Stakeholders Demand New Anti-counterfeiting Legislation

THE Chairman, Anti-Counterfeiting Collaboration, (ACC) Nigeria, Mr. Desmond Adeola, has called on the Federal Government to set in motion steps to update the country legislation on anti-counterfeiting, saying the present law does not have the measures to deter counterfeiting.

Speaking in Lagos at a forum on counterfeiting, he said with over a trillion dollar is lost annually to counterfeiting globally by government, consumers, manufacturers, while only the counterfeiters are gaining.

“We believe the legislation in our country needs to be updated; there must be a deterrent for counterfeiters, something to discourage counterfeiters because right now there seems to be no deterrent. We must also strengthen the mechanism of enforcement, so we need to engage the new government on this, besides engaging ourselves on these issues.”

For the war against counterfeiting to be won, he said, consumer education is key. “All of us need to be educated because we are all consumers, one way or the other, and there are so many consumers out there who do not know and have any information about the quality of what they buy and are being offered.”