The Lagos State
House of Assembly last week Wednesday held a public hearing on a bill for a law
to establish the consumer protection agency, provide for the protection of the
interest of consumers, settlement of consumer disputes and for connected
purposes. When the law becomes fully operational, the agency's objectives shall
include: to promote and protect the rights of the consumers which includes but
not limited to the right to be protected against marketing of goods and
services which are hazardous to life.
It shall have the
right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and
price of goods and services as the case may be so as to protect the consumers
against unfair trade practices.
It shall also have
the right to seek redress against unfair trade practices or unscrupulous
exploitation of consumers and the right to consumer education and awareness.
Parts of the agency's functions shall be to ensure speedy redress of consumers'
complaints through negotiation, mediation and conciliation; advise the state
government on consumer protection policies.
Seek ways and
means of removing or eliminating from the market hazardous products and causing
offenders to replace such products with safer products; initiate investigations
in its own name whether upon the receipt of complaint or not; publish from time
to time the list of products, the consumption and sale of which have been
banned, withdrawn, restricted or not approved by the appropriate Federal or
State Government agencies.
The Agency shall
encourage trade industry and professional associations to develop and enforce
in their various fields, quality standards designed to safeguard the interest
of consumers; cause where necessary quality tests to be conducted on a consumer
product. Deputy Speaker of the House, Taiwo Kolawole while delivering an
address on behalf of the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, said the House has a
tradition of holding public hearings before passing any bill into law.
According to
Kolawole, "this particular bill is of special interest because it is a
private member bill sponsored by the Speaker. The bill, when passed into law,
will touch every Lagosian life. If we don't protect the consumer, we will be
exposing them to various dangers.
"But for the
love of Lagosians the Speaker has at heart, he decided to introduce the bill.
So we are expecting your contributions and we want to assure you that your
contributions will form the basis of this bill," he said.
Stakeholders
present at the hearing pointed out some loopholes in the bill, calling on the
House to rectify the discovered ambiguities. According to the Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Wale Raji, "our
Ministry has a committee on consumer protection in place, with the Commissioner
as the Chairman. We have handled so many cases and we have recorded a lot
success." Raji frowned at Section 9 of the bill, which talked about the
establishment and composition of consumer protection committees in local
government, saying "it is cumbersome and costly to have committees in all
the 57 councils in the state. Ifeoma
Okwosa, a representative of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria
(ICAN), said the Agency should not be allowed to accept gifts as stated by
Section 45 of the bill. According to her, "if the agency is allowed to
accept gifts, it would make it to be biased in taking certain decisions."