Consumer Protection Rights

By Ubong S. Ebong Esq. -
It's been awhile. Let's briefly talk about the issue of manufacturers and vendors liability. As a human and citizen of Nigeria you have the right to life. Flowing from this right to life is your consequential entitlement to safe  consumable products that will not harm or jeopardize your health in anyway. Apart from your right to safe products, you also have the right to get products of approved/acceptable standards (in Nigeria the government has bodies which determine what standards are acceptable for different products).

The crux of our discussion today is this: when you pay for goods, you should get exactly what you pay for. Applying this principle to real life it means that if a manufacturer produces substandard or fake products and you unknowingly consume such, you have the right to sue. Your right to sue even extends to the vendor(s) who sold the defective product.

Considering that they are so many fake products flooding our markets today, this legal right is very important. And it's not limited to products only as it also extends to services. If you pay for services but get something below the expected standard whether as a result of the service providers negligence or recklessness or incompetence, you are also entitled to sue for the damages suffered which include both physical and psychological/mental damages.

However this right is not without limits and I'll just share three of such limits for now. First of all, the principle is that you get what you paid for. So if for instance you buy a phone that should normally cost #100,000 for just #20,000, any reasonable person should easily know that what you're buying is likely substandard. So if after buying the phone it suddenly explodes one day, you cannot sue in such circumstances.

Secondly, if the manufacturer clearly communicates to the consumers any potential harm the products might cause, such manufacturer would be exempted from liability if the disclosed harm occurs. The reason for this exemption is because upon disclosure, any consumer who still purchases such product is deemed to have done so with full knowledge of the risks involved. This is why most drug producers state the side effects of their drugs on the packs.

Finally, there's a latin maxim in law which says that from a dishonourable cause an action does not arise. In the context of today's discussion this means that where you acquire goods or services through illegal/unlawful means and such goods or services turn out to be defective, you don't have the right to sue because your own conduct is tainted with illegality.

So now you know. Consult your lawyer.
#KYR


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