Human rights lawyer, Monday Ubani, says he expects the Federal Government to obey a Lagos Federal High Court order compelling the government to fix prices of goods and petroleum products within seven days.
Ubani, previously serving as Chairman of the Section of Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), made these remarks during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Thursday.
He emphasized that government regulation of commodity prices is a necessary measure.
The lawyer said, “The government must (fix prices of goods). The court has now ordered within seven days. A government that is interested in making sure that the lives of people are better will intervene in this particular process and obey the court judgement and say let’s now begin to fix prices on items and that is the best thing for them to do.
“And I think that a government that loves Nigeria would do that. I don’t hope that they will go and appeal this particular judgement.”
The senior lawyer regretted that the failure of the government to fix the prices of goods and petroleum products is making sellers take undue advantage of consumers.
“There was some level of government intervention in the prices of things in Nigeria. It got to a stage where the government did not in any way show interest in the issue of inflation, in the issue of price fixing and the law has always been there,” he said.
Reports state that the Federal High Court, situated in Lagos, issued a directive on Wednesday, instructing the Federal Government to establish the prices of commodities and petroleum products within seven days.
Presiding over the case, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa mandated the Nigerian government to set prices for items such as milk, flour, salt, sugar, bicycles and their components, matches, motorcycles and their parts, motor vehicles and their parts, alongside petroleum products including diesel, petrol motor spirit (PMS), and kerosene.