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    Monday, May 27, 2013

    LAGOS ASSEMBLY HOLDS PUBLIC HEARING ON CONSUMER PROTECTION AGENCY



    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complaint or not; publish from time to time the list of products, the consumption and sale of which have been banned, withdrawn, restricted or not approved by the appropriate Federal or State Government agencies.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."
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