Category: Consumer Watch

It was mayhem and total disorder as traders at the popular rice market Daleko, Mushin, Lagos, vehemently resisted a team of Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission [FCCPC] officials, accompanied by armed policemen and journalists from carrying out an enforcement exercise regarding the illegal sale of rebranded rice.

The traders came out in their hundreds insisting that their shops would not be sealed nor any enforcement carried out till the Federal Government officials got a clearance from the Iyaloja of the market [Jumlar] who unfortunately was not present in the market at that time.

The FCCPC team had aimed to crack down on traders allegedly rebagging rice in different brand names and reproducing rice bags of companies like Mama Gold, Caprice Royal Stallion Rice, and Royal Stallion Rice, a company that has been in Nigeria since 2015.

Royal Stallion rice had actually placed advertorials in leading newspapers and the social media some years back, informing the public that they were no longer producing rice and any rice with their name was not authentic, but despite that, bags of rice bearing their name are all over the Nigerian markets.

Also, these rice traders bag substandard rice under the brand names of high quality rice and sell at exorbitant prices. For instance, at Shop 63 in the market, low quality grains of rice was bagged under the brand name of the popular Ma’choice rice and was selling for N85,000, per 50kg bag. The same thing applies to other popular brand names.

Not just that, they also engage in so many negative practices to defraud consumers, tampering with their measuring scales and weights.

However, despite the resistance from the traders, the FCCPC team successfully sealed Shop 117 that was involved in reproducing empty branded rice bags of different companies.

Many empty branded rice bags recovered from the shop had the names of Big Bull, Original Tomatoes, Royal Stallion, Rising Sun, Tomatoe Aroso, Caprice amongst others.

The owner of the shop, a female, threatened to unseal the shop as she had not done anything wrong. She claimed the bags were for those who wanted to bag into smaller sizes.

The traders and makers of these fake branded bags are having a field day as they openly make these bags and also sell them openly, at Daleko Market. Our correspondent saw many of these bags littered in every part of the market and sold to anyone who cared to purchase without flinching.

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Mrs. Margaret Aboluwade, the FCCPC Southwest Zonal Coordinator, told newsmen that the market leadership and the traders would face the wrath of the law.

 “The traders resisted us from carrying out our constitutional responsibility. We’ll get to our headquarters, and the needful will be done. We will not say what will happen now, but I know that the needful will be done. Also, some of them alleged that they were not the only ones selling rebranded Stallion and Cap rice products.

“As we all know, these companies have folded up or left the country since 2015, and we still see their rice products in the market to date. They obstructed the officials from carrying out the exercise due to their population in the market, but we don’t want it to result in violence.

“Both Stallion and Cap rice are no longer in the market; they are not functioning any longer. What they do is get local rice and rebrand it as Stallion or Cap rice,” Aboluwade noted.

According to her, they rebrand Nigerian rice and expired imported products by packaging them and selling them to innocent consumers.

 The zonal coordinator further explained that the FCCPC would not relent in its mandate to protect the interest of consumers.

 “We are here to protect the rights of consumers, the reason why we are here is to seal up shops that sell products of companies that have ceased functioning several years ago because what the traders are now bagging under their names are not authentic rice,” she emphasized.

 One of the market leaders, who chose not to be named, said that the matter would be resolved by both the government and the market stakeholders.

 She added that efforts would be made to curtail the illegal activities in the market, as the leadership would ensure the market is free from the alleged rebranding.

 “We are widows and single mothers; this is the business we do to cater for our family, and we will put more effort into sanitizing the rice business in the market,” she said.

The incident underscores the need for cooperation between regulatory agencies and market stakeholders to protect consumers from unfair practices as the alleged sale of rice bagged in the names of companies no longer operating in Nigeria raises concerns about consumer protection and the need for transparency in labeling and marketing practices.

FCCPC also stormed the Utako Market in Abuja following a tip off that traders were rebagging local rice in branded imported bags and rebranding expired rice for sale. Among the major brands involved were Royal Stallion and Mama Gold.

Leading the operation in Abuja was the FCCPC Director of Surveillance and Investigation, Mrs. Boladele Adeyinka, who stated that the act was a serious offence under the FCCPC Act, attracting administrative penalties and fines. At least 10 shops were sealed during the raid

The FCCPC warned Consumers to avoid purchasing these products as they are either expired or deceptively rebagged local rice sold at exorbitant price.