For sometimes now, I have taken
keen interest in the pattern of mischievous, deadly and devilish ingenuity
deployed by some Nigerians (of different backgrounds and sexes) to make money
at all cost by producing fake brands of fast moving goods or popular brands. It
is quite worrisome and at the other times 'admiring' how a people can seat,
think and make out time to get a ''version of a popular product'' and the
courage to push same into the market as genuine or the same at the mimicked.
The most annoying is the inhumanity that bellies the unhealthiness of these
'destructive ingenuity', the deaths and health deformities and malfunctioning
cases that result from consuming same.
To define it, culture of
destructive ingenuity, hence CDI, is a set of innovative, thinking that
translate into, practices that seek to make financial gain or profits from
making a caricature of a popular product and selling same at the same or lower
prices without any consideration of the long term safety or health effects of
such products on the consumers''. The primary goal of CDI is profit-making at
whatever or whoever cost.
CDI is popular with water
(especially sachet water), beer (Stout drinks and recently Trophy), Juice
drinks, Bottled wine drinks, etc and now this 'peak milk' (video clip below).
While it is obvious that there are sometimes differences, from the look,
another problem considering the looks is with our manufacturers' and their lack
of quality control mechanism. That is still a version of the CDI. The
manufacturers' 'Nigerians won't Complain' mentality has encouraged some of
these CDI as consumers are often confused as to if the changes are from the
companies or the CDI agents/practitioners. In the motor spare parts world, the
CDI is repleted in the ''This is China, this Taiwan and this is Fairly Used'
practice.
Why would the same person sell
three different materials?? Why can't there be a shop or shops focusing on each
so that the practitioners of CDI will not sell Taiwan to the unwitting who
wants China or Fairly used. With the rate at which the CDI practice is getting
ingrained and tolerated in our society, we might never know what is real from
that which is not.
The only industry that seems to
be working on breaking the circle, making the practice non-lucrative, is the
health industry. With a number to text to and verify the status of the drugs,
on the drugs, the CDI practice is somehow affected negatively. But remember we
called it Culture of Destructive Ingenuity; so, we can only hope they won't
create their own verification telephone lines for their own fake products, with
time.
The way forward to reverse the
practice? Review of laws to give what is desirable to the practitioners: death
or life imprisonment! And with the law, an impartial judiciary that dispense
justice without fears nor favour! Unless that is done, we are all potential
victims of CDI.
Adeyemi J. Ademowo, of Afe Babalola
University Ado-Ekiti, is an AHP/ACLS postdoctoral fellow-in-residence at the
International Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Ghana, Legon
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