Don’t Die In Silence, Commission Tells Consumers

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has urged consumers to report cases where their rights are trampled upon, rather than die in silence.
The Senior Consumer Education Officer of the commission, Mr Humphrey Akam stated this at the Annual Summit of the Anti-Piracy Society of Nigeria (APSON) in Awka yesterday.
Our correspondent reports that the theme of the summit was “Anti-piracy and Counterfeiting: Evolving Challenges”.
Akam enumerated consumer rights to include satisfaction, safety, consumer education and healthy environment, among others.
“Consumers should not die in silence as their cases would be dispassionately treated when reported.
“If any of these rights are trampled upon, consumers should not wallow in pain; they should not hesitate to contact us and it will be urgently treated at no cost,” he said.
The officer, who revealed that the agency had made several arrests, advised defaulters to turn a new leaf or be prepared to face the full wrath of the law.
“It is no longer business as usual,” he added.
However, Akam lamented incessant attacks on its officials by peddlers of fake and counterfeit products during operations.
“We had an operation in one of the markets in the Southeast and we went in with over 75 policemen not knowing that there were some armed fakers there.
“Immediately they saw us, they started shooting, but the police succeeded in quelling the situation before we were able to continue with our surveillance,” he said.
Earlier, the Director-General of APSON, Mr Frank Uduonu, enumerated successes recorded by the group in the last one year, calling for more government support to consolidate their achievements.
Uduonu identified funding as one of the major challenges facing the body, calling on government and other agencies to assist it in winning the war against piracy in the state and Nigeria at large.