By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja – The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has charged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders on the need to take joint responsibility in ensuring increased consumer education in the country.
Mr Babatunde Irukera, the Director-General of CPC made the call at a forum for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) organised by the council on Tuesday in Abuja.
“I think that we need to engage organisations more in consumer protection; the government and civil society have been subsidising the industry and that is wrong.
“CPC is almost like a multi-company help desk and that is not sustainable, we want to become a secondary level dispute resolution mechanism and must make that difference abundantly clear.
“Companies know what the people want and develop multiple channels for dissemination to get their information to the people.
“We must take joint responsibility for educating consumers. We can tell you (CSOs) what we will like the people to know, you have the skills to send the message to them.
“Going forward, for us to approve any sales promotion, they must include information on the product about who to call or what process to take when you are dissatisfied.
“This is the partnership that we require and it is really about the people at the end of the day, so I beg of you, let’s do it together, so help us so that we can succeed.’’
Irukera said that in ensuring that the CSOs played their role in consumer protection, the council would apply enforcement model and penalise companies that repeatedly dissatisfy their customers.
He said that a shared burden of consumer protection was something that must continually be emphasised and highlighted.
He said that CPC was already doing a lot toward ensuring the protection of consumers in the country but a lot still needed to be done.
On funding, he said that CPC was conversing with the government to boost the council’s budgetary allocation which would help support CSOs do their work of consumer protection.
In her remarks, the UNIDO representative, Mrs Abimbola Uzoma, commended CPC in their efforts toward ensuring consumer satisfaction and protection.
“What CPC is doing is very good. The work of CPC is vital but looking at the size of Nigeria, it is huge and CPC cannot do all alone.
“The problem is that most Nigerians do not know their rights; assuming every Nigerian knows their right, you can imagine the volume of complaints that will come to CPC on a daily basis.
“So the best way out is to reach out to the CSOs, the NGOs and everybody who can help reach the grassroots and I think that is the purpose of this forum.
“It aims at giving awareness and sensitisation to different organisations that will help consumers know their rights, go through the right channel and get what is expected from the manufacturers,’’ Uzoma said.
She therefore reiterated UNIDO’s readiness to continue to support CPC in the protection of consumers in the country.
Mrs Shola Salako-Ajulo, the President, Consumer Advocacy of Nigeria, said the move by the CPC to partner with CSOs was a welcomed development as “CPC is the big shelf for consumer protection’’.
“What we do is in support of the work that CPC is doing, we have waited for them for a long time to take the initiative to help us do the work well.
“So it is a good development for us that the new CPC management is taking this initiative to do what is needed for us to have the kind of impact that is required for consumer protection in Nigeria,’’ she said.(NAN)