Towards a Nigerian Competition Law Regime : An Appraisal of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018

Competition Law otherwise known as Anti-trust law can be rightly described as the main driver for building competitiveness, innovation, technological advancement and economic development in a free market economy. An essential and critical part of every market liberalization programme. Like most African countries, Nigeria in the early 2000s sought to pursue a market liberalization programme aimed at rescuing essentials service and most sectors of the nation’s economy from the control of national corporations and monopolies. This it sought to achieve through the instrumentality of deregulation and privatization. However, in spite of this move, the nation was yet to reap the fruits and benefits of a free market economy as it seeks, owing to the absence of a competition law. Rather, the nation experienced what can be rightly described as a change of baton from an era of state/national corporations led monopoly, to that led by the private sector. To this end, led by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and other stakeholders, several attempts were made at enacting a law regulating competition and monopolies. These attempts brought about several bills which failed to scale through the legislative process for varying reasons. Still determined at regulating competition and monopoly, another approach was devised. Competition principles and clauses began to find their way into sector specific legislations, with such sector regulator vested with the responsibility of enforcement. While this approach recorded some success, it did not make for the establishment of a competition regime. Hence, the enactment of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018 which among other things sought to promote and maintain competitive markets in the Nigerian economy. This work therefore examines the Act; prohibited anti-competitive and regulated conducts, administration and enforcement mechanism all of which make up for the Nigerian competition law regime