Few experiences affect me as powerfully as my visit to the Nigerian High Commission UK Consular Section on Northumberland in London earlier this week. I had just concluded a business meeting with a friend and while waiting to go to our next appointment, he needed to renew his family’s Nigerian passports and as we were close to the High Commission, I went him. We were ushered into the basement office of the Consular Section with minimal or no security checks and were faced with one of the most chaotic process I have encountered in a long time.
To begin with, the layout of the office was like some regular tax office where little or no effort was made to assist you with understanding the process. The room was too small and appeared very claustrophobic by the sheer number of people packed in that small space. There was absolutely no order, floor plan nor information desk (the floor space was too small anyway so they had to lump all the services together).
After asking other applicants, we discovered that the only means of payment allowed was by Postal Orders though the High Commission’s website listed an option to pay by card. Postal Orders! I last heard of them in 1977 when we paid for Common Entrance Examinations into Secondary Schools. So off we go to the nearest Post Office which was at least 10 minutes walk. At the Post Office, it took the Royal Mail staff to clearly explain the procedures for the High Commission payment. My friend paid 12 pounds in commission for the postal orders…
While the postal order system might have been in an attempt to manage fraud, why can’t the High Commission collaborate with Nigerian banks in the UK to receive the payments on its behalf so applicants can have the options of paying online to the bank and print out receipts which they would attach to their applications? I am sure the banks would gladly set up a window on the premises to collect cash if necessary thus saving the applicants the incessant trips to the post office and an additional 10% commission; (free income for Her Majesty’s Royal Mail that Nigerians are made to pay by their own government!)
Back to the Consular Section, the chaos was in full swing. I could not understand the logic that informed the fact that visas were issued from the same hall where citizens apply for passports! Does that mean that the Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry considered citizens as equal to visitors seeking to visit our nation? Is the High Commission so underfunded it could not separate those obviously distinct functions? What benefit do I have as a citizen when I don’t get any preference at my country’s foreign office?
This fact had many grave implications for me. First, it was a testimonial to the fact that Nigeria’s immigration structures are massively compromised globally (I understand the Embassy in the US is not any better though I am yet to experience it myself). There was no way that the Consular Officers could have carried out any meaningful vetting of those visa applications that were approved while I was there due to the sheer chaos in that environment. If Nigeria were susceptible to terrorism, a potential terrorist would easily slip through the process I witnessed (as long as he had black skin, a Nigerian sounding name and “looked” Nigerian)
The second implication was the issue of managed perception. The situation in the Consular Section is a case study in why the Minister of Information’s Rebrand Nigeria campaign is a bona fide still born. No amount of sloganeering, political sound bites or national photo-ops can replace the perception of Nigeria on display for the potential tourist at the Nigerian High Commission Consular Office in London. I am a thoroughbred and fully local Nigerian and I was grossly embarrassed by the rowdiness, confusion and disorder I saw on Tuesday. Nigerian Consular offices worldwide are first level customer touch points in a proper rebranding process and an inability to manage such a crucial component of the brand is an indication of failure.
Still on perception, the staff at the High Commission seems to need a crash course in National Image Management 101. In spite of free parking spaces made available to the High Commission, it is regular practice to find diplomatic cars parked on double yellow lines in front of the embassy. Apart from the fact that such lawless habits cost me as a tax payer as the tickets would be issued to the embassy, it is also very inimical to the image of Nigeria. What examples are the diplomats setting for other Nigerians in Diaspora? That it is okay to break laws in a host country as long as you can get away with it?
This practice seems to be common to most of our foreign outstations as I had watched the Mayor of New York on television a few years ago listing violating embassies with millions of dollars in parking tickets and Nigeria was number three on the list. The Foreign Affairs Ministry needs to start deducting such fees direct from the salaries of these diplomats to show that Nigeria will not encourage such lawlessness; except if it is part of our national foreign policy.
The third implication for me is the value of the Nigerian citizen to his or her government. An administration that subjects its own citizens to the stressful, uncoordinated and tedious processes like this one loses the moral right to expect any loyalty or commitment from such citizens. If President Yar’adua does not think Nigerians at home or abroad deserve a functional, convenient and dignified service when dealing with the structures of civil service, then he should not expect us to embrace his administration’s agenda; no matter how many points they are. The only pointer the Nigerian citizen seeks is the one that shows that his government considers him important enough to work tirelessly at simplifying his life through its policies.
May I suggest that His Excellency send out Mystery Shoppers to assess the nation’s consular service delivery as I am sure he must be unaware of this embarrassment in his Foreign Affairs Ministry? The problem with the Nigerian Civil Service in my opinion is that governance is not treated as a business venture thus little or no accountability, performance evaluation and systems audit are built into the system. How any responsible chief executive can run a system like the consular section at Nigeria’s UK High Commission and goes to sleep everyday under the erroneous assumption that he has put in a good day’s work still beats me.
Then, the oversight functions of a Foreign Affairs Ministry must be questioned. Does the Foreign Affairs Ministry have a template to evaluate the processes in place in all its outposts or are the functions of the Ministry limited to determining who gets to honor invitations to global events like the Obama inauguration saga early in the year? Who actually determines the consular process we employ in our embassies? Is there a template? How much of the consumer’s convenience is written into the process?
Speaking to Nigerians in London, I found out that the situation I encountered was a monumental improvement effected when Dr Christopher Kolade was appointed as High Commissioner in the Obasanjo Administration. My friend actually got the passports renewed same day which was quite commendable while I was informed that an average visa takes about three days now compared to the months applicants used to wait to secure visas in the past. However, one cannot help but expect that as a nation operating in a global village, we must constantly benchmark our processes with what is achievable not what was in the past.
The frustration of the consumers of the High Commission was written all over them. For many, the pilgrimage to the High Commission is a dreaded ritual every year to get visas to visit family in Nigeria; for others it was the loss of a whole day’s productivity as you waited endlessly to be attended to after you survive the maze of figuring out the process. Irritable and restless children were crying incessantly while some were still in school uniforms, obviously unable to get to school. One of the consumers kept asking me if I was a journalist because they so desperately want their story told. Though I never admitted to being a columnist, I hope he gets to read this.
I am personally concerned about this situation because I recall when I wrote under the Handwriting on the Wall column a few years ago, we had done a series complaining on the customer service structure at the foreign embassies in Nigeria which resulted in some crucial changes in the US embassy policy on families with children. If the Nigerian government treated its own citizens like I witnessed, then what moral right do we have to protest the way we are treated by other countries? If the Nigerian means little to his government, why should other nations respect us? After all, didn’t they say “Charity begins at home”?
I believe this administration need to commit to ensuring productive, accountable and customer oriented service delivery in civil service. One of the ways to achieve this is to introduce system audits and productivity evaluation into the civil service structure whereby promotion will be dependent on performance. While I recognize that political appointments will remain, it is high time the President as Chief Executive make effectiveness, efficiency and accountability non -negotiable when making political appointments like High Commissioners or Ambassadors.
In conclusion, Nigerians really don’t care who gets appointed to what position and how but we must start to insist that whoever it is, they must be willing and able to make the process work for the Nigerian consumer. If they find that too difficult, then they should resign and let other s get the job done.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
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?
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?
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