Deprivation, oppression, a lack of choice, inadequate product information, consumer ignorance and manufacturers’ insincerity were among the plight of consumers highlighted at the Brand Journalists’ Association of Nigeria (BJAN) World Consumer Rights Day 2015.
This year’s theme, “Implications of Unhealthy Food Intake to National Development”, was chosen because of counterfeit food products in the market. Though the global theme was “Consumer Right to Healthy Diet”, BJAN took it further by looking at the consequences of fake products.
Consumer Protection Council (CPC) Lagos Head, Tam Tamunokonbia, delivered the lead paper. Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) President, Bunmi Oke, was among panelists who discussed the advertising implications.
Consumer Advocacy Forum Organisation of Nigeria’s (CAFON) President, Sola Salako, represented consumers; National Agency of Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Deputy Director (Advert Control), Simidele Onabajo, discussed the position of regulators; and Sun Executive Director, Steve Nwosu, spoke on the role of the media.
On consumers
Most consumers are ignorant of the laws that protect them, especially those yet to know the consumer protection agencies.
A Recent study showed that consumers are abused and neglected as a result of the increase in fake and adulterated goods and services.
The complex nature and the inability of consumers to detect fake products gave rise to the laws and regulations and the setting up of regulators, such as NAFDAC, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the CPC.
Unhealthy food
Unhealthy food is defined as any food not conducive to maintaining good health. It includes “fast” foods which are low in fibre and vitamins, foods high in fats, salt, and tropical oils such as fried potatoes and creams.
Tamunokonbia said these are foods that are perceived to have little or no nutritional value, with the ingredients considered unhealthy when eaten regularly. Junks are ready-to-eat convenience foods, containing high levels of saturated fats, salt, sugar with little or no fruit, vegetables, fibre.
Effects of urbanisation
Urbanisation, self-imposed “civilisation”, the jet age syndrome, and societal pressures have encouraged fast foods or junk foods.
Traditional family values of cooking and eating good food at home is giving way to quick fixes in schools, at work, and on the road. Some live virtually on purchased food from an eatery, restaurant or “mama put”.
Stakeholders’ perspectives
Many Nigerians die daily as a result of unhealthy diet there is little hope of redress. Bringing such plight up for a public discourse will go a long way in championing the cause of these oppressed but voiceless Nigerians.
Tamunokonbia said unhealthy food leads to bad health. He cited the grave implications negative eating habits have on the health of the nation besides the negative impacts on the health of individuals.
According to him, life threatening ailments such as obesity, high blood pressure, high blood glucose and high cholesterol, which are prevalent in the society, are the direct consequences.
Obesity alone will cost the world $2 trillion to manage annually, and if the World Health Organisation (WHO’s) projection of about 2.3 billion adults being overweight in 2015 is something to go by, the world is in clear and present danger.
Besides, Tamunokonbia argued, the implications for national development could be grave, since unhealthy food intake depletes the national workforce.
“Every nation develops with its human resources. A nation that allows its generations of youths to be hacked down by unhealthy food related obesity, cancer, high blood pressure, among others, will soon run out of its workforce to produce its wealth,” he insisted.
But Salako stressed that the plight of Nigerian consumers goes beyond the inability to decipher unhealthy foods.
“It is so bad that we don’t even have a way of gauging or measuring our type of food here. For instance, how does the individual here measure the amount of eba or ‘yam flour’ that is healthy for him or her.
“In the developed climes such foods’ contents are listed on the labels, but it is not so here. So, one has to work by instinct,” she said.
Besides, she argued, the average Nigerian consumer is too impatient to go through the labels of food items to make informed choice.
Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) President, Kayode Olageshin, also reiterated that there are grave implications for consuming unhealthy food.
“Many young people drop dead today as a result of ailments such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and other ailments induced by unwholesome food.
“And you can imagine the destinies that are destroyed when a family loses a breadwinner to any of these ailments,” he lamented.
There is hope
But all the speakers insisted that all hope is not lost.
Tamunokonbia said media education is the key to providing a platform that would serve as channels of dissemination of information.
“Consumer education without the media will only end in a circle. The media should, in addition, bring public opinion to bear on the producers of unhealthy foods,” he argued.
He urged the government to support consumer protection agencies to carry out effective awareness programmes by making regulations to discourage unhealthy foods and their advertisement.
Oke said advertisements should not be vilified since they are designed to make consumers aware of products and services
“I think we only need to apply common sense, as consumers in spite of the pester power of some ads,” she stressed.
Salako sought a national policy on healthy eating as a way of holding manufacturers accountable for infractions.
Many of the discussants believed the seminar threw up more questions than answers. How realistic are these recommendations? If they actually are, how ready is the average Nigerian consumer for such policy?
Consumer’s rights are flouted daily and it remains to be seen how they get redressed.