Developing a National Consumer Protection Policy

Consumer Protection is a practice as dated as trading although not codified until John Kennedy’s Bill of Consumer Rights Declaration in the 1962. Global recognition for the need to regulate interaction between product and service providers and their consumers to ensure a safe, fair, just and equitable environment where the vulnerable is protected from exploitation, has since exploded in the past 4 decades and has become a sophisticated and technical discipline; advanced enough to have gained recognition in universities in the west and a distinct curriculum and certification structure.

In simple terms however Consumer Protection is the process by which governments seek to protect its citizens in a capitalist economy against probable exploitation. It is a tool also employed to ensure equitable economies of scale between a trader’s guaranteed premise to maximize profit and the consumer’s rights to consume without fear of exploitation, knowing that the two could overlap to the detriment of the consumer. Such is the perceived potency of consumer protection that it is a recognized indication of the level of development available in a country. An effective consumer protection structure suggests progressive development in that society.

As a socio-economic science, Consumer Protection serves multiple purposes: It is essential to the growth of commerce and industry in a nation as it seeks to standardize quality of products and services which in turn guarantees value for money spent, thus encouraging more spending in a confident trade environment. It is a measure of the value of life within a society since when properly utilized; it can increase life expectancy by eliminating and or reducing hazardous commercial practices that endanger life and property.

A well formulated consumer policy structure could contribute immensely to poverty alleviation by curbing losses and wastes due to exploitation thus improving the purchasing power of the consumer. When effectively implemented, consumer protection ensures a healthy, protected and motivated workforce by minimizing their exposure to social, commercial and environmental hazards which can debilitate an economy.
It is an engaging tool for communication, information and education; It is also effective in guaranteeing returns on investment thus encouraging entrepreneurship, business development and innovation because it helps sanitize the marketplace of rogue traders and substandard products thus creating a business friendly trade environment where genuine businesses can thrive. I could go on.

It is therefore very shocking that Nigeria, with its vantage position as the largest market in Africa is yet to define a National Consumer Policy almost 50 years since independence! Rather, we have snippets of laws and regulations in diverse sectors tucked in as afterthoughts and since most regulations protecting the consumers were not the main purpose of those acts, their implementation has also been relegated to the background.

Though the Consumer Protection Act of 1992 gave birth to the Consumer Protection Council, the council on its own cannot meet the enormous challenges in the marketplace. Consumer Protection requires a multi-pronged approach to deliver on its universal objective, which is; ‘to protect the consumer from the exploitation inherent in a capitalist system”. While the CPC strives to make a difference, it is restrained by the inadequate framework in which it operates.

A holistic National Consumer Policy should have 3 main functions; consumer education, consumer protection and consumer or customer care. It would also balance consumer rights to protection with the need to encourage businesses to thrive within the economy. These functions will determine the management structure required to deliver on its defined objectives; for instance the consumer education objective will require the development of a consumer curriculum as civic education in primary and secondary schools but it might also need for a module on consumer law in Nigerian Law Schools as effective implementation would eventually involve the courts.

Then there is the need for public education on consumer rights and responsibilities via the mass media. Implementing the education function would also mandate manufacturers and service providers to disclose accurate information to consumers to encourage informed choices, and so on. A consumer education policy must thus be implemented across various sectors for it to be effective; so also would protection, care and business support and regulations.

Nigeria, as a signatory to the UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection (1999) is mandated to develop, fund and implement a national policy on consumer issues and protection. It however demands an unflinching commitment from the Presidency to be effective or else, we will continue to pay lip service to good governance and consumer protection. The President needs to understand the pivotal role of a National Consumer Policy to the achievement of his 7- Point Agenda (though I seem to agree with the CBN governor that we should scale down to 2) and accord it the priority it deserves.

The National Assembly also must appreciate the need to provide legislation adequate to meet the needs of the Nigerian consumer. The Consumer Protection Act (1992) is obsolete and irrelevant to the dynamism of a technology driven global economy. The Judiciary must re orient to provide structures that make redress easy and accessible to the consumer. Manufacturers and service providers must commit to effective consumer and customer structures that protect the consumer’s right to choose and also get value for money. Consumer Protection must be a national project.

Nigeria needs a National Competition and Anti-Trust Law to check high handed mergers, acquisitions, price fixing and monopolies in various sectors especially telecoms, IT and utilities. We require the establishment of a National Consumer and Competition Commission (NCCC) to coordinate the various structures that would ensure cohesive implementation of the National Consumer Policy which must be statutory funded from the Treasury to avoid the bureaucracies and politics of ministerial management.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, the Consumer Protection Council, and other necessary organs essential to protection should be domiciled in the NCCC. We need to establish a National Better Business Bureau as well as encourage the formation of national associations for various vocations and professions to achieve a Code of Conduct strategy that would ensure self regulation for the benefit of the consumer. We also must encourage consumers to engage the system by forming pressure groups and NGOs to help the process.

The Nigerian Police needs a Consumer Protection Directorate to retrain and enlighten its personnel on enforcement of consumer rights. We need to empower the consumer to be confident to insist on his or her rights in every transaction by providing access to information on what those rights are. A national Consumer Call Center would be a worthwhile investment to eliminate the bureaucracy of government and guarantee the consumer instant contact with the national structures to protect him or her. The options of implementation are limitless but we must define first the Policy.

This is probably the greatest opportunity for President Yar’adua to prove his commitment to the development, protection and welfare of the Nigerian citizen. A presidential commitment to a National Consumer Policy would impact every aspect of the economy and level of society. It will aid eradication of poverty, create new jobs, encourage more local and foreign investment and improve the quality and standard of life for the average Nigerian.

We need to open a national discourse on developing a National Consumer Policy with a Stakeholders Meeting. Such a meeting must however be presided over by President Yar’adua himself or else, it will become another exercise in futility like the moribund Re branding Nigeria Project. The Presidency alone has the required jurisdiction to implement such a national policy as it must affect every aspect of our national life. No minister, ministry, agency or bureau can make it happen. My fear though is, does the President realize the importance of a National Consumer Policy?