…Moves to regulate market safety, integrity
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has urged manufacturers, distributors and importers to ensure that all consumer products in Nigeria are labelled in English language to inform consumers effectively.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Tunji Bello, made the call on Wednesday at an event to commemorate the 2026 World Consumer Rights Day in Abuja.
Bello, represented by the Director, Surveillance and Investigations Department of the Commission, Mrs. Boladale Adeyinka, said the Commission had continued to encounter products that did not meet basic safety and quality standards.
According to him, there are so many products that are labelled in languages that are not official languages of Nigeria.
“Every consumer product in Nigeria should be labelled in English language, that is the official language in Nigeria.
“You see products in Chinese or Hindus; those products are falling short of the legal standards in the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
“He said that if such products were found in the market, they were already deemed unsafe because consumers would be consuming what they do not know or what they are incapable of understanding.
Bello described the theme of the event “Safe Products, Confident Consumers as “apt”.
He said it captured a simple, but important truth that where safety was uncertain, confidence would decline, and where confidence declined, markets would become weaker, less efficient, and less trustworthy.
“We are gathered at a time when product safety has become central to market integrity, consumer confidence, and public welfare.
“Some of these failures arise from weak internal control.
“Others reflect gaps in compliance culture. In certain instances, there are indications of deliberate disregard for legal and regulatory obligations.
“In certain instances, there are indications of deliberate disregard for legal and regulatory obligations.
“The effect is immediate and serious. Product safety, therefore, can not be treated as a secondary matter. It is a core obligation, with clear public interest consequences.”
A representative from the Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Folorunsho Adeyemi, urged citizens to believe in Nigerian-made products.
Adeyemi said the market had been bedeviled with smuggling and counterfeiting, adding that most substandard products are smuggled into the country.
Also speaking, a representative of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr. Isiaku Mohammed, said the organisation was collaborating with various agencies to make sure that only safe and standard products penetrated the markets.
Contributing, Mr. Salihu Mohammed, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics of the National Agency for Drugs, Administration and Control (NAFDAC), urged the public to contact the agency over substandard products noticed in the market.
Mohammed said that any product with NAFDAC number had gone through various scrutiny by the agency.
Mr. Thomas Okosun of the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal, called on the public to visit the tribunal for redress in the event of consumer rights breaches by service providers.
The day also featured the 9th National Young Consumers Contest (NYCC) among secondary schools from across the country. (NAN)
