Former FCCPC boss, Irukera, speaks: I leave behind a strong institutional advocate

Immediate past Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), Barr. Babatunde Irukera said that he was leaving behind a strong institutional advocate in the Commission.

Irukera said this via a post on the social media platform, X, formerly Twitter, in reaction to the recent sack of Chief Executive Officers of the FCCPC and the Bureau of Public Enterprises by the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday.

Having served as the Director General in the then Consumer Protection Council, since May 2017, and later renamed as the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Irukera said he was grateful for the opportunity to have served the Nigerian consumers.

Irukera wrote: “Grateful for the opportunity to have served the incredibly vibrant and loyal Nigerian citizens/consumers. They deserve a better deal. I leave behind a strong institutional advocate in the FCCPC and an outstanding team of soldiers who work there daily for the cause of fair markets.”

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At a strategic media engagement in Abuja in December, Babatunde Irukera enlightened his audience on how at the helm of affairs in the FCCPC, he had turned around the fortunes of the the Commission from dependent on government subvention to a self funding Agency.

In the year 2023, the FCCPC generated over N56 billion, where 90 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was obtained through payment of penalties by defaulting companies in the country.

He said that the FCCPC remitted N22.4billion to the federal government.

This is what the EVC said concerning revenue generation and enforcement in the Commission:

“In 2023, our internally generated revenue is already N56bn, and we have remitted to the government N22.4 billion, and for me, what this demonstrates is the real possibility for our country. Our possibilities are absolutely limitless.

“We don’t approve a single product. We don’t take fees for registration of anything nor support or sponsorship from companies.

“All our revenue, at least 90 percent, is from penalties. We believe that the market should be unlocked and that business should be allowed to operate well and should thrive.

“But we also believe in consequence, and businesses must be held accountable. If we don’t hold people accountable, we can’t promote good behaviour.

“Prior to 2017, the FCCPC had a budget of N1bn from the Federal Government. Of this amount, N511 million was personal cost and salaries of 240 employees at the time.

“What was released was N796 million. Our internally generated revenue was N154 million.

“In 2018, the agency had a huge jump in the budget from the treasury, and it got a budget of N3.3 billion, and that is the largest, of which N2.1 billion was released.

“By 2019, the budget of the agency went back from N3.3bn down to N1.3 billion. Out of that, 518 million was personnel cost.

“In that year, when we started the reforms, the agency made a total Internally generated revenue of N377 million, which was unprecedented as the highest at the time. But we were growing the agency as best as we could.