Operators Plan Campaign to Blackmail Regulatory Agencies

Some dishonest operators within the manufacturing, trade and service segments of the economy have perfected plans to roll out a stage-managed protest and public campaign against major regulatory agencies of the federal government.

It was learnt Friday that the main actors sponsoring the orchestrated campaign are intent on blackmailing agencies such as the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in order to cast aspersion on them and possibly get President Muhammadu Buhari to replace the leadership on these agencies, providing the leeway for them to resume their criminal business activities which the agencies have checked.

It was gathered that the present leadership of the CPC and SON have refused to bend the rules in their regulatory activities, leading to the impounding and destruction of fake and substandard goods worth billions of naira in the past few years and also, many operators who have refused to operate their businesses within approved regulatory guidelines have had their fraudulent outfits sealed up by government.

It was discovered that the owners of these unwholesome businesses and others who support their mission have held the chief executive officers of CPC and SON responsible for the losses they suffered as a result of the activities of their agencies.

Some of the actions of the regulatory agencies that have seriously irked the underground dealers and aggrieved operators include recent CPC's audit of the production and service processes of companies for which complains have been made by consumers which has led to serious sanctions from the regulatory watchdogs.

Also, the enlightenment of the public and consumers about the various classes of cement and the review of the standardisation of cement in Nigeria to bring the sector to the same level with the United States, European Union, China and India is also said to be one of the bone of contention, which some manufacturers and importers of cement have against SON and its leadership.

SON had rolled out a full review of cement, iron rods, roofing sheets and other building material standardisation in the wake of the endless incidents of building collapse in the country, to address the problem, which was causing massive loss of lives and property in the country.

But some foreign interests and local importers who were making high margins from the unwieldy old regime where the cement market was unregulated and consumers were unaware of the difference between the various classes of cement that they bought were unhappy when SON stepped in to bring some order to the system.

The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has condemned similar phony protests organised by fraudulent individuals and companies masquerading as members of the manufacturers umbrella body.

The MAN president, Dr. Frank Jacobs, stated unequivocally that the sponsored protesters and the companies they represent were not members on MAN and had no affiliation whatsoever with the manufacturers' umbrella body.

According to Jacobs: "I heard about this protest‎ and also made efforts to check into our records and to the best of my knowledge, we do not have any member of such in our organisation. There is no such name as Bendusco and the others. There are no such name among our members. So, if he says he is representing MAN, we are saying we do not know him. Whatever he says is not the position of MAN. In our system in MAN, we do not go on demonstrations to push out points. We have channels to address our issues. What he is doing is entirely different from what MAN does and of course, he is not a member of MAN‎," Jacobs stated.

According to him, ‎manufacturers have derived a lot of benefits from SON and CPC, saying that since the inception of the current administration under the present Directors General of SON and CPC, MAN and its members who do genuine business have fared well.

"SON and CPC have helped MAN in our businesses. They helped MAN in creating a better environment for our businesses to thrive. We are very pleased with what they are doing‎. Their activities cannot be a threat especially to the manufacturers. Their activities are helping us in improving the quality and standard of our products to become competitive at the international market. Today, manufacturing should not be only for Nigeria, we must produce to sell these products overseas and be competitive at the international market," he added.