporting crude oil and importing refined petroleum products, thereby leaving Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa perpetually facing unemployment and poverty, while they create wealth for themselves at our expense.

“We are concerned that these unfair and adverse corporate acts have led to the closure of some once thriving businesses that provided better alternatives to Nigerian customers at cheaper prices,” adding that if left unchecked, “Nigerian companies like Air Peace Airlines will continue to suffer from these unfair competitive practices which will negatively affect their operations and the ability of customers to obtain quality services at affordable prices.”

Following the adoption of the motion, the House, in a plenary session chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, urged the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to immediately put an end to unfair trade practices being perpetrated by some foreign companies operating in Nigeria.

It also mandated the aviation, commerce and petroleum (upstream and downstream) committees to investigate the circumstances surrounding predatory pricing practices and unethical commercial competitive behaviour by foreign airlines and international airlines, and to report back within four weeks with a view to further legislative action.