Government Agencies
Agencies Responsible For Consumer Protection In Nigeria
Here in this article, we are going to discuss on the agencies responsible for consumer protection In Nigeria. We hope you find this informative.
There are quite a number of consumer protection agencies in Nigeria, which were established by the government for the purpose of assisting Nigerian citizens and residents with most of their consumer needs.
However, the purpose of ths article is to help Nigerians to understand every role and also every legislative or legal power of all the consumer protection agencies as was assigned to them when they created.
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Sometimes, I think of whether Nigerians know about government regulatory agencies in the country that were established for the sole purpose of protecting Nigerians from dangerous goods or products.
These agencies are all responsible for the information and the protection of Nigerian consumers and also for the monitoring of businesses that may indulge in poorly designed products in the country.
Consumer protection regulatory agencies in Nigeria are responsible in fighting against poorly designed products by business organizations in order to ensure the fair treatment of Nigerians, they also receive the important and necessary information in order to make informed decisions, that will protect against goods hazards. However, these agencies have been empowered to use legal recourse if necessary.
Quite interesting, there are some types of products that attract more regulation because of their higher risk of causing injury to consumer or death, for example, food, and drugs, and children’s products, as well as automobiles. Now that out of the way, the roles and also the responsibilities of consumer protection agencies Nigeria include the following, but not limited to the:
- Education of consumers about their rights and
- Investigation of consumer complaints and
- Regulation of businesses within a given industry and
- Awarding of companies with industry certification and industry licences and
- Enforcement of consumer protection laws an regulations.
Agencies For Consumer Protection:
Some of these key agencies that are responsible for consumer protection in the country are discussed below:
1. Commerce Commission
The Commerce Commission CC is one of the consumer protection agencies in the country that recognizes the fact that only best deals for Nigerian consumers are those deals that are derived when businesses adhere to healthy competition in the market.
Being an independent statutory body, the commerce commission also seeks to make sure that, it protects consumers and also businesses from being restrictive and also make sure that there are no unfair trade practices. It responsibility include:
a. Investigating complaints that have to do with deceptive practices, for example, misusing market power, and also collusion as well as, price fixing. Others are collective tendering, bid rigging, and blatant systematic disregarding of fair trade practices, as well as non-compliance.
b. Advising and also assisting consumers as well as, businesses on matters that may affect or that may likely affect consumer’s interests either while negotiating or while acquiring goods or services.
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2. Ministry of Industry and Trade
The Ministry of Industry and Trade is another consumer protection agency in the country. The Ministry is made up of two (2) sections.
One section is The Department of Weights and Measures while the second one is The Trade Standards and Quality Control Office.
The sole responsibility of the Ministry is that of formulating policies and also implementing policies and strategies for the purpose of promoting consumer’s protection as well as, promoting fair trading in every domestic market.
3. The Food Unit in the Ministry of Health
The Food Unit in the Ministry is saddling with the responsibility of identifying problems that exist in the area that has to do with the safety of food, and security of food, as well as, the monitoring of the quality of foods that are available.
The Food Unit in the Ministry of Health, also goes out in order to look at for both the physical qualities and properties of products, such as the canned foods, and frozen foods as well as, processed foods, for the purpose of ensuring there are expiring dates on the products and to also ensuring that the percentages of each ingredient used during production, especially the percentages of fat, and protein, and oil as well as the rest of the other items that are listed for consumer preference meet specification.
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4. Small Claims Tribunal SCT
The Small Claims Tribunal SCT is considered as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, established with the sole purpose of addressing the problems of small claims that are related to products, whose amounts of money is small and also addressing the problems of poor services.
The duty of the Small Claims Tribunal is basically on civil disputes that are of a small amount of money in value and where there is an opportunity whereby the claimants can have an option of pressing their own claims without instituting any proceeding in a court headed by the magistrates.
The key role of the Small Claims Tribunal is that of attempting to ensure that, it brings the parties of a dispute to an agreement, and as well the settlement of the dispute.
5. Real Estate Licensing Board REALB
The Real Estate Licensing Board REALB works by way of taking disciplinary action in order to make sure that, it cancels or suspends licenses that belonged to agents who may charge unreasonable commissions as well as, collusion with some other professionals in the field, for example, the valuers and the lenders to inflate prices of goods and properties.
It is the duty of the Board to ensures that the Act, the Real Estate Agents Act, provides strong consumer protection by way of making sure that, the undesirable practices by real estate agents are stamped out and also ensure that only the persons and the companies who can actually offer acceptable levels of professional expertise, and standards of services as well as, integrity should be allowed to operate in the real estate industry.
6. Pharmacy and Poisons Board PPB
The Pharmacy and Poisons Board PPB is a consumer protection agency, which is also known as the drug regulatory authority, it works under the Ministry of Health.
The Board had over the years strived to promote and at the same time, improve the safe use of quality medicines in the country.
The function of the Board has always been to ensures that medicines certified as safe, and efficacious with acceptable quality are produced, and procured, and stored, and administered and dispensed by only qualified medical personnel in the country, which as a result has led to a healthy nation.
Conclusion
Consumer protection regulatory agencies in Nigeria are responsible in fighting against poorly designed products by business organizations in order to ensure the fair treatment of Nigerians, they also receive the important and necessary information in order to make informed decisions, that will protect against goods hazards. However, these agencies have been empowered to use legal recourse if necessary.
