The Director-General, Consumer Protection Council, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, on Tuesday said the council had recorded an increase in the rate of consumer complaints within the last few months.

He said this at a sensitisation forum organised by the council for the civil society in Abuja.

He attributed the rise in complaints recorded by the council to increased awareness of the people of their rights as consumers.

He said, “In the period that I’ve been here as the DG, we’ve seen the level of complaints go up by 30 per cent and as a matter of fact, we are receiving a lot of complaints now because we are harvesting complaints from multiple sources and the inspirational work that we have been doing at the CPC has led to the resolution of some of those complaints.”

He said the commission would continue to play its role in protecting the rights of consumers, adding that the forum was vital to strengthen the level of partnership with civil society groups.

He said given the important role played by civil society in making the government more accountable to the people, no modern society could flourish without their contributions.

‘’For credible, transparent and honest leadership to thrive in any nation, civil society must be engaged positively by the government because an engagement with the civil society is an engagement with the entire society, and this is my priority,” he added.

On funding, he said the CPC was in talks with the government to boost the council’s budgetary allocation so as to effectively protect the rights of consumers.

The CPC boss noted that the new management had commenced a review of all the civil organisations registered with the council with a view to removing the quacks.