When last week I wrote that CPC was wrong to have ordered Coca Kola to pay the sum of N100 million for pushing to the market two half filled cans of Sprite, there were immediate reactions. One was particular and luckily enough he called instead of sending the text message he had intended.He felt that I was paid to do the article. He told me he was about sending a text to ask how much I was paid. But after taking him through the discussions, and why I took the stand and wrote the way I did, he sighed and said this is happening because of the level of corruption in the system. Well corruption is a matter for another day.I, as a business reporter, have met with the Director General of Consumer Protection Council twice in the course of my daily assignment. On the two occasions I had the opportunity to ask her two different questions that sparked an argument that convinced me she was rattled by the questions.At the very first meeting I drew her attention and that of her team to what was happening in the Nigerian marketplace. In Nigeria at the open market where the common man that need more of government agency like CPC protection, receipts issued by traders always carry a note that goods once delivered can not be returned.This practice has been with us as a nation and many innocent consumers have suffered greatly in the hands of those who manipulate the market for their personal gains. What this means is that whatever the condition of the goods sold to you in the open market, even in stores, if you have complaints you will not beattended to.In developed climes, there is warranty on goods bought whether in the open market or directly from the manufacturers. In the US and other developed markets, even in South Africa where most government agencies are quick to refer to, if you buy a product and it is defective or does not meet your need, within a specified time frame you can return the product as long as the receipt is with you. This is not the case in Nigeria.The CPC is well aware that many Nigerians have bought electronic gadgets, generators, handsets that failed to function the very day they were bought and never got compensation because there was no one to take up their cause. Many have reported their plights to this same Council without any remediation. Each day, Nigerians buy electric bulbs and other consumer goods that never last more than one hour.The Director General of CPC when asked this question could not offer any satisfactory explanation or plan of action to checkmate this ugly situation.The second encounter was when I asked the DG if she would have the will power to stand the pressure thatwill come on her once the first shot is fired. She apparently took offence at the question going by events that followed which I do not want to put in print to protect the source of the information.Yes, the CPC DG may have very good intentions to clean up the marketplace but her approach is wrong. When Dora Akunyili wanted to clean up the pharmaceutical industry, she took the war to the root of the problem. The source, fake drugs. At the moment Standard Organisation has taken the battle of fake products to the marketplace and supplier nations of such products.If the current matter of fine imposed on Coca Cola had passed the necessary procedures, there would havebeen no dissenting voice in this matter. If CPC had shown evidence of incurring N60 million costs as a result of its investigation of the matter, there would have been no issue. If CPC had come out to say the cost associated was as a result of its collaboration with local or foreign known laboratory, there would also have been no issue.Is it because it asked Nigeria Bottling Company to open its facility for one-year inspection that Coca Cola and Nigerian Bottling Company have to pay N60million for fine and another N40million to its coffer? Besides, it is asking that it be given N40 million while N50,000 should be paid as compensation to the complainants. What were the criteria for arriving at the various sums to be paid?CPC to my mind is under pressure from the powers that sent the half-filled cans to it to investigate. The question Nigerians should ask themselves is, are there a set of rules for the rich, the powerful and the highly influential that is different from the set of rules for the poor, the wretched, the needy and the deprived? Who of these Nigerians need more of government protection? If the half filled cans had not comefrom the source we mentioned last week, will the matter have been like this?Can the CPC and those behind the media war deny that it is because of the pressure from the powers that be, that made the matter assume the tone it has right now? One of the readers who called on this matter and demanded I write a sequel to the earlier article said that it is an act of corruption that is at work.He said if Coca Cola had agreed to negotiate to say N30 million, the matter would not have come to public glare and somebody would have pocketed the money. It is for the court of public opinion to decide.As far as I am concerned every Nigerian is equal before the Nigerian constitution. Nigeria is not for the richand most powerful alone. Here atVanguard, our motto is “Toward a better life for the people” that is all Nigerians not a set of Nigerians, not the money bags, not the powerful alone, but all.
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