By Femi Ogunshola/Aderogba George
Abuja – Consumer Protection Council (CPC), has concluded plans to take consumer rights awareness campaign to the grassroots to awaken the consciousness of Nigerians to their rights.
Mrs Fatimah Ojo, Assistant Chief Quality Assurance, Development Department of CPC, made the statement on Thursday in Abuja at a breakfast meeting with customers’ service heads organised by Nigeria Customer Service Award.
Ojo said that CPC was committed to ensuring that every consumer was educated concerning his rights, responsibility and obligation on consumable and non-consumable products.
She said that the council was changing its strategy and seeking ways to educate consumers at the grassroots to know their rights.
“To achieve this, we are proposing to have local government and state offices.
“For now we have only seven offices, one in each in the six geo-political zones and the head office in Abuja.’’
Ojo explained that if the council could not establish offices in all local government areas due to paucity of funds, it would seek other avenues to reach out to the grassroots.
She said that the CPC intends to go from one village to another and from one town to the other to inform, educate and enlighten the people about their rights.
“We can also leverage on the various festivals across the country like Eyo in Lagos, Argungun in Kebbi and yam festival to educate customers about their rights,’’ she said.
She said that CPC was doing a lot to sensitise consumers on their rights through radio and television programmes and campaigns in schools.
Ojo expressed dismay that with all the efforts being made by the council, consumers were yet to understand their rights.
She said that the council had been responsive and responding to consumers’ complaints, adding that its desire was to attend to everybody.
She expressed concern at the staff strength of the council, saying it is low compared with the population of the country
“Our staff strength is less than 300; you don’t expect us to be able to meet every complaint.
“Sometimes, we have many consumers complaining to the council; we work hard to ensure that the complaints are treated with dispatch,’’ Ojo said. (NAN)