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Tag: ‘Consumer protection

  • Consumer Protection: Healthcare as case study

    Note: These excerpts culled from the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities” which will be published in this column in the coming weeks was granted with the kind permission of the publisher, Strategic Insight Publishing.  The author of the book is Dr. Joel Akande. The book being sold in Nigeria for N2500, went on sale worldwide on 4 September 2018.

     

    Continue from last week…

    In this week, we conclude the excerpts from the above book. The remaining discussion continues in the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities”

     

    Continuation of a “Contract”

    What makes an agreement a contract?  There are five parts to a contract and we shall go through each of them in turn.

    Offer; Acceptance; Consideration; Intention to create legal relations; Capacity;

     

    Offer:

     

    Whatever business or profession a person or party may be in, they have something to offer or intend to offer purchasers or consumers of the goods of services. Take food vendor for example. A food seller places his/her ware in his/her shop looking for a buyer: This process is an offer. A medical doctor who opens a clinic is surely offering his or her skill to members of the public just as a taxi driver on the road is offering his service to intending rider.  This same explanation applies to a pharmacist, a dentist, a nurse who tells the world that he or she is available and offering to the intending clients his professional skills. The offer is nothing until the rest of the elements of contract kick in. A government, a mechanic, an electrician, etc offers their respective services to potential takers just as manufacturers of goods do.

     

    Acceptance:

     

    A hungry man who walks into the food store and knows that the food is on offer asks to be served. He asks for the price of what is on offer. He goes ahead and takes the food. In addition, a woman who boards a bus clearly has indicated or agreed to abide by the offer that had been made on the commuting. Similarly, a patient walks in to a clinic, asks for the fees charged, and proceeds to  undertake  the treatment or professional services on offer. All of these individuals have accepted the offer that the respective providers have made to the world.

     

    Consideration:

     

    Consideration is the value that is exchanged between the party making the offer (offeror) and the party that accepted the offer (offeree). This value may be money and or any other value defined by the parties to the contract. In other words as they say: nothing goes for nothing. There must be something returned in exchange for what you got.  The value or consideration may be a ride from say Lagos to Ibadan in exchange for helping you clean your house in place of paying N5000 for the job.

    In case of healthcare,  the consideration is usually a monetary exchange between the offeree (patient, service user or client) and offeror (the healthcare practitioner).

    Where there is no consideration, there is in general no contract. In cases of voluntary services as we shall see later, the law of contract still applies even though, clearly, it seems  there is no element of consideration. The consideration in volunteering is the satisfaction that the giver of service receives that he or she is doing some good even to his own hurt (altruism). Sadly, many people in Nigeria expects clinicians to fall into the class of altruism even though the doctors and allied workers have personal and business needs to meet.

    Intention to create legal relations:

    A contract may not be valid without the intention of the parties to enter into the contract. Examples: A person who does not intend to eat in an eatery but was forced to eat cannot reasonably be expected to pay for the food he had no intention of consuming. Similarly, a child under 18years who accompanied his mother on a tour cannot be expected to pay the fare, as the child as we shall see below, had no intention of going on the bus.  This is in fact the basis on which a child, except as in a case law called Gillick doctrine cannot consent for a medical treatment without an adult doing so on his or her behalf. Children cannot enter into a binding contract.

     

    Capacity:

     

    As a rule, a child cannot enter into a contract as we have mentioned. The reasoning behind this is both a matter of responsibility and maturity. Under the law, a child may not have the mental capacity to form a contract.

    A similar principle applies to mentally disabled people, confused persons such as the elderly and very physically ill persons who are unable to understand what is presented to him or her.  This doctrine has a practical application in healthcare. A child under 16 years except as in the case of Gillick, may not consent to treatment and hence cannot enter into a contract. The principle carries greater weight in employment of juveniles. Except as the law may allow, any contractual arrangement with a child that subjects the child to labour is obviously an abuse. We have a lot of such in Nigeria. Yet these children have no room or legitimacy to enforce their rights.

    In this week, we conclude the excerpts from the above book. The remaining discussion continues in the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence:  Consumer  Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities.” Our appreciation  to Strategic Insight Publishing for permission to use parts of the book on our health pages.

  • Consumer Protection: Healthcare as a case study

    Note: These excerpts culled from the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities” which will be published in this column in the coming weeks was granted with the kind permission of the publisher, Strategic Insight Publishing.  The author of the book is Dr. Joel Akande. The book being sold in Nigeria for N2500, went on sale worldwide on 4 September 2018.

     

    Continue from last week…

    Regulatory Authorities: Based on these legal hierarchies as explained above, individual professional members are allowed to practice their professions and be regulated by their respective regulatory authorities as empowered under their Acts as made by the National Assembly.

    Therefore, a typical clinician (say a medical doctor) is subject to the General Law (Criminal Code/Penal Code, respective Business Laws etc), the Industrial Sectional Law (National Health Act), and specific Professional Law ( such as Medical and Dental Practitioners Act) and finally for doctors, the MDCN acting under Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, enacted the Codes of Conduct for doctors. Similar operation of the law operates in Nursing, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Psychology, and Nutrition and for Laboratory Professionals.

    Now, for the reasons already mentioned and again for convenience, the healthcare industry will be used to illustrate issues of personal injury though the underlying principles of duty of care are applicable to an array of human endeavours.  The list of federal agencies and regulators where complaints may be lodged in the event of injury or be joined as co-defendants in litigations are listed at the end of the book.

     

    Law of contract as relates to healthcare

    Healthcare practitioners, like everyone else, are free to enter into a contract (otherwise called agreement) or exit a contract /agreement as the case may be. We encounter contract everywhere we turn either such contract is written down or implied. Contract can both be written in part and implied in part. Example of both written and implied contract is marriage between couples. Drivers on the roads have an implied “contract” to behave and drive carefully and not injure anyone whilst the driver uses the roads. Food sellers have implied contract not to harm consumers by the food that they sell. The government has a written contract (via the constitution and other enacted laws) to treat the citizens right and to defend the nation. Teachers have a contact with schools. Employees have a contract with their employers. We have a social contract with each other in the society to maintain the peace. Contract can be written or spoken or be implied depending on the circumstances that gave rise to such a contact as well as the intention of the parties to the contact.

    The law of contract in the common law jurisdiction, of which Nigeria is an integral part, is essentially a result of the jurisprudence (reasoning) of the judges. However, in some cases as in the United Kingdom, a specific Act of Parliament may exist to address some contract issues. This is the case as in Sales of Goods Act, 1979. (The Sale of Goods Act 1979 has now been replaced by the Consumer Rights Act 2015). Except as may be inferred from a specific legislation, the law of contract that is discussed in this book relates essentially to the Common Law reasoning of the Court.

    It is not my intention to turn the reader of this book into a lawyer overnight. Law of contract is larger and deeper than can be contained in the next few pages. The essential point to be made is that a contract exists between healthcare practitioners and their clients or patients or service users. Contract exists between service or product providers and the consumers of such products or services. Contact exists between manufactures, distributors and final consumers even though the contact may not be visible physically in most occasions: in the least, such contracts are enshrined in general law governing the people.

    A contract is simply by definition, an agreement between the entities or individuals or parties that intend to form the contract with the intention that each party will perform his or her part of the agreement and failing, the court may compel performance or award restitution to an injured party or the victim of failed contract.

    Let us also look at what other thinkers and writers have said of the definition of contract. American Restatement (2nd) of the law of Contract 1978 defines contract as “… a promise or set of promises for the breach of which the law gives a remedy or the performance of which the law in some way recognizes as a duty.”

    Let us take another look at the definition of contract: by Yerokun: “a contract as a promise or set of promises, which the law will enforce. Contract is mainly concerned with relation between persons, which the law will recognize and enforce where one of parties fails to perform his part of the bargain.”

    In the past centuries, many writers and courts placed much emphasis in respect of contract, on the need for a ‘meeting of minds’ or ‘consensus ad idem’ for the creation of contracts. This dependence on actual intention was a manifestation of laissez-faire philosophies and a belief in unencumbered freedom of contract. This particular approach to the making of contracts has now largely been jettisoned, though its effect can still be noticed in certain rules. In general, what matters in modern times is not what meaning a party actually intended to express by his words or conduct, but what meaning a reasonable person in the other contracting party’s position would have assumed him to be conveying. This process is known as ‘objective interpretation’.  This particular “objective interpretation” is very relevant in healthcare when a service user walks into a hospital with say bleeding from the head. Clearly, the patient is already saying loud and clear that he or she wants a treatment for his or her bleeding. Continue next week…

  • Consumer Protection: Healthcare as a case study (4)

    Note: The excerpts culled from the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities” which will be published in this column in the coming weeks was granted with the kind permission of the publisher, Strategic Insight Publishing.  The author of the book is Dr. Joel Akande. The book being sold in Nigeria for N2500, went on sale worldwide on 4 September 2018.

     

    Continue from last week…

    As the reader may have observed, the book has to do with Personal Injury, the bulk of the content deals with clinically related matters. Personal injury encompasses events that in part, are clinical and in part non-clinically related matters but issues that involve negligence resulting in injury in any area of human endeavour.  Falls on the road due to faults of the local government and or the contractor that made the road are examples. Slips on a wet floor at a shopping mall resulting in a broken arm of the victim, road traffic accidents and the likes that cause the victims to suffer harm are examples, which, at the outset, are non-clinical personal injury matters.

    Finally, I wish to state that this book is not written exclusively for the professionals. In writing this book, I have medical doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, laboratory scientists, pharmacists, occupational therapists and all other healthcare practitioners in mind. Further, the target audience includes lawyers, government agencies, professional regulators and indeed victims of personal injuries, clinical malpractice and the general public.. The consumer of any product or service be it on the street or via the internet are my focus. With this complex array of readers in mind, the approach that I have taken in writing this book is to present the book in a readable and to a large extent, jargon-free medical and legal language.

     

    The basics

    Now, let us deal with the basics.

    Introduction  and  Definition:  Medicolegal is the forensic examination of medical practice or as is very often the case, legal scrutiny of an alleged medical malpractice. Medicolegal is the discipline and service area that combines the practice and knowledge of law and medicine. Actual practice may also extend to cases that originally did not involve doctors such as road traffic accidents, whiplash injuries, falls in private or public places that is due to the fault of someone else. All of these constitute personal injuries. As the name implies, medicolegal is the meeting point of law and medicine, incorporating the reasoning of judges in arriving at the judgement for a case (jurisprudence) involving a claim against a medical practice or against a clinician. The person may be a nurse, doctor, physiotherapist or anyone that has a specific role to play in the care of a patient under the care of the specific practice. I hope the reader has taken note that contrary to what appears as the popular belief, medicolegal pursuit is not about medical doctors or dentists.

    The Health Sector within Larger Economy: The healthcare sector is part of the larger economy of a country. The larger or the national economy  being  the   umbrella  consisting of farming, retail, health, military and  so  forth  are  classed  as manufacturing and service sectors. Each industrial sector is regulated or is supposed to be regulated. Also, everyone in the same country be it a biological individual, unincorporated business or  body corporate (incorporated body or business) is subject to the general laws that govern the country, aimed at peaceful co-existence of all as well as preventing injuries by one person or party against the other (i.e the law seeks the welfare of persons). Such general laws may be laws regulating human conduct against assault, financial fraud and so forth.

    The Law: Each of the professions such as accountancy, engineering, healthcare is also subject to their own particular sets of laws that regulate them. Similarly, each sub-part that makes up the particular industrial sector is also subject to its own regulatory rules. Let us now cite some examples:  The Criminal Code has provisions in respect of assault. There are laws, which regulate health services and delivery in the country. Within the  health sector, the National Assembly makes the law for the establishment and regulation of medical practice,  nursing  practice,  physiotherapy practice, laboratory practice and so forth. Their respective regulatory bodies (such as Nursing and Midwifery  Council of Nigeria, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria and Medical and Dental  Council of Nigeria are empowered  and set up by the appropriate/applicable laws to regulate the education, training and practice of the respective members and professions).

  • Consumer Protection: Healthcare as a Case Study (3)

    Note: The excerpts culled from the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities” which will be published in this column in the coming weeks was granted with the kind permission of the publisher, Strategic Insight Publishing.  The author of the book is Dr. Joel Akande. The book being sold in Nigeria for N2500, went on sale worldwide on 4 September 2018.

    • Continue from last week…

    Clinical Negligence

    Anyone who had ever attended a hospital, clinic or any health giver Centre in Nigeria will have something to say for good for all. There is no such thing as neutral. Such saying may be in the filth (or otherwise) of the environment where the care is being given or it may be in the personal character, attitudes and conducts of the healthcare professionals:  be it in personal presentation or the conducts of the said professional. Comments may also concern the overcrowding and the clinical delay that the healthcare consumers experience. On the other hand, consumers of healthcare service in Nigeria are often concerned about the undignified manner by which they, the patients, had been handled during their most vulnerable periods induced by illness in their person or illness in the member of their family.

    Still, concerns may be raised as a result of faulty treatment, poor communication between patients and their carer or between the professionals: all leading to worsening of the illness or leading to even death. Very often, receivers or consumers of healthcare service do not know where to turn to for redress nor being aware of their rights under the law. Of major concern to patients in Nigeria especially our elites and executives is the confidentiality and safety of the information that have been kept in the hands of their doctors, pharmacists, physiotherapists, nutritionists and nurses.

    In sum, Nigerians and patients in Nigeria are apprehensive about the quality of healthcare in the country. Notwithstanding the state of the Naira, the national currency, Nigerians spend over a billion dollars each year in medical tourism (seeking treatment overseas) according to various estimates. Yet, there are competent Nigerians at home (and in the diaspora) to handle the most complex of medical issues.

    Of all these, it would appear that Nigerians, are aware of human limitations, being so deeply a religious people. The most concerning seems to be the different shades of attitude such as lack of empathy and poor communication of clinicians that attend to their needs. Nigerians are not different. They want, in spite of poor financial credit system and poor infrastructure, the best quality of health. Like any other human beings when Nigerians perceive a quality, they appreciate it.

    On the other side of the coin, the blames for poor quality of healthcare cannot be blamed entirely on the clinicians. The healthcare consumers who prefer to spend large US dollars overseas would attempt to obtain healthcare in Nigeria for a fraction of the overseas’ cost of the same care. Further, national infrastructure such as energy supply, speedy dispensation of equitable justice, transport, rigorous and fair regulation of professionals are at best weak. Doctors in Nigeria operate within such weak infrastructure. Few, if any medical devices and clinical equipment are made in Nigeria. Most, if not all required medical equipment are imported at high scarce foreign currency exchange values.

    Only the politically and financially powerful, well connected and mighty could afford to provide such clinical equipment. Even if most clinicians desire to provide the best medicare, they often fail to achieve their aims.

    Doctors aspire to high standards but are let down and frustrated by manifold factors of lack of previously mentioned infrastructure, corruption and lack of national coordination.

    As at the time of writing, there does not exist a national database of all healthcare users in Nigeria that could be accessed for the care of patients, by qualified clinicians at any point anywhere within the frontiers of Nigeria.  The entire system is fragmented and chaotic.

    What is contained in this book is meant to inform the public, including clinical professionals (doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and everyone that receives and or gives care to another). It is not intended as a persecutory tool of any sort. In short, a receiver of healthcare has a legal right, as we shall see below, to be treated rightly and with dignity.

    Similarly, clinical professionals (doctors and allied professionals) are entitled to a good quality way of life and deserve to practice their professions in a safe and secure environment.

    Wherever there is a conflict between the interest of the healthcare consumer and the provider of such service, a neutral, competent legal authority should dispense a fair justice immediately. It is only in so doing and where there are checks and balances that the glory of Nigeria’s healthcare will dawn.

     

    • Continue next week…

     

  • Consumer Protection: Healthcare as a Case Study: 2

    Note: The excerpts culled from the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities” which will be published in this column in the coming weeks was granted with the kind permission of the publisher, Strategic Insight Publishing.  The author of the book is Dr. Joel Akande. The book being sold in Nigeria for N2500, went on sale worldwide on 4 September 2018.

     

    Continue from last week…

    Personal Injury

    Those injuries be they physical, mental or injury that you, the reader, for example sustain that are not due to your own fault but due to the fault of others, are called personal injuries. Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to physical property such as your car or house.

    Personal injury term is most frequently used to denote a type of tort (offence) in which the person suing (the injured person or victim or his relation), or “plaintiff,” has suffered harm to his or her body or mind. Personal injury lawsuits are filed against the party or entity that caused the harm through the act of negligence, gross negligence, reckless conduct or behavior, or intentional misconduct. Different legal jurisdictions describe the damages (or, the things for which the injured person may be compensated) in different ways, but damages typically include the injured person’s medical bills, pain and suffering, and diminished quality of life.  Very often, the compensation or restitution is financial or economic.

    Justice requires evidence. The legal system needs evidence to arrive at the cause and effect and hence to give you fairness of judgement.

    Between you, your injury and equity stands the medical doctor and allied clinicians who will examine your injuries, causes and possible cost to repair the injury if possible.

     

    Areas where personal injuries are applicable:

    Areas where personal injury claims are commonly made include road traffic accidents in which the accident causing the injury is the fault of another, work place accidents, tripping accidents at work whereby a member of the public or worker gets injured as a result of the negligence of the contractor.. Assault claims such as rape can both lead to personal injury claims and criminal prosecutions. Defective product leading to harm of the consumer or causing accidents (product liability) can lead to personal injury claims. The term personal injury also incorporates medical and dental accidents (which lead to medical negligence claims). Cases classified as industrial disease cases such as asbestosis, chest diseases (e.g., emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic obstructive airways disease), vibration white finger, occupational deafness, occupational stress, contact dermatitis, and repetitive strain injury cases are all forms of personal injuries.

    Though specific data are lacking, looking at the cause of death, coroner and personal injury cases in Nigeria, accidents, product liability and automobile collisions, will probably be amongst the highest causes of injuries. Personal injury cases may also include toxic torts, in which a contaminant transmitted by air or water causes illness, injury, or death. Death of a relative can also lead to claim of personal injury by those concerned who suffered the loss (say spouses, parents, children and close relatives). Such an event of death may also be a cause of criminal prosecution in which case a coroner and or forensic examination would take place.

     

    The benefits

    The pursuit of personal injury claims is not a child’s play. It may be tortuous and painful. It may take a long time to arrive at a resolution and requires expensive investigations. In general, the society is better off as the parties that are involved will take caution not to cause similar injuries in the future. Suffice it to say that government at various levels and big corporations are not immune to personal injury claims.

     

    Forensic medicine and personal injuries:

    Forensic medical practitioners including coroners are specialty workers that determine the cause, nature and extent of injuries to a person. As I stated earlier, these professionals work along lawyers in resolving death and injury issues so that justice can be obtained for the victims. When the injuries does not involve death, clinical physicians will work with or without lawyers to resolve the matter.

     

  • Consumer Protection: Healthcare as a Case Study: 1

    n the next couple of weeks, we will deal with consumer protection issues. In so doing, we will use healthcare industry as our example to illustrate key issues concerning consumers of products and services.
    Note: The excerpts culled from the book: “Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence: Consumer Rights & Provider’s Responsibilities” which will be published in this column in the coming weeks was granted with the kind permission of the publisher, Strategic Insight Publishing. The author of the book is Dr. Joel Akande. The book being sold in Nigeria for N2500, went on sale worldwide on 4 September 2018.

    Introduction.
    Fundamentally, this book is about the rights of the consumers of products and services in Nigeria. The right to have the opportunity to consume products and services that are safe and free of harms. This right which is enshrined in law in Nigeria as in many other countries includes a situation which, when harm does occur, the right of the consumer to expect apologies and appropriate restitution when applicable. The legal right of the consumer extends the responsibility of the provider of the good or service to ensure that the consumer is not injured. It’s immaterial where such products and services are originating from in so far as the provider of a good or service has as we shall see later on, a duty to care (formally called duty of care) for the consumer of such products and services. The product or service may be from individual medical doctors, lawyers, accountants or teachers and or from the owners of such enterprises. Such products or services provider, (so long as the provider holds the responsibility of duty of care, may be an agency of the government at any level: be it Federal, State or Local Government. In the end, injuries that are caused will lead to involvement of medical doctors who will care for the injured and treat the injury that is sustained by faulty products and services provided by someone else. Thus, although this book aims at helping the consumer to understand his rights as a consumer, it pinpoints the need for the provider of goods and services to appreciate the imperative of avoiding consequences that involve injury to the consumer, resulting from the use of the product or service. By implication, this book promotes the wellbeing, primarily of the consumer of products and services, and the overall welfare of Nigeria and Nigerians:
    This book has introduced two seemly reinforcing perspectives to the fundamental issues that form the central points of this book, which are personal injury and clinical negligence. These are the legal and the medical perspectives to personal injury and clinical negligence. These separate but related areas of professional endeavour will be discussed separately with the aim that both will be referred to as we go along. Towards the end of the book, they will be combined to form a whole. For emphasis and with the clear intention not to be misread, once again, the principles and practice that are discussed in this book are applicable to all areas of human endeavour where one person holds the responsibility or duty of care for another: be it government at any level, agencies of government, private citizens, registered or unregistered businesses, manufacturers, professionals such as lawyers, physicians, dentists, accountants, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, farmers, parents and so forth. And where such duty is breached and an injury results from the consumption of the product or use of the service, a form or forms of restitution may be demanded or provided without any demand.
    In the clinical negligence that is discussed in this book, clinical issues pertaining to healthcare professionals have been used as a case study on one hand, to illustrate the various principles discussed in the book and in particular, the doctrine of duty of care, and on the other hand, as a matter of convenience. The principles of duty of care, standard of care, resulting injuries and the need for restitutions are all applicable across different sectors though the applicable laws are different to make the said law suitable to the specific industrial sector. That is, the duty of care is the same in civil construction as it is in healthcare sector. The standard of care in accounting is similar to that of military officers though the measure of such standard are different for variety of reasons. Let us now take a look at each of personal injury and clinical negligence in turn. Continue next week…

  • CPC: feedbackhall.com ‘ll promote consumer protection

    Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Director-General, Babatunde Irukera, has said the technology-driven platform – www.feedbackhall.com- will enable the council to carry out its core mandate of consumer protection.

    Speaking during the public presentation of platform in Lagos at the weekend, he said the initiative will go a long way to strengthen the right of consumers and shorten the cycle of getting redress should the need arise.

    “Creating a hub for consumer will really help our work at CPC; it is an initiative that aligns with our core mandate to protect the Nigerian consumers. Reviews from this web will be part of working instrument for us,” Itukera said, adding that the website gives a voice to consumers’ complaints.

    Its founder, Dr. Chiugo Kanu, said the consumers’opinion web  provides platform for consumers to share real life experiences gathered by interacting with products and services offered in the markets – either made in Nigeria or not, stressing that on the web, consumers are at liberty to make reviews on products and services whether they are satisfied or not

    He said he was driven by the passion that consumers in the country must have a platform to share experiences on products and services, a development that would ultimately provide useful insights and help make better purchasing decisions.

    In her presentation titled: feedbackhall.com- The concept, scope, features and optimised use, during the inauguration of the word-press designed website, she said the initiative was driven largely by the desire to serve rather than profit making.

    She said: “We have our set vision, mission and values to build and sustain a reputation as the largest and most reliable online review community in Africa. To give consumers power to drive innovation and change products by encouraging open sharing and effective utilisation of product experiences.

    “And, as a consumer, you have a right as well as a responsibility to provide feedback on products and services that you consume. While you do this, we encourage you to be yourself, be bold and at the same time that you are genuine.”

    On the advantages of the platform to manufacturers and service providers, she said: “It will also go a long way to initiate and strengthen conversations between consumers and producers. It goes on to close the gap between what producers and service providers offer and what consumers like. Ultimately, it increases consumer satisfaction and helps businesses become more successful.”

    Also, Prof Pat Utomi, who chaired the forum, said: “It is high time Nigerian consumers regained their lost voices without fear of intimidation, harassment but with confidence on being heard … and possibly getting a redress.  To keep silent on views, opinions, experiences especially on products and services in the open market is damaging to the economy.”

  • Sub-standard goods: Absence of consumer protection

    Oga, your two front tyres na China, if na the same you want for the back, na N8, 000.each”. This unsolicited advice was coming from one of the shop attendants that swooped on me as I drove into a tyre retail shop on Awolowo way last week. I had bought the two front tyres a week earlier from the Ladipo spare parts market at N15, 000 each with the shop owner swearing they were original. The two back tyres I was trying to replace cost about N24, 000 each from a once successful but now collapsed Nigerian tyre company that I was told imported them from South Africa.

    But noticing the doubts boldly written on my face, the young sales attendant who was trying to ensure a sale is made added “ But Oga instead of the ‘China’, buy ‘tokunbo’ for only N5,000, you will get better value because na from importers of tokunbo cars we buy from.”

    After the initial confusion, what came to mind was the last month’s acknowledgement by the Director General (DG) of Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Ikemefuna Odumodu that “20% of road accidents in Nigeria are due to sub-standard tyres”. Then the reality of how vulnerable and helpless Nigerians that have been left at the mercy of the merchants of death, the importers of sub-standard goods and their street agents, increased the turmoil going on in my mind.

    Odumodu painted a grimmer picture. “Due to paucity of data, SON cannot give the exact figure of how many Nigerians are dying on account of fake products”; What was not  not in dispute is “that the country has become a dumping ground for substandard goods”.

    Testifying before the National Assembly joint Committees on Trade and investment earlier, Odumodu had disclosed that “N1 trillion is spent annually on importation of fake products, 80% of which come from Asian countries”.

    He said items seized in 2012 include N2billion worth of cables, N200 million worth of iron rod and tyres worth N5m. After destroying N2.7b worth of fake goods this year, SON premises is still littered with several trailers loaded with imported sub-standard goods, as well as huge cache of other assorted confiscated goods ranging from gas cylinders, clippers, electrical cables ferried from raided warehouses. But these efforts according to him represent only a tip of the ice bag. In fact one of Odumodu’s staff, Mrs. Chritabel Okoye claimed that “95% of goods in Abuja markets SON visited were fakes”.  The same picture or possibly worse scenarios play out in other Nigerian major cities where apart from substandard goods,  every corner is littered with imported used baby dresses, used baby school bags, used women underwear and assorted second clothes while president Jonathan’s ministers shed crocodile tears over the failure of the N100billion textile sector bail-out.

    Sub-standard goods are global phenomena and a threat to the health and socio-economic development of developing nations. But while other nations including India that recently banned mobile phones without IMEI number that could help authorities track users, along with toys and milk from China, are leaving no stones unturned to address the menace, our own government has continued to demonstrate its ineptitude and insensitivity to the well-being of Nigerians.

    Nigerians already know that a government that is prepared to visit hardship on its own poor as well as its middle class car owners for the theft of about N1.7trillion by members of the governing elite, slam double taxation of about N30, 000 on vehicle owners in the guise of new plate numbers, and allocate a disproportionate share of the national resources to sustain the greed and scandalous life styles of members at the expense of the poor cannot be trusted. But if Nigerians have come to terms with a PDP government that is ideologically committed to the exploitation of the poor, what they did not bargain for is PDP government becoming an accomplice to crimes of a few greedy Nigerians and godless foreigners against helpless Nigerians.

    For instance, the government’s misguided 2011 policy that led to the eviction of SON from the ports in the name of decongesting the ports has resulted in SON chasing symptoms rather than the disease. All they have succeeded in doing is apprehending trailers filled with sub-standard goods and their drivers while the brains behind crimes against Nigerians who cynics believe are government officials or their

    fronts with access to state free funds are shielded. The question has been how many genuine Nigerian business men who laboured for their money will abandon trailer-laden sub-standard goods worth billions of naira at the premises of SON or remain indifferent when impounded goods worth billions of naira are burnt.

    If it has been difficult to unmask the brains behind importation of sub-standard products, critics believe it must be because PDP whose leading members have been fingered as playing ignoble roles in the fuel subsidy and  pensions scheme scams, crude oil theft, banking sector collapse, betrayal of the privatization dream as conceived by the World Bank, etc is involved. Importers of all goods are licensed by government. The CBN has records of money transferred for specific purposes and the goods come in through our ports and borders manned by the customs. And in any case, government has the capacity to trace all imported goods to their source.  Yet for 14 years it has been a game of government hypocrisy.

    It is the same story of hypocrisy with crude oil theft until the ‘new PDP’, came out to confirm what we have always suspected- that government knows those behind the crime while PDP contractors like Doyin Okupe and Ijaw ethnic irredentist like papa Edwin Clark have diverted attention by justifying award of multimillion dollar contracts to government new allies, the repentant Niger Delta militants. And we have no reason to disbelieve the new PDP. Not too long ago, one of the ships apprehended with stolen fuel was traced to a fuel dump allegedly owned by a former minister. Like other scams involving high profile PDP members, their siblings or fronts, the case seems to have died a natural death.

    Perhaps this explains why the British Deputy High Commissioner tongue in cheek, told our government last week on Channels Television Programme that it should  do its job of  securing our borders and waterways instead of chasing stolen crude oil to London market just as SON  now chases imported sub-standard goods to warehouses and markets.

     

    Rip- off and conmen

    Many of the communication service providers are swindling Nigerians and smiling to the banks. Subscribers are debited between N10 and N100 naira for services they never requested for through unsolicited test messages. At between 10 and 50 naira, a service provider with 14million subscribers can rake in between N140m and N740m from only one unsolicited service dumped on unsuspecting helpless subscribers.

    Predictably, government has chosen to look the other way. It is inconceivable that a company driven by profit motive will fritter away millions ostensibly to thank customers for patronage. The Yoruba say “owo Abu ni a nfi se Abu lalejo’ literarily meaning we use Abu’s money to entertain Abu.

     

    SPECTRANET

    As if to put a lie to the above antics, SPECTRANET has demonstrated it is in Nigeria only for profit. Aping government, it has shamelessly adopted the template used by government to extract N30, 000 from its citizens with existing valid vehicle plate numbers, SPECTRANET has even gone beyond merely forcing its subscribers to cough out N18, 000 and three months compulsory subscription for a new modem on the excuse that they have upgraded their equipments even when there was nothing

    wrong with existing subscribers modem obtained less than two years ago. Now subscribers who have been on Spectranet’s  N8,500 ‘unlimited package’ for about two years who complained they are not getting joy in spite of this new rip-off were told by the shop attendants that their unlimited status had been scaled down to 10.GB by fiat ‘because of’ too many subscribers’. Meanwhile, the Indian owners have gone into hiding, while subscribers only moan.

    The irony is that experts have confirmed that the SPECTRANET’s N8, 500 ‘unlimited package’ rip-off, is about 500 times slower than a N1, 500 monthly package subscribers enjoy in Europe. But here those making outrageous profits attribute exploitation of Nigerians to the Nigerian factor-a euphemism for government connivance or ineptitude.

  • ‘Consumer protection is our collective responsibility’

    ‘Consumer protection is our collective responsibility’

    Mrs. Ify Umenyi sits atop as Director General, Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), an agency saddled with the responsibility of enforcing consumer rights. In this interview with Bukola Afolabi she speaks on the challenges and prospects her job offers

    One would have expected that the Consumer Rights Protection (CPC) would be at the borders at least to be able to apprehend some of these unscrupulous businessmen who import substandard products into the country but this is not so. Why?

    At Consumer Protection Commission, we have our job caught out for us. The Commission’s mandate is to checkmate the sales and distribution of fake products already in the country and not to stop them from entering the country through the borders. The responsibility of making sure such banned and substandard goods does not find its way into the country lies with the Nigerian Customs Service and Immigration Service, two agencies that are situated at the country’s numerous borders.

    At the border, we have the Customs and Immigration. I am not sure if the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON is there. The issue of border is to prevent goods from coming in because those goods that are coming illegally will be checked. We cannot be at the border because our concern as directed by the government is to prevent their sales when they get into the country. We can only catch people within the country on their way to the market to sell these goods once we have a tip off.

    I want to find out what you are doing in the oil and gas sector especially the filling stations because recently, those selling fuel are reported to be demanding for N200 from every buyer before they sell fuel whereas your Commission is expected to protect consumers?

    Sometimes it is due to desperation. People do pay such money in the rush to buy fuel. We all know that even owners of these stations are not even aware of such demands from attendants. It is wrong. Well, it is an issue and it is not an issue. It is not an issue in the sense that it is not all the people that are doing illegal thing. If we (CPC) happen to be there and we catch them, we discipline them appropriately. Our consumers also have a responsibility. They should be on the queue whenever they want to buy fuel. Those that pay that money are those who try to leave the line and get in front of others. In other words, they shunt!

    No. Even at NNPC stations, people complain that even attendants don’t sell to car owners but they prefer to sell to those with kegs and even demand for gratification from prospective buyers?

    I am using this opportunity to charge the Lagos office because I have not heard of this situation before now. They should carry out investigations and go with law enforcement officials because it is the only way they will know what is going on.

    The president of Nigeria Liquefied Gas said there are fake gas cylinders in circulation. What danger does this pose?

    We are working with SON on that because they have the equipment to check on those gas cylinders. I heard complain about the issue of these cylinders and I know our quality department had some discussions with SON though I cannot tell you precisely what they are doing. When we get such complaints, what we do is to get regulators like SON that has the expertise to carry out investigation.

    What are the differences in your duties with that of other regulating bodies like NAFDAC and SON?

    They have the responsibility to make sure they have standard for every product. SON set the minimum required standard, you can go above it but you cannot go below. NAFDAC is a sector regulating pharmaceutical products, foods and drinks. They set the rules that guide both the production and sale. CPC works with NAFDAC, SON and other regulators. We contribute to the regulations that are being made. We carry out those regulations. Governments have set the machinery to ensure the protection of products. The standard body conducts investigation. The end result is to ensure the protection of consumers. Government has a programme that covers 774 local governments and it is called Information and Response Centres. It is a centre where consumers could run to and get information on whatever products and services are required and at the same time report whatever they experience in the market.