Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary 2

Consumer legislation

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Term: 3rd Term

Week: 9

Class: Senior Secondary School 2

Age: 16 years

Duration: 40 minutes of 2 periods each

Date:       

Subject:      Home management

Topic:-       Consumer legislation

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: At the end of the lesson, pupils should be able to:            

  1. Identify types of consumer legislation and agencies in Nigeria.
  2. Examine the functions of consumer agencies and legislation.
  3. Evaluate relevant regulation of the consumer legislation.

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES: Identification, explanation, questions and answers, demonstration, videos from source

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: Videos, loud speaker, textbook, pictures

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES

PERIOD 1-2

PRESENTATION

TEACHER’S ACTIVITY

STUDENT’S ACTIVITY

STEP 1

INTRODUCTION

The teacher reviews the previous lesson on interior decoration

Students pay attention

STEP 2

EXPLANATION

She explains the types of consumer legislation and agencies in Nigeria and their functions  

Students pay attention and participates

STEP 3

DEMONSTRATION

She evaluates the relevant regulation of the consumer legislation      

Students pay attention and participate

STEP 4

NOTE TAKING

The teacher writes a summarized note on the board

The students copy the note in their books

 

NOTE
CONSUMER LEGISLATION

Consumer protection is a group of laws and organizations designed to ensure the rights of consumers, as well as fair trade, competition, and accurate information in the marketplace. The laws are designed to prevent the businesses that engage in fraud or specified unfair practices from gaining an advantage over competitors.

 

Reasons for Consumer Protection

  1. Unfair trading practices of businessman.
  2. Inability of consumers to asses claims of advertisers.
  3. Ignorance of consumers that products may endanger their health or life.
  4. Safeguarding the religious beliefs of consumers.
  5. Ignorance of customers of their rights.

 

Legislation

In order to check the unfair practices of producers and middlemen, various legislations or laws have been enacted by the government. Some of the laws to protect the consumers are:

  1. Food and Drug Act 1955
  2. Weight and Measure Act of 1963
  3. Price Control decree of 1970
  4. Trade description Act of 1968
  5. Standard Organisation Decree 1971
  6. Hire Purchase Act 1975
  7. Sales of Goods Act 1893
  8. Rent Edict

Food and Drug Act 1955

This law provides regulations for the regulation of the manufacture, sales and adverstisement of food, drugs, etc. The Act provides that:

  1. goods that has poisonous or harmful substances is unfit for human consumption.
  2. adulterated goods or drugs must not be sold.
  3. all goods must be accurately labeled with the ingredients contained in the food.
  4. the Act allows for environmental health officers to close down any premises which sell unfit food products.
  5. the Act had been amended by various food hygiene laws which maintain how food products are prepared in restaurants and pubs, but the underlying legality of the Act remains.

Weight and Measure Act of 1963

  1. Under the Weights and Measures Act, it is illegal for businesses and manufacturing firms to sell goods which are not to the specific weights or measure as described on their packaging.
  2. Manufacturers can get away slightly with powdered goods as they can state that the goods may settle under transportation.
  3. Standard weights and measure systems are used.

Price Control Decree 1970

The decree was introduced to control inflation by fixing the retail prices of some commodities. This is to provide stabilization of general price levels.

Trade Description Act 1968

This was introduced to prevent the deception of consumers by false advertising. It prohibits misleading description of goods and services.

Standard Organisation Decree 1971

The decree established the standard organisation of Nigeria (SON) to standardize methods and products in industries and to ensure compliance with government policy in standardization.

Hire Purchase Act 1975

The hire purchase act was passed with the objective of placing a break on the catalogues of injustices inherent in hire purchase transactions. It provides for the requirements relating to hire purchase and credit sale agreements.

Rent Edict

The rent edict was introduced to curb the excesses of landlords and agents. It serves to control rent charges by landlords, ensure compliance with the edict, ensures rights of the tenant and to also curtail the activities of caretakers and agents.

Sales of Goods Act 1893

Sales of goods act was introduced to regulate the respective rights and duties of the vendor and purchaser. The provisions are; the sellers has the right to sell in any contract of sales, the goods must correspond with description, the bulk must correspond with samples and also that the goods must fit the purpose for which they are required.

 

List of Consumer Protection Agencies in Nigeria

  1. Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC)
  2. Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
  3. National Films and Video Censors Board (NFVCB)
  4. National Communications Commission (NCC)
  5. Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) 
  6. National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
  7. Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
  8. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
  9. National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
  10. National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
  11. National Environment Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA)

 

Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC)

Established by the Competition and Consumer Protection Act, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has the primary responsibility of protecting consumers in Nigeria. The agency achieves this by application of strategies which include, complaint resolution through direct engagement, investigations, mediations, and official hearings when a compelling infraction is committed. FCCPC also carry out random and targeted surveillance and enforcement of actions. It’s saddled with the responsibility of nationwide quality assessment of goods and processes to ensure that integrity is upheld by manufacturers and service providers, conduct consumer education, sample opinion of consumers on quality of goods and services, with the aim of developing intervention techniques and improvement of existing instruments.

 

National Film and Video Censors Board

The National Film and Video Censors Board is the regulatory body set up by Act No.85 of 1993 to regulate films and video industry in Nigeria.

It ensures that motion pictures produced do not promote and expose viewers to immorality, criminality, terrorism, ethnic profiling etc. It also ensures that quality of films and video produced or marketed in Nigeria meet minimum international standards. 

It also protects the patent right of content creators by not approving any work that pirates and/ or violets the copyrights of the other video content creators.

 

Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON)

SON is charged with responsibility for the formulation of standards on the composition of imported and locally manufactured consumer and industrial products in Nigeria.

SON conducts chemical laboratory testing, inorganic testing, texture testing etc, product certification for locally manufactured goods (known as SON Cert), and imported goods (known as SON Cap). It ensures that product’s description conforms with its quality so that consumers will not be shortchanged.  

 

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)

NAFDAC is the parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Health saddled with the responsibility for regulation and control of imported and locally produced foods, drugs and bottled water in Nigeria.

 

Established in January 1993 by Decree No. 15 of 1993 as amended, NAFDAC ensures that all food, drugs and other pharmaceutical products consumed in Nigeria, whether imported or exported are wholesome, nutritious, free from contaminations, and accessible to the consumers at affordable prices.

 

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

Central Bank of Nigeria is federal government-owned bank which helps to control and supervise the entire monetary and financial system of the country.

Central Bank of Nigeria, amongst its other functions, monitors the liquidity of deposit money banks to hedge against their collapse. Central banks usually set a minimum capital base for the commercial banks and other financial institutions, a measure to guard against easy collapse of commercial banks and to protect the depositors fund.

The regulatory power of the central bank in issuance of licenses and in setting operational standards  ensures that the financial institutions are qualified to run such business, and ensure that financial services do not become all comers business. It ensures that commercial banks and other financial institutions maintain banking and financial services ethics.

The apex bank issues guidelines from time to time on banking, money market and other financial instruments to ensure liquidity in the financial sector and indeed the economy, to protect the depositors, investors from any sharp practices of the deposit money banks, others. It protects the bank customers from unwholesome, fraudulent and unethical practices of the financial institutions. It checkmates the excesses of financial institutions. 

EVALUATION:    1. Define consumer protection and legislation

  1. Highlight four consumer legislations operational in Nigeria
  2. Mention and explain the functions of three consumer protection agencies in Nigeria

CLASSWORK: As in evaluation

CONCLUSION: The teacher commends the students positively