AN ASSESSMENT OF CONSUMER RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

AN ASSESSMENT OF CONSUMER RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

Background to the Study

Water is the most essential resource to the survival of man. A reliable supply of clean and safe water is very important to ensuring healthy living amongst the human populace in every community, state or country.

In Nigeria, government – owned public water utilities, such as Water Corporations or Boards, are statutorily charged with the responsibility of supplying water from conventional water treatment plants that use water from impounded reservoir (dams), flowing streams, lakes and deep boreholes. As the country‘s population grew, the supply of water by the public utilities became inadequate in quality and quantity. Also, many years of inadequate investment in public water supply by the successive Nigerian governments has left safe drinking water insufficient and unreliable, hence, the current adaptive measures of our society to fill the supply gap and alleviate the problems of water inadequacy. Chief amongst these measures is the dependence on sachet water popularly known as ―pure water‖. The manifestation therefore, is the emergence and proliferation of private water enterprises that operate side by side with the government-owned public water utilities.

The services of the category of private water enterprises selling packaged water in bottles were initially adjudged satisfactory and reliable in the past years. They are however, more expensive when compared to that provided by the government and the other category of private enterprises that sell theirs in sachets. However, bottled water producers are patronized by the few elite in the country, while majority of the people (who are usually the low income groups) in the country patronize and drink sachet water because of its cheaper price. Sachet water was introduced in 1990 but its regulation by2 the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) started in 20021.

Access to clean drinking water is a fundamental requirement for human life, as its absence is a grave health concern. According to WHO Report2, worldwide, over a million deaths per year have been attributed to unsafe water and poor sanitation, with close to 90% of these deaths occurring in children under five years of age. About 2.3 billion people suffer from diseases that are linked to contaminated water and that water-related diseases are a growing human tragedy3.

According to Akunyili,4 the provision of water that is not only safe, but tasteless, or odourless and clean in appearance is top priority in any country that cares for good health, and poverty alleviation towards sustainable development. This is against the backdrop of the numerous hazards posed to consumers by the packaging and sale of unwholesome and contaminated sachet water by either unscrupulous or carefree manufacturers and retailers of sachet water who take advantage of the inadequacies of regulation by government.

In Nigeria, the supply or provision of public drinking water is not reliable. As a result, this has adversely affected the good health of Nigerians, most especially during the dry season. Ground water and pipe borne (tap) water which are the major sources of drinking water are said to be unsafe sources of drinking water because findings indicated that ground water sources contain trace elements, dissolved solids and pathogens in excessive quantities that may be dangerous to the health of people.

TOPIC: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONSUMER RIGHTS IN NIGERIA

Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 70

Price: 3000 NGN

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