CPC seeks competition, consumer protection commission

The bill, according to the Director-General, CPC, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, codifies consumer rights for the first time in Nigeria as it makes clear provisions for the enforcement of consumer rights by defining offences and penalties. He explained that the bill sought to modernise the country’s consumer protection regime to include competition legislation to enhance economic growth and support the economic recovery programme of the government. “It is a bill of rights that will be translated in many languages and will capture regulations on guarantees and warrantees, refunds, returns and repairs, and many others,” Irukera said in a presentation made in Lagos. To mitigate consumer challenges in the country, he said the council had come up with a number of initiatives, including the proposed Patients’ Bill of Rights in the health sector to govern the relationship between health practitioners and their patients. According to the CPC boss, the Patients’ Bill of Rights will significantly increase the quality of health care delivery in the country. Irukera said, “If we can just clean up how we treat ourselves; just that alone and let’s leave the infrastructure challenges, we can save lives. “And so one of the big things we are working on and we hope that comes out very soon is the Patient’s Bill of Rights, which is just a statement of the rights of patients and the responsibility of health care providers; we intend to translate it into different languages and make it mandatory that it is pasted in public hospitals and even private hospitals.” Copyright PUNCH.]]>