Leadership (Abuja)
Teddy Nwanunobi
23 July 2008
Abuja — The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has declared the 'Refresh & Recharge' sales promotion of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) as "fraudulent and a rip-off on the finances of innocent consumers".
According to a statement made available to LEADERSHIP by the agency, CPC also cautioned the Nigerian consumers to "be wary of the antics of the promoters of the package".
CPC, in the statement, disclosed that it has directed the bottling giant to discontinue with the promotion and its advertisement forthwith, adding that this was to avoid untoward consequences.
CPC hinted that it had been inundated with complaints from consumers on the dubious nature of the promotion, and that despite its earlier correspondence to the bottling giant on the problems associated with the redemption of the product, nothing meaningful was done to redress the situation with a view to ensuring that the promotion was honest, transparent and sincere.
In a letter to NBC, CPC recalled its earlier correspondence on the same issue, claiming that "incidentally, after the above mentioned letter, the council has been inundated with other numerous complaints alleging that the redemption of this product has been impossible, thereby resulting in loss of funds to them. As the agency charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of consumers in all areas of products and services, we can not remain indifferent to this seeming exploitation of innocent consumers. This is more so that Section 12 (b) of the Consumer Protection Act No 66 of 1992 makes it an offence punishable under the Act for any person to contravene this Act by providing any service or proffering any information or advertisement, thereby causing injury or loss to a consumer.
The agency, therefore, directed the bottling company "to discontinue the product forthwith and immediately stop any further advertisement in same regard to avoid any untoward consequence".
Speaking on the development, the Director-General of CPC, Mrs. Ify Umenyi, said the directive became inevitable to curb further exploitation of Nigerian consumers by the bottling company, noting that it was high time manufacturers and service providers refrained from abusing the intelligence of consumers.
Explaining further, the Director General said that the predisposition of some businesses to shortchange consumers when not properly regulated, informed the decision of her Council to register and monitor all sales promotions in the country, hinting however that the 'Refresh and Recharge' sales promotion of NBC was not one of those cleared by her agency in that respect.
She charged consumers to be wary of rip-offs, decked in the regalia of promotion, advising consumers to report all forms of abuse either through sales promotions or in the market-place to CPC.
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