Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working on tobacco control have cautioned Nigeria’s delegation to the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11) to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), kicking off in Geneva, Switzerland, today, against yielding to the influence of the tobacco industry and its allies.
The CSOs, in a joint statement yesterday, raised the alarm over the alleged tobacco industry’s renewed global campaign to infiltrate COP 11 discussions through proxies, in a bid to sway delegates into supporting the introduction and legitimisation of nicotine-based and other novel products, including e-cigarettes, under the guise of harm reduction.
The CSOs, including the Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), Gatefield, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Centre for Youth Inclusion and Development, and other public health advocates, warned the country’s delegation not to sell out Nigeria’s public health to the industry.
They also asked the Nigerian government and its delegates to reject all tobacco industry-linked funding, partnerships, and influence. They said they were watching closely as global negotiations begin, adding that Nigerians would hold the delegates fully accountable for any action that undermine the fight against tobacco and nicotine addiction, urging the Nigerian delegation to act in the nation’s best interest and uphold the spirit and letter of Sections 25-28, 33-34, and 38(2) of the National Tobacco Control Act, which combine to prohibit government officers and agencies from any financial and non-financial relationship with the tobacco industry and its proxies.
The CSOs reminded delegates that Article 5.3 of the Convention explicitly obliges parties to protect public health policies from the commercial and vested interests of the tobacco industry.
The statement, signed on behalf of the group by the Media and Communication Officer, CAPPA, Robert Egbe, described novel nicotine-based products as the “new faces of the same deadly business.”
According to the group, industry interference remains the single greatest obstacle to effective tobacco control, warning that the introduction of novel nicotine products will reverse public health gains made under the National Tobacco Control Act and related policies.
