Mrs. Dupe Atoki is a versatile lawyer with over 35 years experience in corporate and human rights Law.
Until her recent appointment as the Director-General of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC), she was the Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Human & People’s Rights, making her the first Nigerian woman to head an African Union organ.
In this interview with VANGUARD, she speaks on the sweeping reform she is carrying out at CPC; the tasks ahead and the prospects for business, economy and Nigerian consumers. EXCERPT:
Tell us about the CPC you met, and how would you bring your experience and expertise to bear on the agency?
On taking over in May this year, I realised that there was no strategic plan in place because, ordinarily, I would have just keyed into the plan and move on or amend as the need arises.
For me, because of my international background there is no way I could promote consumers’ rights without a strategic plan to direct me on the way to go, and how to go about it for people to achieve their desires.
To begin with, I have developed a strategic plan for consumer protection in Nigeria which I concluded last month with the support of an international donor.
However, you don’t accept paper document just like that, you need experts and so this plan was carried out with the management but with input from experts to tell us what should be included in our plans.
I was privileged to be supported within three weeks of my appointment by Ford Foundation who gave the plan from which I got mine. Now I have a plan. While doing that and having done that, there was a need to re-orientate the staff from a civil service mentality to a tougher commitment on their side to work for the good of the country.
I have also been doing a lot of in-house training, quietly, and I think that at the end of it I would be in a position to say I am ready to pick up the task. This is because I have developed my plans, and I am able to articulate them one by one.
And the first target is to stick to the media house because they will be mouth piece of my advocacy. I already have the plan of how I wanted to do it. And I would need you media.
You care about consumers but a lot of Nigerians don’t know about CPC, how do you intend to go about this?
Yes, they rarely know about CPC, and that is why am here (Vanguard) because they need to know that CPC exists; that their rights have been guaranteed by the enabling law, Act No. 66 of 1992 that established CPC. This enabling Act provides that Nigerian consumers have entitlement to demand value for their money. So you can take this information to the nook and cranny of the country because I know Vanguard is well read across the country. I have now commenced my advocacy programmes, so would you help me to get this to the public? So that as you have said that CPC is unknown, it will become known through your intervention.
You talked about in-house training. Could you clarify what you mean?
When I said house-training, I meant simple things like delivering reports, being committed to the work you are doing; resuming work at the appropriate time, management staying back to work not minding the closing time. The belief is that civil servants sit and waste times in office. They clock in and clock out and so I have tried to re –orientate them that they can’t keep doing that; they must work and if need be stay back after closing hour to work and finish up assignments because every deadline for assignments must be met. I met a lackadaisical attitude that needs to be changed because we need to keep the fuels burning; we have been in existence for fifteen years and if we have not attained legitimacy and prominence, and then we must do it so as to catch up with the time that has been lost.
How widespread are your offices nationwide?
The spread is limited; we have offices in the six geo political zones which mean we have six offices but Lagos has its own office because of its cosmopolitan and commercial advantages Lagos brings into the business. This means we have seven offices in addition to headquarter. That is what I met on the ground and this is one of my challenges. We can’t reach the public if we are going to operate on the current structures that we have. Each of the zones probably has not more than 20 staff and the zonal headquarters are expected to cover at least five states; that is work.
So am in need of reviewing this structure and getting it down to the grass roots .Yet, if the truth must be said, we can’t be everywhere in Nigeria; there is no way that will be possible even if we have offices in the 36 states, we can’t still cover the whole nation.
Do you have toll-free lines, what is the rate of consumers’ complaint you receive weekly, monthly?
No we don’t have toll free lines. Toll free means you can call and you aren’t charged. I am hoping that we can do that. In addition, I am hoping that we can develop a contact centre; contact centre is not just your telephone alone, consumers can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and all other social media. I am in the process of finalising that so that we can receive up to a hundred calls at the same time.The roller-coaster effect of massive advocacy is that Nigerians are very good to rise up when they are shown the way. The second question on the number of complaints, let me say that I am not able to give you precise number now; but I can say that it is low compared to the number of Nigeria’s population.
Does CPC have power of prosecution and how much do companies know the threat that you pose to their business?
Yes! We have a lot of activities or actions classified as crime in our law; now our prosecution is still with the Ministry of Justice. I have recently gotten authorisation from the ministry to give us in-house prosecution because I think that’s faster.
So companies know about the threat we pose to their business but they haven’t been put to task.
I can’t say and I don’t have it on record the numbers of companies that have been prosecuted for abuse of consumer. They know because they have lawyers and these multinational companies are very articulate when it comes to legal issues.
So their legal department knows of our acts, but because I also know that the CPC has power that has not been used in a long time, and that is why I’m saying I don’t want to go through long process of reporting to the minister each time I need to prosecute so that I can prosecute from my office and we move on because there are some cases that needs instant intervention of arrest which the long process that we have before will jeopardise. So I have started the process and the minister has approved it.
I choose to say that the CPC is an agency that has enough power to call the most influential organisation to order and corporation either national or international to order, because you are bound by the laws of the nation you operate and I am aware that there are a lot of international corporations that do not treat consumers in Nigeria the way they treat their foreign consumers.
Vanguard
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