Adebayo Solebo, General Manager, LASCOPA

By Azeez Disu

“Statistics suggest that when customers complain business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for our business.” Zig Ziegler, American Author, once said.

However, most businesses ignore consumers’ complaints, and this eventually affects their reputation and growth. They fail to realize that a business can’t survive without consumers who are regarded as ‘Kings and Queens’ of any business. 

According to former US President, John F Kennedy, four basic rights are essential to relating with any consumers: the right to safety, the right to be informed, the right to choose, and the right to be heard. Thereafter the rights were later expanded in 1985 to eight by the United Nations through the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection. The other four are the right to satisfaction of basic needs, the right to redress, the right to consumer education, and the right to a healthy environment.

Cases of deceitful sales practices, misleading advertising, and hiding charges among others from service providers and others go on unchecked as consumers’ rights and privileges are infringed upon. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) at the federal level are doing their part to eradicate consumer abuses, ensuring standardization of products among others.

Meanwhile, at the state level, some agencies are in charge of performing similar roles. An example of one of such agencies is the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA).

Retrospect

Going back memory lane, Bolaji Odumade, who wrote from Alausa, Ikeja once published in a national daily how the Lagos State government was set to protect consumers with the establishment of LASCOPA.

In his words, “Hope seems to be rising for consumers, especially those in Lagos as things may possibly change for the better soon. In view of its concern for consumers, the Lagos State Government recently enacted a law that establishes the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA). The law, which passed through the state House of Assembly in 2015, has since been assented to by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (Former Lagos Governor). Under the law, a convict will be mandated to pay a penalty considered appropriate by the court as compensation to consumers whose right has been infringed upon.

“This could not have come at a better time than this. It is no longer news that Lagos State with its huge population is the commercial nerve centre of West Africa and consequently the hub of diverse commercial activities. Sadly, however, in spite of this huge commercial standing, the state has to contend with the highest cases of daily infractions on consumers’ rights.

“It is hoped that the agency would live up to its expectations by ensuring that consumers are well-protected. This can only be done if its officials refuse to compromise on the principles undergirding the agency. It is only in doing this that we can rightly affirm that in our own clime, consumers are truly kings,” he stated.

Getting to Work – LASCOPA Story

As part of its efforts aimed at ensuring the satisfaction of consumers in the state, LASCOPA said it has recovered a total of N172, 615,484.59 (One Hundred and Seventy-Two Million, Six Hundred and Fifteen Thousand, Four Hundred and Eighty-Four Naira, Fifty Nine Kobo), and $30,250 (Thirty Thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars), for consumers, whose rights were violated between 2019 till date.

“As part of the efforts to ensure consumer satisfaction, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency recovered over N172.6 million and $30,250 as compensation and outright refund of payment for returned substandard goods, products, and services for various categories of consumers,” he said.

The agency’s General Manager, Adebayo Solebo made this known recently at the closing ceremony of the 2022 edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair.

He stated that the funds served as compensation and outright refund of payment for returned substandard goods, products, and services for various categories of consumers.

Some of the categories, he added, include Automobiles: transportation, Banking and Finance, and Foods and Beverages, among many others.

Solebo also stated that the company had, within the period, instituted a total number of 25 cases against erring stores, companies, and individuals who failed to comply with consumer protection rights laws.

He explained that while 12 out of those cases had been adjudicated and closed, the remaining 13 are still being prosecuted in the law courts.

Expansion Plans, Cases, and Complaints

As part of the agency’s vision and mandate towards ensuring that its activities are further extended to the grass root, Solebo added that the agency had established additional annex offices at Badagry Local Government Secretariat, Bariga Local Council Development Area Secretariat, Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area Secretariat, in addition to the already existing Ikorodu Local Government Secretariat and recently Ojo Local Government Secretariat.

Meanwhile, the LASCOPA boss said the agency through its mediation sessions received 6,244 complaints with 5,909 resolved while 91 complaints on referrals with 244 complaints are ongoing.

According to him, different types of complaints on services and goods purchased are forwarded daily to the agency by aggrieved consumers. LASCOPA then takes time to investigate, prosecute and settle the complaints amicably.