BUILDING THE BRIDGE FOR CONSUMER PROTECTION IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

Consumer protection is one of the key areas that is relatively underdeveloped in the Nigerian market economy. Consumers are exposed to unsafe, defective and substandard goods and services with little or no care and liability against such manufacturers/producers and service providers. This is not however to say that Nigeria does not have adequate legal and institutional framework for consumer protection as these are adequately in place. The issue is that there are challenges militating against consumer protection in Nigeria. The study examined the challenges militating against consumer protection in Nigeria. It examined both the legal and institutional framework put in place for consumer protection in Nigeria. The study revealed that many consumer are ignorant or not well informed about their rights under the extant laws especially the Federal Competitive and Consumers Act, 2018. It further found that even those who are aware or informed about their rights, are less enthusiastic and unwilling to seek redress where their rights are violated for lack of confidence in the courts, due to attitude of court in some cases. More so, corruption of the relevant personnel in the authorized agencies does not help matters. To address these challenges, the study recommends among other things, aggressive mass education; re-orientation of Nigerians about enforcement of the consumer rights; sanctioning of violators and corrupt officials of the institutions, and adequate funding and monitoring of the Institutions. This, it is hoped will make way for a better and sustainable consumer protection in Nigeria.