Consumer Tribunal’s chair pledges prompt complaints’ resolution

By Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

The Chairperson of the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal (CCPT), Mrs. Saratu Mama Shaffi, has promised that her agency would ensure prompt resolution of complaints brought before it by aggrieved consumers.

Mrs. Shaffi, who noted that the tribunal was constituted with experienced members, said  everything needed for it to achieve its objectives had been provided

She promised a robust collaboration between the tribunal, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and other regulatory agencies, noting that competition and consumer protection index had become a global tool for assessing countries’ investment potentials.

The CCPT chief spoke in Abuja at a three-day retreat for the tribunal’s members, with the theme: “Laying the foundation for a successful Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal in Nigeria.”

“The consumer protection index also determines the rate of foreign direct investment and accelerates the ease of doing business as all of these have implications for national economic growth and development,” she said.

She added that the retreat was intended for the tribunal’s members “to develop a vision and mission statement, establish core values and set goals to be achieved within the tribunal’s tenure of five years.”

The Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC),  Babatunde Irukera, urged the CCPT members  to avoid the kind of technicalities associated with regular courts.

Irukera reminded the members that the tribunal was created to work around the bottleneck associated with the judicial system and noted that the worst they could do was to allow undue emphasis on technicalities to derail the objectives of the CCPT.

Irukera, who urged the CCPT members to work in unison and cooperate with the FCCPC for effective delivery of the objectives of both institutions, stressed the need for them to ensure the credibility of the tribunal, noting that perception was key.

He urged the tribunal members to be courageous, assertive and not to appear weak in order to give Nigerians confidence in the process.

He said:“If you institutionalise a good process, you will produce a good product.”

A member, representing the Southwest, Sola Salako-Ajulo,who assured of the tribunal’s readiness to work with other regulators, was optimistic that parties before the tribunal would get justice within the shortest possible time.

Salako-Ajulo said every decision of the tribunal was enforceable by being registered at the Federal High Court as its judgment.

The tribunal is a creation of  Section 39 of the FCCP Act 2019 with the mandate to adjudicate on complaints in relation to conduct prohibited under the Act.