The Director General, Consumer Protection Council, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, has announced that the agency is set to use all within its enabling powers to ensure manufacturers and business owners entrench guarantee and warranty policy on their goods and services. In this interview with ABIOLA ODUTOLA, the human right lawyer also disclosed that the council is determined to ensure that the infringement on consumers’ right is curbed. Excerpts:
What is the role of CPC in the diversification of the economy?
The Council observed that the success of the drive of the country to diversify its economy would hinge on the quality of products and the entrenchment of guarantee and warranty in the country’s business culture. If this business culture is not injected and accepted by all stakeholders, the efforts of the Federal Government to diversify the economy would be truncated.
As the FG begins to push for diversification, which will lead to increased production, sustaining the interest of Nigerian consumers in made-in-Nigeria products will hinge on quality and entrenchment of guarantee and warranty in our business culture. That is why we have initiated our 3 Rs’ campaign. That means for every goods and services that do not meet the required specification, such must be Replaced, Repaired or consumers’ money Refunded.
Does that mean businesses owners also have a role to play in the diversification of the economy aside from producing made-in-Nigeria goods?
For government to successfully diversify the nation’s economy, businesses in Nigeria must work hard to earn the confidence of consumers, both home and abroad. But consumer confidence can only be earned when businesses produce quality products and services and adopt best practices in their relationship with consumers, particularly with respect to ensuring value for money.
With the influx of substandard products in Nigeria and warnings by several manufacturers that their goods should not be returned if seal is broken, how achievable is this vision?It is achievable because businesses must, as a basic minimum, adhere to the tenets of guarantee and warranty. We observed that manufacturers and distributors had not only shortchanged Nigerian consumers over time by their failure to honour their products or services’ implied guarantee or warranty, but had also abused consumer rights with ouster clauses, such as “no refund of money after payment,” and “goods received in good condition cannot be returned” on their receipts. All this has to stop and we are addressing them now. If such cases are reported to any of our offices across the country, CPC will ensure such consumer smiles at last. It is either the goods are repaired, replaced or the money is refunded.
What steps are you taking to ensure desired results are achieved in the new campaign, considering the considerable number of manufacturers across the country?
Already, we are engaging the manufacturers. Earlier in the week, we met key industry operators in automobile, electrical/electronics, heavy duty equipment, on-line markets and superstores subsectors of the nation’s economy at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos.
We shared our vision with them and they agreed that they will support us and ensure their consumers are adequately compensated if need be. We won’t stop at that, we would still meet and discuss with them at different fora till we achieve the desired result because it is totally unacceptable for a producer, distributor or trader to attempt to completely vitiate the right of the consumer to redress by caveats of this nature.
What do you think is responsible for the incessant complaints of consumers over goods and services?
The near absence of after-sales service culture among businesses in Nigeria has made it almost impossible for businesses to resolve basic consumer complaints without being compelled to do so by the Council. Half of the complaints received by CPC should normally have been resolved at the level of the seller without necessarily involving the council. At the CPC, it is a common occurrence to see businesses invent reasons to justify why consumers should not derive the desired benefits from their purchases.
What was the state of consumer rights violations when you were appointed as the DG in 2013 and how far have you gone?
When I took over, I found that there was the myriad of consumer abuses in every sector. If you take the telecoms sector, there were issues and still areunsolicited messages, drop calls and poor network. If you look at aviation, there are flight delays and cancellations without redress. In the banking sector, there were lots of issues with the Automated Teller Machines at that time as that was just coming in at that point, and currently we are trending with bank charges; in the power sector then, the unbundling was just coming up when I took office. But prior to that, there were issues with PHCN’s lack of adequate supply of electricity; there were abuses all over the place.
It was a huge challenge to be able to come up with a focused intervention that will be productive and will be time driven. Nigerians are very impatient and you need to come up with a strategy that covers the whole country with speed and spread. So, basically, I would say that every sector had issues with consumer abuses at the time I took office but all that are being addressed now.
What are you doing about several complaints by the banking public of arbitrary hike in bank charges in the financial sector?
There is a limit to our interventions if the charges are approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria. But what we would be looking at is whether the banks operate charges in line with CBN regulation, and we do have occasions where the banks have stepped out of boundary as provided by the apex bank. So, we are working towards educating everybody on the approved charges. If we do that, it will also reduce the tendency for banks to over-shoot those charges because they know everybody knows exactly what amount has been approved for various activities.
