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Daniel Adaji
The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT) in Abuja has upheld the N190m penalty imposed on Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), dismissing a last-minute attempt to halt judgment through a proposed settlement agreement.
Delivering judgment on Monday, the Tribunal, chaired by Justice Thomas Okosun, ruled that NBC’s efforts to introduce settlement terms after final arguments had been submitted amounted to an illegal attempt to “arrest judgment.” The panel firmly rejected the move, describing it as “unknown to Nigerian law.”
“The Tribunal cannot indulge in private compromises; we must uphold our constitutional duty to the public,” Okosun declared, adding that the FCCPC’s role as a public regulator cannot be negotiated away through backdoor arrangements.
“This undermines the FCCPC’s role as a regulator,” he said.
The case stems from a dispute between NBC—the bottling franchise holder for Coca-Cola in Nigeria—and the FCCPC, over allegations of deceptive product labeling.
The Commission alleged that NBC and Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd (CCNL) misled consumers by marketing the “Original Taste, Less Sugar” variant as being identical to the classic “Original Taste” Coca-Cola.
In its defence, NBC argued that the labelling issues, particularly regarding the zero-sugar variant of Limca Lime-Lemon, were not intentional but the result of a production error at its Abuja facility. The company maintained that the mislabeling was isolated and accidental.
“The mislabeling was accidental, not deliberate,” NBC stated in its amended appeal.
NBC’s legal team, led by Senior Advocate Oluseye Opasanya, challenged the FCCPC’s findings, calling them baseless and outside the Commission’s statutory jurisdiction. Opasanya further argued that proving willful intent would require inspection of all eight of NBC’s factories across Nigeria, not just the Abuja plant.
However, FCCPC counsel Abimbola Ojenike insisted that the Commission acted within its legal authority, citing violations of multiple sections of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), including Sections 17(2), 116, and 124.
He urged the Tribunal to reject NBC’s appeal and uphold the penalty.
The Tribunal agreed with the FCCPC, ruling that the company’s conduct was “clearly misleading” and breached Nigerian consumer protection laws. It affirmed the Commission’s authority to penalize violations and ordered NBC to pay the N190m fine within 60 days.
This ruling mirrors a similar decision by the Tribunal recently, where it upheld a fine of $220m imposed by the FCCPC against Meta Platforms Inc. and its subsidiary WhatsApp. In that case, the FCCPC penalized the tech giants for breaching user privacy and failing to comply with data protection standards. The Tribunal’s decision in that instance also reinforced the FCCPC’s regulatory authority and commitment to consumer rights.
In the NBC matter, the Tribunal criticized the Commission’s sudden reversal in accepting a settlement that waived the fine entirely, stating that such action contradicted the FCCPC’s mandate.
“The FCCPC’s acceptance of a settlement after final address conflicted with its public regulatory mandate,” the Tribunal noted.
Despite NBC’s assertion that the matter had been resolved amicably with the FCCPC, the Tribunal made clear that legal procedures cannot be bypassed.
“Entering into a settlement after judgment was reserved exceeded the powers of the FCCPC,” Okosun emphasised.
NBC’s appeal was dismissed for lacking merit, and the Tribunal’s decision now sets a precedent reinforcing the limits of post-judgment settlements in regulatory litigation.