The courtroom was packed with anticipation in Abuja, but by the end of the hearing, hope had slipped away for nearly a thousand Nigerian DStv and GOtv subscribers.
A class action suit led by Uche Diala, joined by 961 fellow subscribers, sought to challenge MultiChoice Nigeria over what they called arbitrary and exploitative subscription hikes in November 2023 and May 2024.
Their demands?
A rollback of the increases, and a shift to a pay-as-you-view model—similar to what MultiChoice offers in other countries like South Africa.
But their legal challenge hit a wall.
MultiChoice fired back with a preliminary objection, insisting that pricing decisions were not within the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal’s (CCPT) jurisdiction.
According to their lawyers, the claimants had also jumped the gun by filing as a class action without first securing the tribunal’s leave.
Justice Thomas Okosun, who chaired the three-member panel, agreed. He declared that pricing and tariff regulation lie squarely under the President’s authority, as outlined by the Price Control Act—not within the tribunal’s reach.
“The issue of price regulation is a matter that falls within the exclusive purview of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Justice Okosun emphasized.
Although the tribunal conceded it has jurisdiction in some regulatory disputes under the FCCPC Act, it made clear this does not extend to blanket price control—unless market dominance abuse is proven, which the claimants failed to do.
While the tribunal noted that the claimants had a common cause, it nonetheless upheld MultiChoice’s objection and dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
“This suit is accordingly struck out for want of jurisdiction,” the panel ruled, echoing a precedent set just weeks earlier.
Back on May 8, the Federal High Court in Abuja had similarly sided with MultiChoice, ruling that the FCCPC had no legal authority to fix or freeze pay-TV subscription rates.
For Nigerian subscribers seeking relief from spiraling prices, that’s now two strikes in court—with no clear path to a third.
