Keywords
Consumer Protection
The FCCPA
Abstract
This paper examines who the consumer is in Nigerian law. The
attempt is to discover whether the scope of who the consumer is in
the Act advances consumerism or otherwise. To achieve the
objective of this paper, sections of legislation, subsidiary legislation,
both Nigerian and foreign, and judicial authorities on the subject
matter are analysed. It would appear that the definition of the term
“consumer” prior to 2018 when the Federal Competition and
Consumer Protection Act was enacted was more inclusive. This is
because until then, the definition in section 32 of the now repealed
Consumer Protection Council Act was more comprehensive and
embraced more parties in the chain of distribution down to the
ultimate user or consumer, and seemed to give consideration to tortbase and statutory remedies unlike the position of the FCCPA. This
paper therefore posits that the FCCPA is designed to curb unfair
trade practices, and to ensure that businesses operate
transparently and ethically. To discover the status of the consumer
in Nigeria, a comparative approach of analysis of statutory and case
laws across jurisdictions is adopted. In doing this, the focus is to
answer the question, “Is the FCCPA the consumer’s Eldorado or an
instrument of his crucifixion?”