The long wait for a new helmsman at the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), after the abrupt exit of its former CEO, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, ended on June 24, this year, when the Federal Government announced the appointment of the erstwhile Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello, as the new CEO of the agency.
However, as the nation awaits the confirmation of the appointment of the new FCCPC boss by the National Assembly, stakeholders on the nation’s consumer space believe there are huge tasks awaiting the new LASAA boss.
For instance, investigations have revealed that the not-too-pleasant economic weather, is making corner-cutting options attractive to manufacturers and brand custodians, of late, with the nation’s consumers, unfortunately, being at the receiving end.
Not too long ago, FCCPC had to seal some supermarkets in Abuja for inconsistencies in their prices, and also embark on a tour of the nation›s open markets to determine the root causes of food inflation, despite series of intervention coming from the federal government.
Also, very recently, the Commission, acting on intelligence, paid unscheduled visits to some steel manufacturing companies in Ogun State. The aim was to ascertain these companies› compliance to standards, in the production of their materials, and also ensure the rights of the Nigerian consumers were not compromised.
Interestingly, the Commission has its hands in every consumer pie, a situation that has made its task of ensuring the rights of Nigerian consumers are not violated, very herculean. Recently, it secured the conviction of a Lagos Surgeon, Dr. Aanuoluwapo Adepoju, at the Federal High Court, Lagos, over a failed plastic surgery; while in December 2023, it got the British American Tobacco (BAT) Nigeria fined for $110m for violating control laws.
The power sector is not spared either. The commission’s town hall meetings at different times, between stakeholders in the sector, have been one of its interventionist efforts in that area.
But, as huge as these feats may seem, not a few stakeholders believe they are a mere drop in an ocean filled with assaults on consumer rights.
Besides, these stakeholders would, also, readily attribute those feats to the leadership of the commission, especially Irukera, who gave the job his best shot while there. The question therefore is whether Bello, the new helmsman is well-equipped to continue where Irukera stopped.
Interestingly, not a few will respond in the affirmative. They believe Bello, who had been a part of every government of Lagos State, since 1999, has what it takes to perform in this highly tasking office.
For instance, besides being an accomplished journalist, a lawyer and an environmentalist, the new helmsman at FCCPC is described as the most distinguished civil servant in the history of Lagos State, due to his performances in the different offices he held in the state’s civil service, from 1999, until few months ago.
Besides being cerebral and proactive, not a few industry watchers believed the experiences garnered, by Bello, as the Head, Lagos Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), under the then Governor Bola Tinubu administration; Commissioner for Environment in both Babatunde Fashola and Babajide Sanwoolu’s regime; and Secretary to the State Government, under former Governor Akinwumi Ambode, put him in good stead to successfully steer the boat of FCCPC.
During his tenure as Environment Commissioner, the lawyer and environmentalist, they argued, was able to create and restore the people›s confidence in the environment through some innovations he brought to that office, resulting in a much-friendlier environment, and the creation of over 30,000 direct job opportunities, in that space, in the first two years of Sanwoolu’s administration.
Moreover, his tenure at LASAA made him one of the few chief executives of the state’s regulatory agency that did minimum damage to the business interests of outdoor advertising operators in the state.
As stakeholders therefore await the coming of the new FCCPC boss, the optimism is high in the sky that the accomplished media executive should be able to replicate some of the feats recorded in Lagos, in the new office, thus making the consumer space safer for the nation’s consuming public.
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