The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has disclosed that electricity has again topped its 2021 consumer-related complaints chart just like in 2020.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Mr Babatunde Irukera, told newsmen in Abuja that banking-related complaints were second on the chart. This indicates that dissatisfaction of Nigerians with the services of major players in the Electricity and Banking sector continues to grow unabated.
Irukera explained that aviation and telecommunication related complaints followed the chart. The rise in Aviation complaints might not be unconnected with the occurrences of many cases of postponed flights and sudden re-scheduling of flights by many airlines in the course of the year. While the airlines maintain they do such due to weather variations and safety precautions, passengers continue to groan and murmur.
Irukera said that the commission received and completed the processes of no fewer than 32,000 consumer-related complaints in 2021, adding that 80 per cent of complaints were resolved.
According to him “For the sectors that received the highest complaints, we have electricity, banking then aviation is now competing with telecommunications in third place.The The biggest problem with the airlines is not even the technical issues but their lack of transparency, responsiveness and being able to refund passengers when it becomes absolutely clear that flying at that time becomes pointless for them. We are continuing that battle and then we are resolving many complaints,’’
On the challenges faced by the commission, Irukera said that some businesses were yet to come to terms that the regulatory space had changed and that they had a responsibility.
“Others include consumers who sometimes are very complacent and do not want to enforce their rights or those that criticise the commission even when their rights are being enforced.
He said the nature of challenges are modifying themselves as we go. COVID has presented an incredible challenge. It has changed our lives, changed how we work yet it has not changed how we consume.
“People are not going out much to buy things, even food, people now order them to come to them. What that does is that it raises the level of complaints because people are not able to access it. So there are more complaints but the infrastructure for handling the complaints are still the same. The new normal that we find ourselves is one of the key challenges,’’ he concluded.