I don’t fight battles I can’t win —Sola Salako-Ajulo, founder of Consumer Advocacy Foundation Of Nigeria

Sola Salako-Ajulo, a graduate of English Language from the University of Lagos is a marketing and branding, public relations consultant and the founder of Consumer Advocacy Foundation Of Nigeria (CAFON), a non-governmental organisation that is into consumer advocacy. In this interview by TAYO GESINDE, she speaks about the reason she is passionate about consumers’ issue and protecting them from exploitation.

 

WHAT was your childhood fantasy?

I wanted to be a lawyer. It is amazing that I never turned out to be one but most people ask me if I am a lawyer because the things I do now is more along the legal line. I studied English for my first degree and was supposed to go back to do Law but I got distracted by life and never did. As God would have it, the trajectory of my life has taken an area where the legal profession is more relevant. I have become a lawyer of sort without having gone through all the training. I took some courses in consumer’s protection. I am actually considering taking a degree in Law.

 

What motivated you to go into consumer advocacy?

By nature, I am someone who always speaks for the underdogs. I hate it when you cheat people. If you try to cheat me, I will speak up. If you try to cheat someone else, I will speak up. I got into consumer advocacy by accident. We wanted to buy a phone during the CDMA era, we called all the telephone companies to find out what they all had to offer so we could make a choice. We called all the companies, one abused us, the other one slammed the phone on us and the third one could not answer our question. I had a page in Thisday then so I narrated the experience there. I just vented there and thought that was it. The next thing I saw was that my mail was full of messages from people who had similar experiences but had been suffering in silence.  And nobody knew where to report to. The Consumer Protection Agency at the time was not effective. So, I began the crusade of exposing people’s complaints about service delivery. And my page became a place to advocate for better service delivery. That was how I got into advocacy. Before I knew it, it grew bigger than I thought and we started the NGO.  I am passionate about protecting consumers from exploitation and empowering consumers with information so that they can make informed decision and working with the whole structure to ensure that we have a safe and fair market place. That is what I spend most of my time doing now.

 

We have government agencies that should be advocating consumers’ protection but they seem not to be making much impact, what do you think is wrong?

One of the challenges we have in our customers protection regime is lack of capacity. A lot of civil servants who are not professionals are posted into such agencies and many of them do not know the extent of their jurisdiction and there are a lot of different perspectives. It also does not help that as a nation, we do not have a defined consumer protection policy.  When we have such a policy framework then, every agency of government will draw guideline from it. And it is based on that that we can have a cohesive and impactful consumer agency regime.  As essential as consumer protection is to a nation, it is one of the least funded agencies in Nigeria, if there is no funding they can’t go and be collecting money from people they should be regulating. So, government must be the one funding consumer protection hundred per cent for them to be independent enough to do what they are supposed to do.

 

What price did you pay to get to where you are today?

I think my own price is a commercial one. Don’t forget that my business is branding; promoting products and services. And I am the same person shouting at them that they are not doing the right thing so I have lost a lot of my clientele. They would rather I didn’t go the route I have gone. They feel that if there is a problem I should call them and tell them. I told them that if I call them and told them, they would fix that single one but when I make it public, it forces their system to change and when that happens more people are protected. A few of them are starting to understand that I am not their enemy now. But it has taken a long time. It has cost me. Many times, it is a choice between taking a job so that I can earn money or standing by the principle of protecting a consumer’s right. The consumer doesn’t think you are paying him any service so he doesn’t pay you. So, it has cost me business. But gradually many more of the brands are beginning to understand that we can be partners because what I am trying to do is help them keep their customers. A happy customer won’t take a walk.

 

How do you feel being tagged a troublemaker?

I am used to being a troublemaker. I make good trouble. You rarely have found me in scandalous situation. I am actually making trouble because I feel something can be better than it is. Yes, they call me a troublemaker but it is okay, as long as the trouble I am making is forcing you to change and it is ensuring a better marketplace. We need this kind of trouble. I wish more Nigerians will make this kind of   trouble because that is what will make us better.

 

Have you thought of going into politics so that you can actually effect a change in our system?

I don’t think I have the make-up. I can work if appointed but my personality cannot handle politics the way it is practised in Nigeria. I am too tactless. I will tell you what exactly I feel when I feel it. I also don’t understand the hypocrisy that makes people suck up to other people because they are in power. I am too outspoken for a woman in this environment for me to do too well in politics. I support people in politics but I can’t go through the process of contesting an elective office. In life, I have learnt never to say never but right now, I won’t think of it. Yes, I can work in government if I get appointed. For instance, Governor (Akinwunmi) Ambode just appointed me into Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency that is headed by Mrs Funmilayo Falana. I can support in that aspect. But put my face on a poster? I respect people who do but I don’t think I can. If you want to, you must be able to put your reputation on the line. I am very careful about my reputation. People will throw mud at you. I don’t think I have the emotional capacity to deal with these kinds of things. I try very hard to stay on the straight and narrow path. My integrity means the whole world to me. I don’t know why I should sacrifice it for people who want to smear you or lie against you simply because you are playing politics.

 

Why did you think the Lekki toll protest failed last weekend?

I was not part of it because like I always tell people, I pick my battles. I don’t fight battles that I can’t win. And that Lekki toll gate matter is a battle difficult to win. The first time there was to be a protest, they called me but I told them that I am fair as much as possible. What we want to achieve is a fair marketplace so we should be fair to businesses and consumers. That is how it can be sustainable. We always want to be like the developed world but we never sit down to ask what it has cost them to be developed because development is expensive. What we ought to put in place is a system whereby what you are taking from us; we are getting the values for it. The government has a responsibility to provide road and maintain it. And the government does not do business, so it has to look for ways of making money. The problem we have in Nigeria is our history of corruption so any policy of the government that allows a third party to be involved in it is thought to be for corruption purposes. It really doesn’t have to be. I told them then, if the government is providing a road and they put a tax on it to recoup money, maybe to build other roads, the only obligation government has is that for every tolled road there must be an alternative route. So that if you don’t want to pay, you take the other way. If there is no alternative, the government has no right to toll the road. Consumer protection is basically about protecting your right to choose. If it is only one road, I will be the first to go and protest. I think what we should be fighting for in that axis is more alternative routes. What has been stunting our growth as a nation is that we politicise and emotionalise everything. Consumer protection is about being practical and clear.

 

What advice do you have for young people?

Today’s youths live in a more liberal society and they can use that liberality to excel or to destroy themselves. It is an option. We don’t have that kind of choice. A lot young people are using the liberality to destroy themselves instead of using it to promote themselves or to make their world a better place. My advice to them is that they should find the essence of their being in this liberal environment and how they can use the liberality to project the gift God has given them.

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