NGOs flay Nigerian delegates’ objection to global anti-tobacco talks

Representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have criticised attendance of Nigeria at the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-7) of the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).

Some members of the delegation had advanced arguments criticising the treaty’s Article 5.3 guidelines limiting parties’ interaction with the tobacco industry as well as Articles 9 and 10 which recommend measures to reduce the addictiveness of tobacco products.

In its presentation, a Nigerian delegate on the Tobacco Control Desk of Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) attempted to sow doubt about the addictiveness of tobacco products—a familiar tobacco industry tactic—despite decades-long consensus on the issue.

The delegate also recommended watering down protections against industry interference in tobacco control policymaking.

“It is very disturbing and shocking to civil society and other governments that members of the Nigerian delegation advanced invalid arguments promoted by the tobacco industry, which has a sole aim: raking in profits at the expense of people’s health,” said Philip Jakpor, Nigeria spokesperson of Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT).

He said that Nigerian Ministry of Health is under represented in this year’s Nigerian delegation, heightening suspicions of broader industry interference.

For decades, the tobacco industry has lobbied extensively against tobacco control policies at the national and international levels. In No vember 2015, a whistleblower revealed British American Tobacco’s bribery of a Burundi delegate in an attempt to water down, weaken, and block progress on tobacco control at the FCTC.

Given big tobacco firm’s well-documented history of influencing FCTC delegates to promote its agenda, participants at these negotiations raised questions about whether Nigeria’s comments were influenced by the industry.