For exploiting consumers seeking to own residential properties in Abuja, the Federal Consumer and Competition Protection Commission (FCCPC) has sealed the office of the Ochacho Group Worldwide and T: Bilon real estate developers.

The Commission justifies its actions in line with the FCCPC law, provided in section 154 of the Act.

The team was led by Marvin Nadah, Deputy Director, Surveillance and Investigation, who said the sealing up of these offices is the continuation of the commission’s effort to ensure all sectors of the economy comply with the federal government’s directive of customer satisfaction and compliance with consumers’ rights.

He said, “The commission had issued orders through a compliance notice to these companies that are being sealed up. The action taken so far by the commission is to provide redress to consumers, which is in line with our law.

“The business premises were sealed up because they refused to comply with the rules of the commission.

“What we are dealing with here is that consumers have paid for properties, but the property owners have refused to hand over these properties, and the complaints are getting too much, so we have to intervene.

“The T: Bilon case is that after reviewing the complaints, the commission ordered the company to make a refund to the consumer, and they refused to comply. This has been ongoing for over a year now”.

He said the case is not a court case because the commission has the power to take up cases like this, it is in the FCCPC Act. This is in Section 150, particularly subsection 4, which empowers the commission to seal any premises, among other powers that are provided when there’s non-compliance with a compliance notice that has been issued.

The premises of these business workplaces will remain sealed up until they comply with the rules of the government by doing the right thing for consumers.

“He also advised consumers to read the rules before venturing into this kind of buying and selling, and he said they should take time to investigate and ask questions before putting their money into businesses like this. However, the commission’s mandate is to protect consumer interests.