Business
Consumer Council Wants Amendment Of Enabling Law
The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has renewed its appeal to the National Assembly for the amendment of its enabling law to enhance its performance.
The council’s acting Director-General, Mr Emmanuel Amlai made the call recently while addressing a press conference ahead of the 2013 World Consumer Rights Day billed for last Fridat.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Consumers, Justice Now’’.
Amlai said that the CPC Act No. 66 of 1992 lacked the necessary safeguards for the protection of consumers against “dubious manufacturers and service providers’’.
He said that several attempts by the council to address the defects through the amendment of its enabling law had proved abortive.
“From 2003 to date, about three attempts have been made during the various sessions of the National Assembly to amend the CPC Act, all to no avail.
“This situation has had dire consequences for the Nigerian consumer,’’ the CPC official said.
Amlai said that the amendment being sought would modernise provisions of the law for it to cater for current market trends.
“Specifically, one of the measures proposed in the CPC Act Amendment Bill is the establishment of Consumers and Small Claims Courts.
“This will enable the council to pursue and get justice in record time for the Nigerian consumers,’’ he said.
Shedding more light on the issue, Mr Emmanuel Ataguba, CPC’s Legal Adviser, said the amendment the council was seeking would give it 15 additional powers to carry out its mandate.
Ataguba said that the current law lacked a clear definition of what constituted consumer rights and specific powers of the council to prosecute consumer rights’ violators.
He said, “The current law does not specify exactly what consumer rights are.
“You can only infer consumer rights from the functions and powers of the council in the present law. That is not very good enough,” he said.
Reports say that the council has lined up a number of activities to mark this year’s World Consumer Rights Day.
Amlai had also told the press conference earlier that the council’s offices in the six geo-political zones and Lagos would also undertake different activities to mark the occasion.