Skip to main content

AN ASSESSMENT OF CONSUMER RIGHTS IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF THE SACHET WATER INDUSTRY

By

Price: 4000 Naira

ABSTRACT

The indispensability of safe drinking water to man cannot be over-emphasized. This research has traversed the allowable length and breadth of the applicable laws, regulations, as well as international and national policy frameworks on safe drinking water. It has also examined cases and legal principles that should be applied to instances where consumers’ rights to safe drinking water, especially sachet water arise. However, acceptable and affordable as the innovation may seem, its associated downside is the proliferation of contaminated sachet water, the consumption of which has often brought upon the consumers the toll of harm, diseases and malignancies. This situation is compounded by the obvious inability of the regulatory agencies of government to effectively monitor and control this anomaly. More so, is the dilemma of the consumers to know which field of law they can seek their legal redress, either in contract, or in tort, or in the law of crimes, where they may be harmed or injured by the consumption of contaminated, untreated or over-treated sachet water. The lack of sufficient awareness of their rights as well as the regulatory and enforcement mandates of the statutory watchdogs like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) puts a bitter icing on the cake of this malaise. The methodology used in this research is doctrinal as it dwelt essentially on the primary sources such as statutes, case law; and secondary sources such as academic publications, regulations, administrative policy documents, and other relevant materials sourced from the internet. The work is summed up with findings to the effect that government regulation in this field is not holistic as to provide the desired protection to consumers. Also, the conservative attitude of the courts that does not easily allow for res ipsa loquitur to be successfully pleaded in product liability cases by the plaintiff, but rather insists on the plaintiff proving the negligence or fault of the manufacturer/defendant was analysed. The work recommends that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) should take advantage of the enforcement provisions of the NAFDAC Act, 2004, in order to restrict the registration of operators of sachet water production and distribution to only qualified, capable and verifiable applicants. NAFDAC should ensure that the labeling and use instruction on sachet water be written with translation into the local language of the area of coverage while the Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria should increase its public enlightenment functions in order to bring to the notice of Nigerians the awareness of its existence and its functions. Also, it is recommended that the Consumer Protection Act should be amended to go beyond a requirement of safety certification by manufacturers, to holding them liable if as a result of no fault of the consumer, harm is caused by the use of such products. It is further recommended that the fines for product failure in the Act be increased significantly to deter malpractice. Finally, it is recommended that Nigerian courts should adopt and apply legal principles like res ipsa loquitur and strict liability that should attenuate the burden of proof of negligence on the consumer in product liability cases, especially in the area of packaged sachet water.

Get Complete Materials
Labels:
Location: Lagos, Nigeria

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW TO DRAFT EXCELLENT PRELIMINARY PAGES IN RESEARCH WRITING

By
HOW TO DRAFT EXCELLENT PRELIMINARY PAGES IN RESEARCH WRITING For a research to be termed acceptable to your research coordinator or project supervisor, the preliminary pages of the work must be all encompassing and concise enough to make great meaning. Preliminary pages are those write ups that come before the chapter one of every project or research work. Standard preliminary pages has the following features in these chronological order Cover page Declaration Certification Dedication Acknowledgement Table of contents Abstract s Cover page of the research work The cover page of a research page is the first page of the work which contains: The full topic of the project work. The case study of the project/research work. The researchers/student’s name, starting with the surname and registration number. The institution of study. The year and month the project work was completed. The above specifications must be done with block letters. Below is an example of a cove...
Post a Comment
Read more

TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS IN RESEARCH: 10 THINGS TO NOTE

By
TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS IN RESEARCH: 10 THINGS TO NOTE Research work could take the most unexpected twist and turn. It is a nerve-racking experience. Usually, if approached in a haphazard manner, valuable time could be lost. In big research corporations, each researcher has a set of responsibilities and area of focus, this might help and aid timely completion of research work. However, in personal or unstructured research work, these tips on time management are life-saving. Without any bias to any form of research, these tips are generally applicable. 1. Read up! This is the first thing to do to ensure completion of research in the quickest possible timeframe. There is no end to the amount of underground pre-knowledge on any research work to be embarked upon. This will help guide in decision-making during the research. 2. Quite naturally , the first is to make a plan or strategy from the onset. This has been rehashed numerous times. But the key to the plan or strategy working out...
Post a Comment
Read more

A STEP BY STEP GUIDE ON RESEARCH PROJECT WRITING FOR UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES OF EDUCATION AND POLYTECHNICS IN NIGERIA

By
A STEP BY STEP GUIDE ON RESEARCH PROJECT WRITING FOR UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES OF EDUCATION AND POLYTECHNICS IN NIGERIA Undergraduate research project is an independent effort required of students in tertiary institutions. The students, though supervised by an academic staff, are to carry out a pre-determined research within the constraints of their study. The supervisor is primarily to receive proposals of the research interest, approve it, provide guidance and assess the work at the end. An external supervisor is usual, to provide an external and independent assessment of their research work. The proposal for the topic is to include the intended subject of study, a brief description, justification for the work, aims and milestones, software and hardware to be employed, assumptions to be made, the methodologies involved and the references. There are standards in the research build-up, actual research, and presentation and print submissions. These put the students in shape for th...
Post a Comment
Read more