Lagos decries regulators’ failure to enforce no-smoking policy in public places

Lagos State Government has berated the regulators for their failure in educating the people, as well as implementing and enforcing the provision of the law against smoking in public spaces.

Director-General, Lagos State Safety Commission, Lanre Mojola, stated this, yesterday, during a stakeholders’ engagement meeting on the implementation of Smokefree provision of the National Tobacco Control (NTC) Act, 2015 organised by Lagos State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for owners, managers and regulatory authorities of public places in the state.

He said that the agency would recommit itself to enforcing the law because of its huge health benefits to residents, saying that from next month till December, the agency would be pushing jungles about non-smoking in public spaces and the consequences for violating the provisions of the law on non-smoking in public spaces.

National Coordinator, Non-Communicable Diseases, Federal Ministry Health, Dr Ahmad Ozi, represented by a Deputy Director, Alayo Spoken and the Director, Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Rotimi Agbolagoriite, said that a lot of health hazards are associated with tobacco use.