By Chidumebi Jacobs
In a bid to create more awareness on the consumption of fake, expired and substandard products, amongst others, so that Cross Riverians and Nigerians can live healthy and happy lives, the Cross River State Director General of Consumer Protection Agency, CPA, Prince Charles Ushie says an assessment would be carried out to understand whether their enforcement team did a good job last year.
Making this known to our correspondent, Chidumebi Jacobs, the DG said enforcement will start this month of February, thereby urging traders to do the needful by taking expired products off their shelves.
“We have also tried to educate the public by holding town hall meetings with traders and consumers too, to educate them on things they need to look out for like batch numbers, manufacturing and expiry dates. We also have a special court attached to our office where our cases would be tried”, Ushie said.
The DG noted that he and his team have continually educated the traders to have clearance shelves of products that are near expiration so they can be sold off at cost price to prevent loss in their sales.
READ ALSO: NBTI backs FG’s accelerated development initiatives
“See, I have told traders to have clearance sales to keep things that are near expiry date, maybe two or three months close to the time, by so doing the people who need them during that period will rush and buy but if you keep it and it expires and my enforcement team comes, we will confiscate the products, effect arrest and by so doing, you must have lost a lot of money in the process”, he said.
The DG also admonished business owners that it would not be business as usual, adding that strict measures would be meted out to any defaults – as their goods and products will be confiscated and destroyed.
He explained that sometime last year, enforcement was carried out in collaboration with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) in some water factories and beverages as well as liquor shops, and most especially, black label was top on the list of expired product.
Ushie said that some water factories and warehouses were unclean and their products were substandard too. He advised owners to do well by keeping their production up to standard.
