Babatunde Irukera, CEO of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has stated that influential figures in Nigeria are involved in the proliferation of counterfeit products nationwide.
In an interview with Arise TV, Irukera addressed the surge in fake goods, pointing out that the issue goes deeper due to the participation of prominent and powerful individuals in the illicit practices.
He highlighted the situation’s complexity, stating that the involvement of powerful figures often obstructs law enforcement efforts.
His words:
“We need to figure out a consequence management system that delivers appropriate consequences very timeously. For some businesses and some people, the fact that there is a possible penalty for criminal conduct modifies their behaviour, and for some others, it doesn’t.
“I know the issue of substandard and fake products is a national priority. What we have seen in the past couple of months is an unusual and unprecedented escalation. But it’s multi-faceted.
“I remember one of the cases that I got involved with when I became the director general of the consumer protection council was a raid in respect to fake rice in Uyo. We followed that for a while, and our operatives from our south-south office in Port Harcourt had interdicted some.
What happened was that some of our employees who are federal government employees were detained by the state government because the people who were involved were pretty powerful people and because my employees got detained that is why I said we are going to open this case a little further and we put everything together and we got those people arrested. The case till now has not ended.”