Nigeria: CPC Vs Coca-Cola - Balancing Consumer, Industry Interests Through Regulation

9 November 2014
opinion

The media space in Nigeria has been awash recently with news of the Consumer Protection Council proffering criminal charges against Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Nigeria Bottling Company and their managing directors for alleged poor manufacturing standards and violation the regulator's orders by opting for judicial review of the orders by a court of competent jurisdiction as provided for by law. The media show is rather curious, given that the three parties, including the litigant are reputed for low profile in the media. All the parties have to a great extent been conservative in terms of media presence.

Government agencies in Nigeria are normally low profiled media-wise, because one thing can easily lead to another, with the demand for loyalty as well as bureaucratic bottlenecks all joining to reinforce the need to be extra cautious on divulging information to the media. Even the passage of the public information act has not in any way changed this media aversion. Some of few instances that ran contrary to this include the Late Prof Dora Akunyili's tenure at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and the Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo's and Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi's tenures as Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria. A clearly defining character of these three, which nobody can take away, is that they were industry reformers. They are largely perceived to have acted in the best interest of consumers and the national economy.

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