Tunj Bello

Tunji Bello’s Quiet Revolution at the FCCPC

In an era where public institutions are often dismissed as slow, toothless, or captured, one agency is quietly rewriting the narrative: the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). And at the heart of this transformation is its Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Tunji Bello.

Appointed in July 2024 by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Bello inherited an agency with a bold legal framework, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018, which required dynamic leadership to translate statutory authority into real consumer welfare and market integrity.

Less than a year later, the FCCPC is not only visible but respected, even by corporate abusers who once acted with impunity.

The FCCPC’s regulatory and litigation strategies under Mr. Bello have been disciplined and purposeful; strategic, not excessive; protective of public interest, not institutional ego.

In April 2025, the Commission secured a landmark judgment against global tech giant Meta, owners of Facebook and WhatsApp, for privacy violations, discriminatory practices, and abuse of market dominance. That a Nigerian regulator could be challenged by Silicon Valley and prevail sent a strong global signal that Nigeria will no longer tolerate digital exploitation.

Similarly, recent judicial pronouncements in cases involving MTN Nigeria, the Nigerian Bottling Company/Coca-Cola, and MultiChoice Nigeria have reaffirmed the FCCPC’s regulatory and investigative powers, cementing its authority to protect consumer rights and ensure fair competition across all sectors.

Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) headquarters

Notably, the case instituted against the Commission by MultiChoice Nigeria tested the outer limits of regulatory oversight in a liberalised economy. When MultiChoice sought to halt the Commission’s regulatory action through litigation, the Federal High Court not only dismissed the suit in its entirety, but also took the opportunity to affirm the FCCPC’s investigative authority under sections 17 and 72 of the FCCPA. While acknowledging that price control under section 88 requires presidential delegation, the Court held that the FCCPC is fully empowered to investigate exploitative pricing and to prevent dominant players from imposing excessive prices to the detriment of consumers.

This judgment, together with other landmark decisions, reinforces the Commission’s constitutional and statutory powers, dispels public misrepresentations, and solidifies the FCCPC’s reputation as a principled defender of consumer and market interests.

Yet, perhaps most impressive is the institutional clarity Bello has brought. He has consistently explained that the FCCPC is not a price control agency but ensures that prices are not the result of exploitative practices.

The agency’s actions under Bello speak louder than words. Shortly after he assumed the helms at the FCCPC, the Commission led stakeholder consultations with manufacturers, service providers, and market associations to promote pricing transparency and discourage exploitative behaviour. The stakeholder engagements in Uyo, Kano, Lagos, and Abuja exposed price-fixing cartels and profiteering practices. A striking example was a revelation about

an investigation that exposed wanton exploitative pricing in Nigerian markets: a Ninja brand fruit blender, which retails for approximately N140,000 at a supermarket chain in Texas, USA, was being sold for N944,999 at a supermarket in Lagos. This represented a price inflation of over 500 percent. When an FCCPC undercover officer visited the same supermarket just two weeks earlier, the same blender was displayed with a price tag of N750,000.

Beyond price-related issues, the Commission intensified its interventions in key sectors.

In the electricity sector, the FCCPC halted attempts by Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies to pass the cost of replacing obsolete or faulty meters to consumers and to forcefully migrate them to arbitrary estimated billing. Citing NERC Order No. NERC/246/2021, which mandates free and timely meter replacements, the FCCPC ensured that consumers were not made to pay for meters categorised as obsolete or faulty, through no fault of their own. This directive effectively spared thousands of households from unjust meter replacements and protected them from unfair estimated billing. To further support consumer redress, the Commission also introduced a dedicated hotline for electricity complaints (08119877785).

In the banking sector, the FCCPC addressed widespread consumer frustrations over persistent network failures that impeded access to funds. Citing relevant sections of the FCCPA, the Commission warned financial institutions that such service failures constituted legal violations.

And it did not stop there. The telecommunications and aviation sectors also came under scrutiny. The Commission sided with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to cap proposed tariff hikes by telecom operators at 50 percent, half of the 100 percent initially demanded, while demanding measurable improvements in service quality. Simultaneously, the FCCPC opened investigations into possible exploitative ticket pricing by Air Peace and other airlines.

In the digital money lending space, the Commission continues to lead a coordinated, multi-agency enforcement initiative targeting exploitative lending practices. In partnership with global intermediaries like Google, the FCCPC continues to delist unregistered lenders and enforce interim regulations that protect consumers and support smaller fintechs from market foreclosure. To date, over 46 non-compliant platforms have been delisted, with enforcement efforts actively expanding to detect and disrupt emerging violators.

In the retail sector, the FCCPC directed supermarkets and large stores to display clear, visible price tags on goods, eliminating surprise charges at checkout and empowering consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

Product safety and anti-counterfeiting also featured prominently on the Commission’s enforcement agenda. It intercepted the import and sale of unfortified Brazilian sugar brands such as Grupo Moreno and Terous, which lacked NAFDAC registration and posed serious health risks.

In Abuja, the Commission sealed shops rebagging illicit rice and fraudulently selling it as premium “Royal Stallion” brands.

In the bottled water industry, the FCCPC shut down Fabsi Table Water after tests confirmed microbial contamination and the absence of expiry dates on packaging.

Bello has fostered sustained stakeholder engagement and is building regulatory bridges across sectors. He led the FCCPC to sign a long-overdue memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), ending years of regulatory ambiguity and ensuring more consistent oversight of the sector. The MoU, a partnership envisioned since the FCCPA’s enactment in 2018, formalises inter-agency cooperation, streamlines overlapping mandates, and reinforces consumer protection in the communications sector.

He is also building strategic alliances with various bodies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to tackle market abuse, the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) to reform the travel sector, and state governments to expose exploitative market associations. These collaborations underscore that effective governance requires partnership, not isolation.

Bello has resolved long-standing issues with major corporate actors like MTN Nigeria and NBC/Coca-Cola. These resolutions reflect a new regulatory tone; firm, fair, and focused on sustainable compliance rather than adversarial enforcement.

Under Mr Bello’s leadership, the FCCPC has undergone significant internal revitalisation. He has prioritised operational renewal, streamlined compliance procedures, and reawakened staff morale. Departments are now performance-monitored against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure accountability and measurable outcomes, resulting in a more agile and disciplined organisation.

A major hallmark of the Bello-led FCCPC is its emphasis on empowering consumers. The Commission upgraded and automated its complaint resolution portal to ensure speedy resolution of complaints. It reinvigorated its National Young Consumer Contest, its “catch them young” programme aimed at cultivating generations of informed and assertive consumers. By targeting primary and secondary school students with creative competitions and consumer rights education, the FCCPC is laying the foundation for a more conscious and participatory consumer culture across Nigeria.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Commission launched a nationwide consumer awareness campaign of unprecedented scale and visibility. This included the “Say No to Price Exploitation” campaign, prominently featured on billboards, buses, radio, and television, as well as corporate advertisements across major broadcast platforms. A standout element was a widely viewed television commercial that spotlighted the harassment of citizens by digital money lenders, reinforcing the FCCPC’s commitment to consumer dignity and market fairness.

All these efforts support the broader objectives of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. By fighting price manipulation and monopolistic behaviour, the FCCPC is helping to stabilise markets and alleviate inflation. Its interventions in electricity, telecoms, and financial services are improving affordability and access, which are key pillars of social protection. Meanwhile, its MoUs with sector regulators demonstrate a commitment to reducing bureaucratic duplication and increasing regulatory efficiency.

Critics may ask, can this momentum be sustained? That is a fair question. But the most compelling answer lies in the Commission’s undeniable track record since July 2024.

Tunji Bello may not be on magazine covers, but under his leadership, the Commission is everywhere that matters; on the streets, in the markets, at tribunals, in your electricity bills, in your bank charges, and on your purchase receipts. It is the quiet regulator that refuses to stay silent when rules are broken.

In a system where impunity often reigns, the FCCPC has become a visible force of accountability: firm, fearless, respectful and focused.

*This piece was first published on pages 42 and 43 of the June 2025 hard copy of TheNEWS magazine